Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Any good morning. Well, congratulations on winning the Gold Coast
Bulletins Gold Coast Women of the Year in the Young
Women category.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Before we hear why you won, because you're extraordinary. How
did it feel to win on the night?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It was amazing. It's such an honor to just be
a finalist, and it was a bit of a surprise
winning it. But I was amongst some beautiful people. Everyone
was really deserving of just being a finalist, and it's
such an honor.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, and I hear you were worried you might trip. Yes,
it's hard being a girl with the big gowns on,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, I had a very long dress and big shoes.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Well you said before that you've actually tripped, not at
an awards night and broken your legs, so you get
bad form going into the Yes, I was very worried.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I turned and Matilda's mum goes, so, how are you
going to make sure you don't trip? And I was like,
good question. I'll hold my dress and I'll walk a
bit slower than I normally would.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
But I was right.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I didn't fall, and.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
He did a beautiful speech thanking all the right people.
You're very impressive for a young woman of only seventeen.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Thank you so much. I wouldn't be here without the
support of a lot of people in my life, my
family and my stuff and skiss.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Well, why don't you tell everyone why you're won. You're
a young entrepreneur and you've and you're also an inventor.
To be honest, all of the paraphernalia about your win,
says young entrepreneur, But I would actually call you an inventor.
Can you go back to the beginning what you've invented
and why?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yes, I've made a Bluetooth speaker necklace for nonverbal people
to get eye contact when they speak. So my friend Matilda,
she uses an I gazed computer to talk, and the
speakers project her voice back in her face as she's talking,
rather than out. So to hear her when she speaks,
you have to stand behind her because that's where her
(01:42):
voice is projected. So what my voice does is it
Bluetooth connects to any device and then projects the user's
voice from their chest as if they're speaking out rather
than from their communication device, back in their face, so people.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Can stand in front and get the eye contact.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, So then you can look at the person who's
talking and still here.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So let's unpack the Matilda relationship being a non verbal person.
How did your friendship form?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I met her in grade two. We went to the
same primary school, and she had a really cool desk.
It was like elevated on an angle and it had
a big cutout for her wheelchair to roll in. And
I was so intrigued by this desk, so I made
up my mission to get the teacher to let me
sit next to her and I'd help her like cut
out the working class. From there, we became really close.
I got to sit in the school special ed department
(02:34):
and eat with her at breaks, and then over the
next couple of years in primary school, I butted up
the staff to let me take her out to my
friends at break and by the end of grade six,
we were wheeling her around and hanging out with her
wherever we wanted.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I just want to I'm so emotional.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
That's just what a cold heart, beautiful girl you.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Are, because she would have been scared going to school
not being able to communicate with all the kids. What's
her disability?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
She has cerebral palsy.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Okay, beautiful girl, and so then tell me about how
the invention then started. Obviously, this long friendship made you
realize that there were some things lacking for her.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yes, I've always kind of wanted to help Matilda. I
never really knew how I could until I moved to
Saint Andrew's in year seven and the school was running
this thing called the IC program, where the business teachers
got entrepreneurs to come in and speak to us for
a couple of hours on a Friday, and then we
would stay back and they would teach us the steps
(03:31):
of creating something new, so like ideation, creation, testing, pitching.
They helped us with all of that. So I had
to start with identifying a problem that I could relate
to or that I had a connection with. So I
knew straightaway I want to help Matilda. I want to
do something with that, but I wasn't quite sure what
it was. My first thought was eliminate the computer altogether.
(03:54):
I'll make a brain reading chip that'll just like.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Speak her thoughts hi elon musk.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
And then I was talking to my teachers about that,
and they were like, can you really get that up
in fourteen weeks? I was like, good point, probably not. Yeah,
So I was talking to my mom and my teachers
at school, Miss Terry Miles and Miss Megan Yo have
been so supportive in helping me run this, and I
identified the problem that Matilda doesn't get eye contact when
(04:22):
she spoke. She's talked to me about this for years, saying,
I wish people would look at me like she feels
all of her power lies in the cocut.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Again, I wish people would look at me. It's just
so simple, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yeah, And it's just something you don't think about. As
soon as Matilda told me people stand behind me when
I'm talking, I realized, Oh my gosh, I do that too.
And Matilda, she's so funny, one of the funniest people
I know. She's always telling jokes, but I missed so
many of them when I was young because I'd stand
behind her to hear and I couldn't see that she
was looking at me and she was laughing and she
(04:56):
was having a grand old time.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Gaily knows how that feels. I do that to him
all the time. Yeah, he tells jokes and I relate.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
It's funny how we can relate to both things. You've
got the same thing where you want people to look
at you all the time as well, look at me,
I'll keep going dulling.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah. So I identified this problem in the IC program and
the teachers and helped me figure out how I could
make the product, what the product could be, and how
it could really work for the customer. So Matilda, she
loves to dress nice and accessories. She's she always looks beautiful.
