Each year, marie claire’s Women of the Year Awards spotlight the visionaries redefining the boundaries of their fields — the rule-breakers, the changemakers, the women who move the needle without waiting for permission. They lead with purpose and courage, pushing us toward a more equal future. And while there’s still ground to cover, this is our moment to acknowledge just how far we’ve come.
From every corner of Australia, this year’s nominees reflect progress in motion: breakthroughs in women’s health funding, bold strides in domestic violence reform, and a surge of women stepping into positions of influence across business, media and parliament. They’ve inspired globally through sport, science and storytelling, and led powerfully at home by shifting systems and demanding equality with grace and grit.
Unfolding on Sydney’s glittering harbour on November 20, presented by Georg Jensen and supported by VOLVO, Olay, F5 Collective and Constellation Brands, we announce the 2025 winners of marie claire’s Women Of The Year awards.
The Changemaker – Emma Mason
Emma Mason’s 2025 highlights reel could be that of a political leader: speaking at the UN, taking on Elon Musk and the tech titans, and helping spark the world’s most significant digital safety reforms.
In reality, Emma is a mum from Bathurst, NSW. In 2022, her 15-year-old daughter, Tilly, died by suicide after relentless cyberbullying: at its worst, a fake nude of Tilly circulated on Snapchat to thousands of young people.
The tragedy spurred Emma to “protect the other Tillies” and to call for restricting social media access for under-16s; new laws will come into effect on December 10. When Emma spoke at the UN in New York in September, joined by PM Anthony Albanese, she was given a tearful standing ovation. European leaders are now hailing the law as a model to follow.
As Emma said in that speech,
“I implore leaders and nations of our great world to act, and act now. Making it illegal for children to access social media under 16 will improve lives. It will save lives. It was once said that all it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing. So it’s time to do something.”
The Creative – Suzie Miller
The stakes were high for Suzie Miller when Inter Alia opened at London’s National Theatre in July. Could the Australian playwright follow up the success of her 2019 hit Prima Facie, the one-woman stage show that captivated global audiences with its unflinching emotion and searing social commentary? In a word: yes. Inter Alia, acompanion piece to Prima Facie, received widespread acclaim, cementing Suzie’s place as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary international theatre.
The powerful play saw Rosamund Pike portray a Crown Court judge whose teenage son is accused of sexual assault. Tickets sold out before rehearsals even started, and a filmed version was screened in cinemas across Australia and the UK.
The play will debut in London’s West End in March 2026, with a novelisation also due. Suzie’s instinct to interrogate power, gender inequality, female agency and resilience will also take centre stage on her next project, Strong Is the New Pretty, a Sydney Theatre Company production about the birth of the AFLW. Anticipation will be high when it opens in September 2026 – but Suzie knows a thing or two about backing it up.
The Eco-Warrior – Anjali Sharma
What happens when a tween climate activist grows up? If they’re Anjali Sharma, they remain on the frontlines, because the fight is far from over.
You probably remember a 14-year-old Anjali, who organised the headline making student-led climate strikes in Melbourne in 2019, or a 16-year-old Anjali, who was the lead litigant in a lawsuit against then federal environment minister Sussan Ley in 2020/21. Together with seven fellow school students, she argued that governments have a duty of care to protect young people from the impacts of climate change.
Their legal victory was historic, but was later overturned on appeal. Anjali is now 21, and her resolve to save the planet and address intergenerational climate injustice is as strong as ever. This year she wrote to the federal government calling for climate protection/duty of care laws, and garnered support from former Australian of the Year Grace Tame, author Tim Winton, former Socceroo and activist Craig Foster and businesswoman and philanthropist Lucy Turnbull.
Meanwhile, her landmark climate litigation case is inspiring others around the world: in the US state of Montana, 16 young people aged between five and 22 successfully sued the state over their constitutional right to “a clean and healthful environment”. The era of Anjali has only just begun.
The Rising Star – Milly Rose Bannister
On a Tuesday afternoon in March, Milly Rose Bannister was escorted into Parliament House under tight security and hushed anticipation. She was entering the federal budget lock-up, one of a select group of new media and content creators invited into the fold for the first time.
Outside, barbs were thrown about the place of “influencers” at the table, but Milly calmly reported back to her hundreds of thousands of followers on Labor’s $1 billion pledge for mental health, breaking down the good, the bad and the gaps in the election promise.
The founder and CEO of youth mental health charity Allknd, Milly, 28, is a rising voice of Gen Z, and the kind of content creator-cum-advocate the world needs right now.
At 15, she supported a close friend through a mental health crisis, catalysing her resolve to inspire compassion and end youth loneliness. Today, Allknd o- ers the nation’s fi rst free digital peer-to-peer mental health fi rst-aid certifi cate.
