We provide professional and personal development opportunities with a focus on building genuine and sustainable connections for our community.

Gen Collective’s vision is for members to form genuine and sustainable business relationships and friendships that will enrich their careers and business journeys.

Our History

Gen Collective, formerly genXwomen network, was established on May 1 2008 by Melanie Hamilton (Director of local accounting firm, Hamilton Taggart Business Advisors). The first event on 1 May 2008 was attended by over 80 people. Lauren Miller-Cilento, CEO of HMMG Pty Limited, was our first guest speaker. Mel reached out to Lauren by email, and she was willing to come to Newcastle right off the bat! Gen X Women became Gen Collective in 2016. The rebranding came at a time where we were developing our supporter base and wanted to encourage people of all ages and professions to join. The name change revealed the inclusive community which had emerged.

Gen Collective is a not-for-profit organisation that operates with the generous support of our members and business partners.

Our events

Gen Collective provides access to a diverse range of professional development opportunities through an annual series of speaker events, workshops and social events. 

It was important to create a network to enable opportunities to form relationships and friendships with like-minded people, particularly at the beginning of their business ventures and careers. These relationships have grown with members, and it is not unusual to see connections between members of the network still strong many years later.

One of the things that makes our group a bit different is that we vary our events, some groups just do a lunch or breakfast, which is fine, but our group is diverse and we have different times so people have the opportunity to get out there, because sometimes it's the last thing on your list to get out but we try and make it accessible.

Our Committee

Each event is curated by a team of eleven volunteer committee members and is designed to support members of the Gen Collective network in both their personal and professional lives. You can meet our passionate committee here.

Featured in: Level Up Conference  |10 Years 2018