Café owners named 2025 Australian of the Year Local Heroes

Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello, Co-Owners of Canberra-based social enterprise and café Stepping Stone, have been named the 2025 Australian of the Year Local Heroes.

The award, now in its 22nd year, recognises Australians making a significant contribution in their local community.

Stepping Stone, which has two locations – Strathnairn and Dickson – provides employment and training for migrant and refugee women. Hannah says the social enterprise is targeted to people in this cohort who may experience barriers to employment such as English proficiency, no formal education, or that Australia doesn’t recognise their qualifications.

Across the two locations, Stepping Stone employs 50 women.

“In Australia, there are so many services and organisations that exist to help people through the settlement process, but unfortunately, there’s still a lot of people that are slipping through the gaps. You can provide someone with healthcare or housing, but if you’re not providing them with a community and an income, then it’s really hard for them to feel like they’re also participating in their own settlement process,” says Vanessa.

“We want new arrivals to Australia to be able to feel like they’re part of Australian society, and we think the best way to do that is through employment.”

Stepping Stone provides in-house hospitality training with an external cohort of volunteers that provide English classes.

“We’ve been able to give financial literacy classes with grants. And I think the aim as we grow is to be able to provide more training opportunities outside of hospitality,” says Hannah.

Vanessa adds: “It has really been the women and the people that we’ve worked with through stepping stone that have been the true inspiration. They are so resilient, hard, working, committed, and they just want to improve their lives and just want to be given a fair go. And so we’re really proud of the impact that we’ve been able to make in each of their lives.”