As you saw on the night, she had a beautiful
(05:35):
dress and a matching handbag and some nice sneakers on.
So I knew I wanted to make this a necklace,
like an accessory, and something that she could change to
match whatever she's wearing. So the point is that the
pendant on the front of the speaker can change to
match whatever you're wearing. However you're feeling, okay, can you
(05:55):
show us how the pendant works. Yes, So at the
moment you've got one, it looks like a cute donut. Yes,
I've got a donut on at the moment. But I
can twist it and it pops off, and then change
the donut to whatever I want it to be.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
To I can match everything else. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, So as you would change a normal necklace, this
one just helms and then you twist it back on
and lock it into place, and then you've got whatever
the difference.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Can you make the sounds? Everyone can hear what it
sounds like. Yes, you're brilliant, Nice to meet you again.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Yeah, that's great, nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Wow, that's so So it's kind of I guess for
those listening, it's kind of like, well, you've explained it well,
but it's like just having a little boom box on
your chest, And so did you invent that speaker, like
if you had to send a prototype somewhere, what's the.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Not yet At the moment, I've just been sourcing the
smallest speaker I can. So this one's from a watch
and I've taken this traps off and then three D
printed the case around it. But I'm working on trying
to create a speaker that is as small and flat
as possible, so like ideally the size of an air
tag so it can really look like a necklace.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
So it's jewelry. I was going to ask that size wise,
that you're working on it getting smaller, but you've just
answered yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
The sounds of things you could also the smaller you get,
you could make the mirrings or Yeah, so they're actually
the ears or a tiara or in a hat.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So I want to once I bring this to market
and get this out, I want to then make something
more masculine because I feel like a necklace can be
seen as very feminine. So working out what a male
would wear that could still be functional as well.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
A button Yeah yeah, actually put through the shirt exactly.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Well, you are brilliant and so deserving of this. Are
you going to go like on Shark Tank or anything
like that with your invention? What can people do to
help you? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Not sure about Tank yet. I think I'm at the
moment I'm still too early. I've kind of got to
work on getting the speaker as small as possible so
I can have a final prototype that I'm happy to
bring to market. But at the moment, I'm just looking
for connections with someone who can help me make the
speaker as small and flat as possible while still being rechargeable,
(08:20):
Bluetooth lightweight.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Because who's helping you fundle all of this.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I've won a couple of grants which I've been using,
but at the moment it's like it's Mum and Dad
and I've got an Excel spreadsheet going so I'll pay
them all back eventually, just.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Wave that lose the spreadsheet, then I'll feel bad.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
But it's been lots hasard.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, it's been lots of buying speakers and then trying
new things with that. But I think I've won four
or five micro grants this year.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
What type of money are we talking here?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
I won Produce Stars Grant, which is one thousand dollars,
the Edgy Star Achievement Award which was one thousand, five hundred,
the Spriggy Banking sprig Tank which was two hundred and
fifty dollars.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Okay, it's good to hear what micro means because I
think a lot of people in the business community would go,
You've won a grant and then think it could be ten,
twenty thousand. But you're winning little amounts here.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Nice to get a big one, wouldn't it.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah? How much do you need?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I think we've worked out it's about five thousand dollars
at the moment to try and get that speaker. There's
a person in Melbourne who I'm in I'm talking to
about this because he manufactures for medical businesses. But I'm
trying to find someone a bit more local because flights
to Melbourne to test speakers would be a bit more
(09:45):
pricey than someone on the Gold Coast. It is important
for me to try and keep this as local as possible.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Well where the station for you, hum, We're one hundred
percent local and we do have great, generous listeners and
also able to connect, so hopefully some one's listening to
this now, Yeah, that'd be great. Oh and how does
Matilda feel about all of this? Does she like the prototype?
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Is she able to use it already?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
She loves it. I'm always bringing speakers over to test
that they work with her fancy equipment because I don't
have like her. I gazed computers at home. We were
filming with a Current Affair, and I got a lot
of behind the scenes of her thoughts through this process
which I hadn't known before. Like when she first saw
the prototype, her initial thought was does it come in
any other colors, which I thought encapsulated perfectly what I'm
(10:32):
trying to do with the different pendants and making everything
customizable to change to match whatever you're wearing. You can
change the chain that it's on, the color of the
casing the pendant on the front, but She's super proud,
and I'm just happy that I can help her.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
You're outstanding, You're done. Your parents should be very proud.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah they are.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Well.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Any look, if anyone needs to contact you, how can they.
Do you have a website or anything going up or
what's happening?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I have a website my Voice Communications dot com, and
you can send me a message through there or my
social media's Annie Rodgers au and my Voice Communications.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Well, thank you for coming in and spending time with us.
It's a real honor to meet you because I think
we're at the beginning of somebody extraordinary. So well done, Dube,
Thank you, thanks for having me