Feminist Roast

Michelle Brasier (she/her)

Michelle Brasier is an actor, singer, comedian and screenwriter best known for her work with sketch group, Aunty Donna. She has appeared on Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell (ABC), Aunty Donna’s Big Old House Of Fun (NETFLIX), Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe (ABC) and more. 

Michelle’s one woman comedy-as-philosophy shows, Average Bear, Reform and Legacy have sold out seasons across the globe. Her debut solo hour Average Bear has been awarded Best Writing (Green Room Awards), Director’s Choice Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Director’s Choice Sydney Comedy Festival. 

Michelle’s second hour Reform debuted in the UK in 2022 and her third show Legacy had a sellout season in Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2023. In 2024 Michelle was cast as Becky Leeman in Riki Lindhome’s Drop Dead Gorgeous the musical (Alchemation). Michelle’s memoir, My Brother’s Ashes Are In A Sandwich Bag was named as one of ‘tomorrow’s biggest books’ by Apple and is out now in stores. 

Nakkiah Lui (she/her)

Nakkiah Lui is a writer/actor/director and Gomeroi/Torres Strait Islander woman. She began her playwriting career in 2013 with her first play, This Heaven and since then she has worked with every major theatre company in Australia. In 2012, Nakkiah was the inaugural recipient of both The Dreaming Award from The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Arts Board of the Australia Council and the Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright Award. In 2018, Nakkiah was the recipient of the Patrick White Playwrights Fellowship at Sydney Theatre Company. In 2019, Nakkiah Lui was a winner of the NSW Premiers Literary recipient of the Nick Enright Playwriting Prize. In 2021, she was the recipient of the Russell Prize for Humour Writing for her play Black is the New White.  

Nakkiah is an AACTA and Logie nominated writer and actor. She was an actor/writer/director/producer of the ground-breaking series, Black Comedy, which ran for four seasons from 2014-2019. From then she went on to create/writer/star in the award-winning series, Kiki & Kitty which aired on ABC in 2017. Most recently, Nakkiah has been the co-creator/showrunner/star of the upcoming series, Preppers, as well contributing to a number of Australian and international drama and comedy series, such as Total Control and The Great. 

Lucinda Price (she/her)

Lucinda Price, otherwise known as Froomes, is a writer, comedian, and best-selling author. Her debut book, All I Ever Wanted Was to Be Hot, was released in September and went on to become a nation-wide sensation. 

Grace Tame (she/her)

Grace Tame is a survivor of child sexual abuse, author, columnist, campaigner, and advocate for fellow survivors. She is the Founder of The Grace Tame Foundation (GTF), a not-for-profit organisation which creates and funds initiatives to prevent, disrupt and respond to child sexual abuse. In 2022 she released her number one best-selling memoir, The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner, which was shortlisted for three Australia Book Industry Awards. Between the ages of 18 and 24, Grace lived and worked in the United States as an artist. She now resides in her hometown of Hobart and regularly competes in ultramarathons around the country. In December 2023, she broke the female course record for the Bruny Island 64km Ultra and in May 2023 won the Great Ocean Road Ultra as the first women and 6th overall. Grace raced Bruny Island again in December 2024 and smashed her previous record by over 8 minutes. She is a regular columnist for titles including The Monthly and the Saturday Paper. For her contribution to legal reforms that allow child sexual abuse survivors to tell their own stories publicly, Grace was named the 2021 Australian of the Year. 

Steph Tisdell (she/her)

Moderator

Steph Tisdell thought she’d be a lawyer before she became one of the brightest stars in Australian comedy, selling out award-winning live shows and having several viral sensations.  

With an ever-growing list of acting (Bump, Total Control, Class of 07, The Deb) and writing (Fisk, Bump, Rosehaven) accolades Steph Tisdell’s star is on the rise. While she is best known  - and loved - for cracking us up, an early interest in politics saw Steph enroll to study law. This sense of social justice matched with her formidable intelligence enables Steph to deliver insights that challenge cultural stereotypes in a way that is hilarious, relatable and - importantly as a proud Indigenous woman - powerful.  

Steph added “published author” to her resume in 2024 when her debut young adult novel The Skin I’m In was published through Pan Macmillan Australia.