PRESS RELEASE: Victorian 7 News Young Achievers Awards – oacdigital Finalists Announced

The Finalists have been selected for the oacdigital Online Achievement Award in the 2021 7NEWS Young AchieverAwards.

The Awards aim to encourage, acknowledge and reward the achievements and valuable contribution young individuals make in their local communities.

The Finalists are:
 Adam Stone, 26 of Caulfield
 Ana Gavia, 28 of Hillside
 Anita Miller, 24 of Southbank
 Tommy So, 27 of Keyborough

Adam Stone, 26 of Caulfield is a serial entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Speedlancer, the world’s first platform that helps teams of freelancers collaborate. They have a patent-pending workflow technology, that assembles teams of curated freelancers dynamically and automatically on the fly and have serviced over 1600 clients to date. Adam started an ecommerce website when he was 14 years old, which scaled to over 140,000, paying customers across 209 different countries. When he was 18, Adam won a six-figure contract with TELUS Canada. He is a top 500 Start-ups alumni and was named on the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

Ana Gavia, 28 of Hillside is a self-taught e-commerce entrepreneur. After struggling to find swimwear that was stylish, high-quality and affordable, Ana launched Pinkcolada. From a small-scale hobby run from home, Pinkcolada now sells bikinis worldwide. Ana was recently chosen as one of 20 American Express cardholders to receive 12 months of mentoring with Rare Birds; as part of Amex’s Idea Exchange Program. She has received mentoring from Shark Tank’s Andrew Banks and was awarded Business News Melbourne Young Entrepreneur Start-up Award. Ana has relied on a constant routine of learning and improving and free tools to grow her business from $200 to $1 million annually.

Anita Miller, 24 of Southbank is committed to providing great opportunities for women. In 2020, Anita established EverEvolving.Me, a blog and Instagram page where she shares insight on a range of topics including tech and finance. As a woman of colour in the tech industry, she noticed the severe lack of information and online resources targeted towards women in the tech, finance and money management industries. In EverEvolving.Me, Anita breaks down concepts into easy-to-digest formats and shares her experiences building a financial portfolio and starting her career in tech to help others develop their own. Her visually engaging posts include infographics, videos and slideshow-style posts.

Tommy So, 27 of Keyborough is a self-confessed data enthusiast. He helps create compelling online campaigns and digital experiences for large enterprises and start-ups. Tommy helped develop a content distribution web app and launched a website project for Fortune 500 companies. He launched Senturis to help businesses stay Covid-safe and engage their customers. Tommy started a marketing agency, PRIMAL+, which provides design, content and marketing technology to start-ups and small businesses. Tommy is currently studying an Advanced Certificate for Executives in Management, Innovation and Technology. Since graduating from Monash University, he has mentored four students in starting their careers in data science and digital marketing.

The aim of the oacdigital Online Achievement Award is to recognise a Victorian young achiever who demonstrates not only success in this space but conveys the character traits important to the industry – creativity, innovation, agility and has a keen interest in the online landscape.

The Finalists will be presented and Winners announced at an Awards Gala Presentation Dinner to be held at Sofitel Melbourne On Collins on Friday 16 th April 2021. Great prizes are up for grabs with each category winner receiving $2,000 in prizes courtesy of Wheelton Philanthropy and Budget Rent A Car and Qoin.

One of the thirteen category winners will be chosen as the 2021 Victorian Young Achiever of the Year and will receive a magnificent State trophy.

For further information about our other Finalists or purchasing tickets please feel free to contact the Awards Office on
9720 1638.

Congratulations and good luck to all Finalists.

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The Young Achiever Awards began in 2012 with the purpose to acknowledge, encourage and most importantly promote the positive
achievements of all young people up to and including 29 years of age. The awards showcase the achievements of young Victorians,
and pay tribute to their vision, innovation and commitment to contributing to their community.