UWA and me
With a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts from UWA, I am currently completing the Graduate Certificate in Social Impact at The Centre for Social Impact.
I always viewed my undergraduate degrees as a foundation for a better understanding of how society operates.
The Graduate Certificate in Social Impact is an invaluable course for anyone involved in leading program development, delivery or funding across any sector. It has been great to have the opportunity to apply what I am learning in the classroom this year straight away in my role as COO of Bloom. When I was in high school I thought that a social impact career meant working for government, a not-for-profit, in health or being a human rights lawyer.
By getting involved with Enactus at UWA I realised the potential for social business and social enterprise to drive positive economic, social and environmental outcomes. While growing Enactus’ social enterprise project portfolio I developed the enterprising, creative thinking and collaboration skills which I lean on in both the corporate and start-up worlds. This experience showed me how to build a career in which I can have long-term social impact. Joining Mark Shelton at Bloom has been part of this journey.
Making a difference through Bloom
At Bloom, we believe Perth can be a capital of innovation - it's a great place to live, with world-class universities, and lots of investors. We think the missing piece is a culture that encourages our young people to take risks and build things. That's why I've dedicated my time to building Bloom’s capacity. We are a community of young people who engage West Australians in entrepreneurial thinking. We support problem solving and help young people take commercially viable solutions to market.In a relatively short time, Bloom's young entrepreneurs have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, met one-on-one with Federal politicians, and been viewed millions of times on Facebook and YouTube.
Some of the innovative ideas supported by Bloom include veri.vote which improves online voting security, making elections easier, faster and more dependable. Jurimetrics is creating a product to digest, analyse and present information from legal decisions to inform commercial decision making across every sector.
Sciosity is applying augmented reality and virtual reality to education and high risk industries. Gecko Steps is delivering coding and robotics workshops in schools.I am really proud to be working alongside creative thinkers who strive to find smart solutions to some of our most pressing problems.
About Shannon
Shannon Ziegelaar is passionate about building the entrepreneurial and enterprising skills of the next generation of Western Australia’s leaders.
Shannon is the COO of Bloom, a not-for-profit organisation with a co-working space at St Catherine’s College that provides young Western Australians with a community, support services and infrastructure to help them translate their ideas into impact. In her role, Shannon leads a team of 20 volunteers and is responsible for day-to-day management and Bloom’s community engagement.
She is also a Board member of Santa Maria College where she was Head Girl in 2008. Previously Shannon has interned with The Boston Consulting Group, served in the Royal Australian Navy as a sailor and founded social enterprise, The Fair Trade Pop Up Shop, while she was co-President of Enactus UWA.