It aims to ensure at least one young person in every home, o ce, classroom, sports team and group chat is trained in preventative mental health fi rst aid. Now, Milly has launched Cause Club, a network of low-pressure volunteering events to tackle social isolation. It’s a simple, genius idea that required a proactive and altruistic leader to bring it to life. Cue Milly Rose Bannister.
The Entertainer – Kitty Flanagan
“I [spent] 30 years in the industry not winning anything, so it’s been a while coming.” So said Kitty Flanagan at the AACTA Awards in February as she accepted the gong for Best Acting in a Comedy. It was the start of an epic year for the comedian.
At the Logies in August, she was crowned Best Lead Actress in a Comedy, while Fisk – the series she co-created, co-writes and directs – scooped up four more awards. Emerging from Sydney’s stand-up scene in the ’90s, Kitty toured locally and internationally, and appeared on TV sketch and panel shows.
She’s written books (she worked as a copywriter for five years) and hosted podcasts, but it’s Fisk that transformed her trajectory. The gently hilarious legal comedy has been called Australia’s answer to the wildly popular Schitt’s Creek, and the show is striking a chord of its own with viewers, amassing record-breaking audiences. Now, Kitty is back on the road with her latest stand-up show, Glad Game (currently touring regional Australia and hitting the cities in 2026).
She’s partnered up with comedian Anne Edmonds for a new ABC comedy, Bad Company, set behind the scenes of a once iconic theatre company on the brink of bankruptcy, slated to air next year. Which all goes to suggest that smart, funny women finish first, and Kitty is the consummate figurehead.
The Designer – Camilla Freeman-Topper
This year was all about impact for Camilla Freeman-Topper. There were the sleek separates, bold pumps and capacious clutches she dropped for Camilla and Marc, the brand she co-founded with her brother Marc Freeman in 2003.
There were the retail spaces she opened in Galeries Lafayette Haussman in Paris and Harrods London, bolstering the Australian label’s international reach. And there was the sixth “Ovaries. Talk About Them” campaign.
Camilla was 11 when she lost her mum, aged 42, to ovarian cancer. In 2019 she and Marc launched the campaign to raise awareness of the disease, the deadliest female cancer that’s long been underfunded and overlooked.
They’ve raised more than $2.5 million to fund pioneering research at UNSW’s Gynaecological Cancer Research Group. This year, Camilla revealed the team is on track to bring the world’s first DNA-based early detection test for ovarian cancer to clinical trials by 2026.
Call it transformational activism or, well, impact. Camilla will continue to make clothes that sell out within weeks, but she’s also making history.
The Advocates – Grace Toombs (Tie)
Twenty-three-year-old Grace Toombs, a proud Euahlayi/Kooma woman and former medical student, has been on a long journey from patient to pioneer. It took seven painful years to confirm her stage three endometriosis diagnosis, and a consequent pap smear during surgery showed pre-cancerous cells on her cervix.
The prolonged, confusing and disempowering experience compelled her to take her health – and women’s health more broadly – into her own hands. In January, Grace founded June Health, a digital platform designed to make sexual and reproductive health accessible, empowering, culturally safe and stigma-free. It’s led to a warm and witty website and social media accounts that feel like a cool self-care brand, the antidote to a clinical doctor’s surgery.
But more than its glossy branding, the health tech start-up sells Australia’s first at-home STI and cervical screening test kits, revolutionising how we access – and feel about accessing – healthcare.
They’ve already been used by people in every state and territory across Australia. The gender health gap is real: endometriosis affects one in nine Australian women and people assigned female at birth, yet most wait six to eight years for a diagnosis. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are nearly four times more likely to die from cervical cancer than non-Indigenous Australians, with lower screening rates in remote areas proving to be a major factor.
With June, Grace hopes to rewrite these stats and create a culture around women’s health where shame has no place. And she’s already blazing the trail.
The Advocates – Nicole Yade (Tie)
Every night, Nicole Yade and her team provide shelter to 200 women and children in Sydney who might have been impacted by domestic violence and homelessness, or burdened by systemic disadvantage.
Whatever their story, Nicole – the CEO of the Women’s and Girls’ Emergency Centre (WAGEC) – gives them a roof and helps rebuild their lives. As a child, Nicole herself grew up around family violence, and later experienced intimate partner abuse.
She found herself homeless with her baby girl and sought safety at a refuge like WAGEC. Now, coming full circle, she’s committed to ending genderbased violence in a generation, and to helping the most marginalised.
