Seven Highlands women and girls to celebrate on International Women's Day

This year's theme is Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress to shine a light on global crises and the call to achieve and improve gender equality.

The Southern Highland News has rounded up articles written about seven trailblazing women and girls who have made a positive impact in the community, and forged their own paths.

Read about them below.

Mackenzie Isedale was named as Wingecarribee's Young Citizen of the Year for 2024. The Bowral High School vice captain is passionate about raising awareness about cancer, and shares her experiences with the disease with others. Since she battled acute lymphoblastic leukaemia as a child, she has been a Children's Cancer Institute (CCIA) ambassador for more than six years, and raised funds for other cancer charities.

Dr Anne Parker OAM co-founded the Walker St General Practice in Bowral in 1992 and considered her patients as a part of her family. She has worked in Africa, central QLD, the Rockhamptons, country NSW, the Northern Territory and the Highlands. She received a Rural Medical Service Award from the NSW Rural Doctors Network in 2023, for servicing people in regional areas for more than 40 years.

Bowral refugee and visual artist Negin Chahoud has been asking people to write their inner thoughts on postcards as part of her Letters of Love Project. The project aims to help people in the community connect and having an outlet to express their inner thoughts.

Award-winning Burradoo artist and author Rosa Fedele has exhibited her work across the Highlands, Australia and the United States. Her work Gordana is being reproduced for a time capsule for the Lunar Codex, which will be transported by NASA and head to the moon.

Uta Purcell and her husband Dennis are the Wingecarribee Citizens of the Year in 2024. Many might recognise her from playing in the Southern Highlands Concert Band, performing at Tulip Time, Anzac Day ceremonies and at local nursing homes for Christmas. She was a dedicated educator in the Highlands and she has volunteered for many causes in the region.

Strawberry and Bumble director and founder Brianna Nance started her small business as a creative outlet while at university, and it has expanded beyond her wildest dreams. Since launching in 2022, products have been sent to more than 30 countries, and seen by more than five million people via TikTok and Instagram. Every time the young entrepreneur releases a collection, it sells out shortly afterwards.

Cheese maker and co-business owner Cressida Cains is one of the brains behind the award-winning Pecora Dairy. She won the NSW Rural Women's Award in 2020, and the business is a finalist in this year's Royal Agricultural Society of NSW's President's Medal. She is passionate about supporting small and local producers and having a positive environmental impact.