The people who work at Life Ed Qld are dedicated to ensure generations of healthy young Queenslanders can live to their full potential.
Our teams work together to bring our mission to life through empowering children and young people to make safer and healthier choices through education.
Read more about each of our senior leadership team members at Life Ed Qld below.
Taryn Black was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Life Ed Queensland in April 2025, bringing with her a wealth of leadership experience across the not-for-profit, government and health sectors.
Taryn has dedicated her career to improving health outcomes for Australians, with a particular focus on children, young people and families. Prior to joining Life Ed Queensland, she spent 15 years on the executive management team at Diabetes Australia, where she served as Chief Operating Officer for Diabetes Queensland and later as Chief Strategy Officer for the national peak body, Diabetes Australia.
During her time at Diabetes Australia, Taryn led major national initiatives, including the $25 million National Diabetes in Schools program, training 35,000 school staff across the country, and the KeepSight eye screening program, a $10 million collaboration between government and the eye health sector. She also played a pivotal role in securing over $300 million in federal government funding to subsidise diabetes technology for people living with type 1 diabetes.
Taryn’s career includes senior policy advisor roles to Health Ministers in both Queensland and Victoria, where she championed chronic disease prevention and healthcare innovation through significant health reforms.
Passionate about preventative health and social impact, Taryn is committed to building on Life Ed Queensland’s proud 38-year legacy of empowering children to make safer and healthier choices. She is energised by the opportunity to expand the organisation’s reach, innovate its programs and ensure even more Queensland children are supported to thrive.
Joining Life Ed Queensland in 2018, Sharon envisions a future where every child and young person has the necessary tools and opportunities available to them to reach their full potential in life.
Sharon holds a Bachelor of Education, a diploma of community service coordination and teacher registration with the Queensland College of teachers and has collaborated with stakeholders across corporate, not for profit, community, education and government sectors.
A passionate professional with over 20 years’ experience leading highly skilled and diverse teams, Sharon supports, enables, and empowers teams to collectively create meaningful change in the lives of children and young people.
Sharon’s enthusiasm for championing the wellbeing of children reflects her belief in the transformative impact of education and she is excited to be part of an organisation working in partnership with students, schools, families and communities to foster positive change and help create a brighter more equitable future for generations to come.
Olivia possesses a wealth of experience in fundraising, spanning Australia and the UK, complemented by a solid foundation in commercial sales. She began her career working for a grassroots health not-for-profit organisation in Kathmandu, Nepal, which ignited her passion for philanthropy.
Most recently, Olivia served as the Chief Marketing and Fundraising Officer at the Children’s Hospital Foundation in Brisbane. In this role, she led initiatives in Individual Giving, Corporate Partnerships, Trusts and Foundations, Philanthropy, Peer to Peer Fundraising and Bequests, successfully generating $44.5 million in revenue over three years. She also assumed the role of Acting CEO for an eight-month period, demonstrating her leadership versatility.
Prior to moving to Queensland, Olivia served as the Director of Fundraising and Marketing at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation, leading her team of passionate fundraising and marketing professionals to a record annual fundraising result of $65 million, 30% ahead of budget. Before relocating to Australia, Olivia held the position of Deputy Director of Corporate Partnerships and Head of Business Development at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, a prestigious institution ranking among the top ten charities in the UK. She also spearheaded Fundraising Innovation across the charity, driving income growth by accessing new markets and audiences, as well as developing new ideas and products for existing supporters.
Olivia’s career, spanning nearly 20 years, showcases her expertise in fundraising and her commitment to making a significant impact in the for-purpose sector.
Deanne Lugton brings over 20 years of generalist human resources experience to Life Ed Qld, with career highlights working for prominent brands such as hotel chain Marriott International; manufacturing groups HPM Industries and Riviera, together with telecommunications industry experience.
With a degree in Human Resources gained from Griffith University, and strong practical skills in recruitment and selection, performance management, employee relations, workers compensation, workplace health and safety, as well as having strong organisational restructure experience, Deanne is well placed to head up with HR team.
Deanne is part of the Life Ed alumni and is proud to be able to work and support the great work the organisation continues to deliver to Queensland children.
Zoe Shearer is a passionate strategic marketer with over 20 years’ experience who thrives utilising her skills in environments where she can make a positive social impact and change within communities. Zoe completed a Bachelor of Business Management at Griffith University, where she majored in marketing, communications, and management.
Her previous role with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service saw her develop and implement local, state, and national campaigns and she spearheaded ‘National Blood Donor Week’ campaign from their Melbourne head office replenishing critically low blood stocks nationally.
When she was Group Marketing Manager for HTG Solutions, Zoe was responsible for all marketing and communications for businesses including Telstra Retail Stores, Telstra Business Centre’s and Techwell.
She led a successful marketing team for many years and under her guidance, the team’s knowledge and expertise delivered numerous impactful marketing campaigns, most notably the Pinky Promise Cancer Council Queensland Campaign and the Pawfect Gift with Animal Welfare League Queensland which increased foot traffic and revenue.
Zoe has been recognised throughout her career including, awarded with Telstra Going Beyond for Community Engagement, Director’s Manager of the Quarter, Outstanding Commitment, Directors Choice Diamond Annual Award.
Tracey is a journalist, presenter and media adviser with 30 years’ experience. After completing a a cadetship at the Redland Times, she joined Seven News Brisbane and spent 15 years with the network as a senior reporter and newsreader.
As a journalist, Tracey travelled Australia covering breaking news, and stories on health, education, politics, tourism and rural issues. As a presenter, she covered some of the biggest stories of the day and hosted election coverage and other network programs.
Throughout her career, Tracey has enjoyed being an ambassador for Lifeline and various children’s charities.
Since leaving television, Tracey has worked with a variety of corporates and not-for-profit organisations, managing successful media campaigns nationally and throughout Queensland and helping organisations raise brand awareness through a variety of channels.
As Life Ed Qld’s public relations and media manager and the host of Life Ed’s parent podcast series, Tracey is delighted to be part of a passionate team dedicated to educating and empowering young people to make good choices for life.
Sue Osmond has more than 20 years’ experience in educational settings, and has been working with Life Ed Queensland since 2018. Having worked in the independent and state school sector, Sue has a passion for working with young people and enabling them to thrive. Prior to obtaining her education degree, Sue completed studies in sociology and possesses a great enthusiasm for highlighting the needs of children along with supporting colleagues to strive for their best as well.
Sue has held various roles in educational settings, including in Learning Support, Curriculum Coordination and Teaching and Learning Facilitation. She possesses mentoring, supervising and training experience along with extensive planning and implementation experience as well. As an alumnus of the Life Ed program, Sue is excited to lead the team effort in ensuring our Life Ed program is delivered to the best of our collective ability and excited to be able to work with others to share and grow our organisation.