To reach those goals, innovation is crucial, and it’s where Nicole really shines. Take WAGEC’s new From Now program, which supports women, especially pregnant women, who are exiting incarceration, providing them not only with safe housing and case management but with necessities like car seats and cots, plus healthcare access and employment pathways.
Then there’s the Helping Children Heal initiative, which offers specialist support to young trauma survivors. In October, Nicole spoke at NSW Parliament on the subject, calling for the state to recognise juvenile victim-survivors of abuse in their own right. Her impact is the kind that can’t be captured or measured by awards, but she deserves every accolade that comes her way.
The Champion – Molly Picklum
In September, 23-year-old Molly Picklum won the World Surf League Finals in Fiji. As the first Australian to hold the title since Stephanie Gilmore in 2022, she instantly went from surfing’s next big thing to the big thing. Molly’s path to success wasn’t all smooth.
In the off-season, she spent 10 weeks off her board after breaking her foot in Indonesia. She started the year ranked fifth, showcasing resilience, intention and mental toughness on her ascent to the top. Her performances, though, were smooth – as well as powerful, precise, dynamic and fearless.
In 2024 she made history as the first woman to score a perfect 10 at the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii’s toughest and most notorious break. Now she joins the ranks of Australian surfing legends.
Gilmore claimed world champion status eight times (2007-10, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2022), and Layne Beachley held the title from 1998 to 2003, and again in 2006. Molly’s transformative year may be the first in a wave of triumphs to come. Although for now, being number one is second to none.
The Voice of Now – Noor Azizah
It has been called the forgotten genocide, and it is happening on our doorstep. For decades, the Rohingya people of Myanmar (formerly Burma) have endured mass killings, sexual violence, torture and displacement – forcing millions to seek refuge. Noor Azizah is one of them.
Born in 1995 amid the brutal and systematic persecution of her people, she and her family fled their ancestral homeland on foot, trekking through jungles to escape the horror. They arrived in Sabah, Malaysia, where they spent eight-and-a-half years – stateless and displaced – until the Australian government gave them asylum in 2003.
From such terrifying beginnings, Noor has made it her life’s work to ensure the world does not forget about the Rohingya people. Today, she is the co-founder of Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, a women- and refugee-led international collective working to uplift and rebuild Rohingya communities, with a focus on human rights and sexual and gender-based violence.
She holds a bachelor of education and a masters in peace and conflict studies from the University of Sydney – as a refugee she knows the power of education to create change – and she serves as a delegate for the UN in Geneva. For Noor, advocacy is both personal and political. It’s a way to reclaim the voice stolen from her community, and it’s a voice the world needs to hear.
The Icon – Rose Byrne
The premiere of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You at the Sundance Film Festival in January stunned audiences into silence. The dark comedy about a mother in crisis featured Rose Byrne like they’d never seen her before: white-knuckled, achingly vulnerable, almost haunting. “Monumental” and “the performance of a lifetime,” declared rave reviews. Rose, one of Australia’s most accomplished and recognisable actors, has been quietly extraordinary for three decades now.
She was scene-stealing in comedies like Bridesmaids and Spy, intimate and layered in indie flicks The Turning and Juliet, Naked, smart and steely in legal drama Damages, and witty and warm in Platonic, the lovable TV comedy that dropped its second season this year.
Her performance in Legs, though, is being hailed as her redefining moment. The daring portrayal earned her the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at the Berlin International Film Festival and a nomination for Outstanding Lead Performance at the Gotham Awards.
It’s thrilling that a long and steady career can still ascend to new heights – and Rose continues that ascent as executive producer and star of The Good Daughter, an upcoming TV thriller based on Karin Slaughter’s best-selling novel of the same name. Range, longevity, talent, a fearless dedication to her artistry and an appetite for risk and reward … it’s what makes Rose iconic.
The Powerhouse – Julie Inman Grant
Julie Inman Grant is redefining digital-era leadership. As Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, she has led world-first reforms tackling cyberbullying, image-based abuse and harmful platform behaviour, establishing Australia as a global pioneer in online safety.
Under her guidance, Australia will introduce a world-first ban on social media for under-16s starting December 10, sparking outrage in Silicon Valley yet earning admiration from parents and leaders worldwide. With more than 25 years in global tech across Microsoft, Twitter and Adobe, she has seen the best and worst of the digital revolution.
Guided by that insight, she works to ensure technology serves humanity – not the other way around. Internationally, she has worked with the UN, the OECD and global tech leaders. She’s the chair of the Child Dignity Alliance’s technical working group and a board member of the WePROTECT Global Alliance.
She has also been named by the World Economic Forum as one of the #Agile50, the most influential leaders revolutionising government. Julie champions a digital world where safety is a foundation, not an afterthought, and where every person can thrive online.
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