E5 Rally For Safe Maternity Care Queensland
From November 2022 to February 2025, I served as Convenor of Homebirth Queensland, a volunteer community organisation supporting education, advocacy, resources and connection around homebirth in…
From November 2022 to February 2025, I served as Convenor of Homebirth Queensland, a volunteer community organisation supporting education, advocacy, resources and connection around homebirth in Queensland.
I don't work in the homebirth space today, but that doesn't make this chapter irrelevant to who I am now.
My time as Convenor taught me a lot about what it actually takes to bring people together around something they care deeply about.
It taught me about advocacy, communication and responsibility. It taught me that a community isn't built because you create a Facebook group, a website or an organisation and call it one. It exists because people contribute their experiences, knowledge, questions and time to something they believe matters.
I also saw how valuable lived experience can be.
One person's story could answer a question another family had been searching for. Someone else's experience could help another person feel informed enough to ask better questions or explore their own options.
Looking back, I think that stayed with me.
I've moved through a lot of different chapters in my life and career. I've worked behind cameras, built a tourism business, been involved in community advocacy, designed a physical product, built a marketing agency and now I'm building technology.
I don't think the knowledge we gain in one chapter suddenly becomes irrelevant because our job title changes.
That's actually something I think about a lot while building The Culo Village.
Our experience is scattered everywhere. Some of it is in old organisations, businesses and websites. Some is buried in social media. Some exists under an old name. Some of it isn't connected to what we're doing today at all.
But it still forms part of what we know and who we've become.
My time with Homebirth Queensland is one of those chapters for me.
My own connection to homebirth
My involvement with Homebirth Queensland wasn't just organisational. Homebirth became part of my own family's story too.
I've written separately about my personal experience with homebirth and what that chapter meant to me.
Why I'm connecting this history now
Parts of this chapter of my life can still be found online under Renee Talotta.
Today, I work and publish publicly as Shakas Designer.
They're not separate people or separate histories. They're different chapters of the same life.
One of the reasons I'm documenting these stories in The Culo Village is because I don't think everything we've learned, built or contributed should disappear simply because we've moved into a different chapter.
An external professional directory still retains a public record connecting Renee Talotta with Homebirth Queensland.
Shakas Designer is the public and professional name of Australian founder Renee Talotta.
This podcast was filmed to discuss the rally For Safe Maternity Care Queensland - a episode from Podcast.
Shared on Podcast, Queensland.
Shakas Designer , based in Brisbane, QLD.
Shakas Designer is an Australian technology founder, serial entrepreneur, content creator and digital marketer with more than 15 years of experience behind the camera and building content around businesses.