Our people
Starting the organisation
Inspired and encouraged by a friend and mentor who started a similar organisation in the United States, Rebecca became determined to create a similar resource for Australian widowed people and teamed up with Lauren and Carren to navigate the process of establishing a not-for-profit organisation here in Australia.
Rebecca, Lauren and Carren, along with Jo and Deanna, who joined the team in our early days, have worked tirelessly to bring First Light Widowed Association to life. By meeting and working at nights and weekends, the women combined their shared strengths and expertise; undertook further studies; and reached out to family, friends and other inspiring leaders in the Brisbane not-for-profit community for support and guidance.
The founders of First Light are proud and honoured to bring the same peer-based support that helped them through their own darkest days to other widowed people.
Management committee & leadership team
Rebecca Adams
President and CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Rebecca’s desire to help widowed people navigate the bereavement process stemmed from her own experience in losing her husband unexpectedly in 2013, only six weeks after their wedding.
Feeling totally devastated and unprepared to navigate the grief process and rebuild her life, Rebecca was left searching for widowed grief support and realised this was lacking in Australia.
After travelling to the United States to attend Camp Widow, a healing retreat/conference for widowed people in 2014, Rebecca turned a corner with her own bereavement and the dream of building First Light Widowed Association in Australia was born.
Rebecca has drawn upon her leadership skills, her commitment to serving widowed people and her career as a writer, professional communications advisor and events coordinator to lead and grow First Light.
Jo Smith-Hooker
Operations manager
Jo’s ongoing commitment to supporting the widowed community comes from her own personal experience of being widowed suddenly in 2013, when her children were eight and ten.
This personal experience has driven her passion to help others find the support and connection that she felt she missed in the early years of widowhood.
Living in a regional area when her husband died, Jo struggled to find others to connect with locally or through online support groups in Australia. Although she connected sporadically with others through international online groups, she found it incredibly difficult to navigate both her and her children’s grief without the ongoing and regular connection from those who “got it”.
In early 2016 Jo relocated from Rockhampton to Brisbane to be closer to family. A chance conversation led her to First Light and she has been involved ever since – first as a volunteer and now as our Operations Manager.
Josie O'Shea
Secretary
Lauren Leslie
COMMITTEE MEMBER
Our ambassadors
First Light is honoured to recognise the support of our wonderful ambassadors. Our ambassadors come from a range of backgrounds, however, they all have exceptional stories, are respected and recognised in their chosen fields and embody the values of our organisation.
Matt Golinski
Matt Golinski is a highly regarded, professional chef with a passion for creating cuisine using fresh, seasonal and local ingredients. Well known as from the popular ‘Ready Steady Cook’ television series.
Matt has worked as executive chef at some of Queensland’s leading restaurants and founded his own catering company.
Based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Matt now enjoys working as a consulting chef to restaurants, being a regular guest chef at festivals and events and writing his popular food columns and blog. He is also an active member of the Slow Food movement and a motivational speaker.
In March 2018, Matt joined the Peppers Noosa Resort team as their Consultant Executive Chef, developing menus that consolidate his knowledge and love of the producers of his region.
In December 2011, Matt lost his wife and three daughters in a house fire and spent 4 months in hospital with severe burns. Over the past 10 years he has worked hard to rebuild his life, and now lives on the Sunshine Coast with his partner Erin and their three-year-old daughter Aluna.
Matt believes that, like the burns community that supported him over the first few years of his recovery by providing a support network of burns survivors going through similar challenges, First Light provides a connection to other people going through the grief of losing a partner and shows them that they are not alone.
Robin Bailey
Robin Bailey is a radio and television presenter with more than 30 years experience. She has worked all over the country as a breakfast radio announcer, but has called Brisbane home for the last twenty years.
She is currently a part of the Robin, Terry and Bob Breakfast Show on 97.3fm. As well as doing weekly segments on The Weekend Today Show, Robin has had an award winning podcast on Mamma Mia and is currently developing a website and podcast space for women over 40.
Robin is an ambassador for First Light because she understands the struggles of not only surviving but rebuilding and thriving following the death of a spouse.
Robin has three teenage sons and in the last six years she has helped her boys deal with the suicide of their father and then the death of their step-dad two years ago.
Robin is passionate about treating death with honesty, raw emotion and a fair bit of light-hearted banter.
Hope, community, understanding
Join our community for access to information, resources, events, and a network of widowed people for peer support. Joining is free, with options to become a financial supporter to keep us running and helping others.
