Meredith Papas | Founder
For almost 30 years, Meredith has been advocating for, and giving voice to, regional, rural and remote communities.
Born and raised as a fifth-generation Mackay local, Meredith has lived, worked, studied and raised a family as a single mum throughout regional, rural and remote Queensland.
Having completed her under-and-post graduate studies at the regionally-based CQUniversity - and currently seeking candidature for her PhD in regional communities through that same institution – Meredith's work has taken her from Doomadgee, Mount Isa, Cloncurry and Boulia in the North-West, to Gladstone and Rockhampton in Central Queensland, Gympie, Fraser Coast and the Burnett in the South, and Mackay, Townsville and Cairns in the North.
Meredith's focus is communications and stakeholder engagement: providing practical, effective solutions to support industry and development across a broad Queensland footprint for events, major projects and operations. Her tool of trade is the written word and she cut her teeth as a journalist in Regional Queensland, where she specialised in business, agriculture and industry writing, breaking news and major issues coverage, and investigative reportage.
As an award-winning regional newspaper editor, she led several community-based campaigns advocating around issues, services and amenities - all with an acute focus on community benefit and opportunity.
Through CSE Consulting Queensland, Meredith cultivates authentic regional relationships between business, industry, and our communities. These relationships are built on trust and an inherent understanding of our regions and those who call them home.
She collaborates with a select, highly-skilled team of collaborators - themselves also located in the regions, across Queensland and New South Wales - in the delivery of community-first stakeholder engagement, communications and strategic positioning.
Being in her own small business, Meredith loves supporting other SMEs with the highest-quality content and professional writing, and stakeholder engagement services. In the Industry and Major Project space, CSE Consulting Queensland also works with clients to deliver regionally focused, community-centric outcomes across a broad spectrum of community pillars.
She is a non-executive director of Mackay's Split Spaces innovator hub and she is passionate about connecting key businesses and organisations, creating networks and channels for growth, innovation, future skilling and opportunity.
In founding CSE Consulting Queensland, Meredith has become sought after as much for her communications, engagement and professional writing as she is for her ability to connect with internal and external stakeholders across the full spectrum of industry sectors, and her ability to engage with, and advocate for, regional, rural and remote communities.