Moving from working in a Thai sweatshop to purchasing her own home, Nan credits an Australian cafe program for helping her establish a stable life.

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Key Points

Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello established Stepping Stone to provide hospitality skills to migrant and refugee women.
Dozens of women from 20 different countries have so far benefited from the program and worked at two cafes in the ACT.
The entrepreneurs, who ran an identical program in Colombia before the pandemic hit, were recently recognised with ‘Local Hero’ awards.

For Nan (surname withheld), settling in Australia would have been a much harder journey without the support of a cafe in Canberra.

Originally from Myanmar, Nan spent two years in a refugee camp in Thailand before finally making her way to Australia to reunite with her husband in 2014.

Her drive? A fierce determination to offer a better future to their three daughters.

“I left Myanmar at 13 because it wasn’t safe, and we didn’t have food. It was very hard,” she said.

In Thailand, Nan said she worked in a factory seven days a week, from morning to night.

When Nan arrived in Australia a decade ago, she faced new challenges.

“The biggest challenge I faced living in Australia is speaking English, and it was very hard to find a job,” she explained.

That’s when she discovered the Stepping Stone project, which empowers migrant women by providing coffee-making and other hospitality skills.

Nan learned about the project from her friend Cate, who volunteers with Canberra Refugee Support.

Women new to Australia find friendship and learn work skills through the Stepping Stone cafes in the ACT. Credit: Vanessa Brettel

With no previous experience working in a cafe, she started in September 2020, soon after the business was opened, and now she is head chef at the Strathnairn venue near Canberra.

“I make all the food and create my own specials too,” she said.

Working at the cafe has helped Nan achieve personal milestones.

“I have been able to get a home loan and buy a house, a new car, and help my children with their educations,” she shared.

The job has also allowed her to balance work and family.

“It’s very flexible with me needing to take time off to care for my kids,” she added.

Looking ahead, Nan has plans to start her own food business in the evenings.

How Stepping Stone started

Australians Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello created the Stepping Stone cafe project after travelling to Cartagena in Colombia in 2017.

Its aim was to provide employment and training to vulnerable young women, however, the COVID-19 pandemic meant they returned home earlier than planned.

Undeterred, they opened two cafes with the same objective in Strathnairn and Dickson in the ACT.

“In the beginning, many of our employees felt very alone and isolated, but here they not only receive a salary, but also the opportunity to learn new skills and, above all, to connect with Australian society,” Brettell said.

Stepping Stone cafe staff. Credit: Vanessa Brettel

Their work led to them being recognised as the 2025 Australia’s Local Heroes of the Year on 26 January, after gaining the ACT level in November.

According to data from the Stepping Stone 2023-24 impact report, the team of 37 employees, aged between 15 and 62 years old, is made up of women who come from 20 different countries and speak 12 different languages.

For every dollar earned, 64 cents go directly to funding employment and training programs.

Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello have been named ‘Local Heroes’ of Australia for their work with their social enterprise cafe. Source: Supplied / NADC / Salty Dingo

Colombia work

Together with their friend Tom Navakas, Brettell and Costello arrived in Cartagena with a clear mission: to open a cafe that not only served coffee, but also offered employment and training to Afro-Colombian and indigenous women, communities that faced economic and social barriers.

According to a published by the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) in December 2023, 43 per cent of the indigenous population and 25 per cent of Afro-descendants in the Latin American and Caribbean region live in poverty.

With very few exceptions, poverty rates among Afro-descendants and indigenous people are more than double those of the white population.

Founders of Stepping Stone Café in Cartagena, Colombia, with the young workers involved in the project

Founders of Stepping Stone Cafe in Cartagena, Colombia, with the young workers involved in the project. Credit: Vanessa Brettell

“Afro-descendants and indigenous people faced discrimination in being offered a job and were subjected to harmful stereotypes in an unequal society — something we were unaware of when we first arrived,” Brettell said.

One of the cases that moved her the most was that of a mother-of-two, Woenis (surname withheld), who lived in a dirt-floor shack when she first started working in the cafe.

“At first, it was very difficult to see her situation, but over time, that woman improved her home, bought things for her children and, most importantly, gave them the opportunity to have a better education,” Brettell said.

Within three years, Stepping Stone employed 40 young people, and the impact was far beyond expectations.

Brettell highlighted the difficulties that many migrant women faced in Australia.

“Here, we have women with very difficult stories. In spite of everything, they have impressive resilience and an enormous desire to learn and improve their lives,” she said.

“Fortunately, there are more services here in Australia to help them, but some of these women, due to their low levels of English, are unable to communicate properly with these services, making them feel very isolated.”