Our team of highly skilled professionals have over 50 years of experience working with children on the spectrum and other diverse needs.
Voula is the Founder and Managing Director of Lift Off Early Intervention. She is a dedicated pioneer in the realm of special education. With over 25 years of unwavering commitment to nurturing and empowering children with diverse needs, she stands as a beacon of compassion and expertise. Through the years she has completed Bachelor of Teaching, Bachelor of Education, Master of Special Education, and a Master of Autism. While Voula holds her Certification as an ESDM therapist, she has ceased booking appointments to prioritise her involvement in Lift Off’s expansion, keynote speaking engagements, fostering innovation, and continuing her mission of positively influencing lives through various avenues.
Driven by a vision of creating a more inclusive society, Voula has established her own early intervention centre. With meticulous planning and unwavering determination, she founded Lift Off EI, dedicated to providing comprehensive support and resources to children with developmental delays and disabilities. Moreover, she holds the position of Board Advisory chair.
Voula’s unwavering dedication extends beyond the walls of her centre. She actively engages with the wider community, currently holding a Board position at The Embrace Kids Foundation. She has also founded Mums Matter, a movement dedicated to the empowerment, value, and connection of mothers around the world, with a special focus on those navigating challenges. Her journey is not merely about accolades or accomplishments but about the countless lives positively impacted and transformed along the way.
Voula is a passionate keynote speaker who delivers content pertinent to her expertise to deliver the message around inclusivity, interactions, embracing and overcoming challenges.
After sixteen years as a dedicated primary school teacher with an interest in behaviour, Veta joined Lift Off EI and trained in the ESDM through to Certification at the University of Wollongong.
She is passionate about making a difference in children’s lives and creating a positive and empowering environment for all families at Lift Off EI. Veta is part of the management team and is Lift Off EI’s second in charge. She is friendly, innovative, funny and a problem-solver.
Studying a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Teaching (Humanities) and ESDM trained through the University of Wollongong. He is passionate about making a positive contribution in people’s lives.
He has previously worked as a teacher and a support worker assisting young children and youth with diverse needs. Issa is fluent in both Arabic and English and keeps busy outside of work as a member of a choir and singing classic Arabic songs.
After starting her career at the airport, where she honed essential customer service skills in a dynamic environment, Angel ventured into various administrative and coordination roles within the construction and banking sectors, each offering unique lessons. Additionally, she spent time in childcare, fostering her nurturing side.
Angel’s lifelong dedication to sports, particularly soccer, instilled in her a deep appreciation for teamwork.
After joining the Lift Off Team, she has found immense fulfillment in working with families and children, supported by a passionate team.
Working as an all-rounder, you’ll find Angel smiling at the reception desk, a friendly voice over the phone, running our social media accounts and as a supporting therapist during rocketeer sessions.
With over a decade of experience in early childhood education, Kristina has seamlessly transitioned her love and care for children into the early intervention field, discovering a profound passion along the way. Holding a Bachelor of Education, she is currently advancing her expertise at the University of Wollongong, training in the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) to better support families and children with Autism and special needs.
Kristina is dedicated to building strong, meaningful relationships with both families and children. Her commitment to fostering these connections shines through in her daily interactions, making a positive impact every single day.
With over seven years of experience managing in General Practice, Maria has had the opportunity to oversee the operations of three busy clinics, where she was responsible for coordinating teams that included General Practitioners (GPs), Specialists, Allied Health Professionals, Nursing staff, and Administration teams. Maria’s role not only focused on the operational side of things but also allowed her to build personal, lasting relationships with the families they served. The connections Maria with these families were incredibly fulfilling, and over time, she realised her passion for working with children and making a meaningful impact on their lives.
This realisation led Maria to pursue a career in early intervention, and we are thrilled that she is now working at Lift Off Early Intervention, where Maria can contribute to the development and support of children in the current Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) setting. When not at work, Maria enjoys spending her time with loved ones. She is an avid fan of the beach and cherishes camping trips with her family. Staying active is also important to Maria and she makes time for regular gym sessions and enjoys nature walks with her dogs.
James is a compassionate and dedicated NDIS professional who brings more than a decade of experience supporting people across the disability, health, and aged care sectors. Building on his background as a Physiotherapist, James now focuses on providing person-centred Behaviour Support that empowers individuals to achieve their goals and thrive.
James brings a proven ability to deliver high-quality, person-centred Behaviour Support Plans and manage complex participant needs with professionalism and empathy. He has a strong background in functional assessments, restrictive practice reduction, clinical operations, and interagency collaboration. His approach is grounded in evidence-based strategies and a genuine commitment to improving client outcomes through continuous learning and reflective practice.
Sanaz holds a Master’s degree in Special and Inclusive Education and Linguistics, as well as an MBA. Her background in linguistics strengthens her understanding of speech and language development, while her education in inclusive practice ensures she supports each child with respect, equity, and evidence-based strategies. Her MBA complements her clinical expertise by enabling her to lead and manage her work with professionalism, structure, and vision.
She is passionate about creating structured yet joyful learning environments where children feel safe, motivated, and understood.
Her areas of focus include early communication development, social engagement, emotional regulation, play skills, and parent coaching. She is particularly passionate about empowering parents with practical strategies they can confidently use at home.
Outside of her professional life, Sanaz enjoys weightlifting, swimming, camping, and dancing. She values an active and balanced lifestyle and believes that movement, play, and joy are essential not only for children’s development but for overall wellbeing.
20+ years growing and coaching businesses across Australia, Asia, Germany, the USA and Singapore, from start-ups, to SMEs, corporates and multinationals, listed and unlisted, government and private.
Leadership experience spans Strategy, Sales and Marketing, Retail Operations, International Expansions, Management, HR, to Technology and Systems and Transformations.
Industry experience spans Print, Packaging, Media, Retail to Banking, Consulting, to Manufacturing. Possesses advanced product/service knowledge relating to Printing, Consulting Programs, Retail Equipment and solutions, to Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, and Mentoring.
Renowned by industry and peers for passionate, inspirational and inclusive leadership, and depth of management experience. Recognised by Boards for strategic prowess in developing business plans, business models and product/service offerings, for exemplary execution to plan and strategic management of stakeholders and customers.
Partners with CEO/Boards in building brands, outwitting competitors, to opening and dominating new markets.
Peter contributes a rich perspective to boardroom discussions, drawing from his extensive expertise in the property and construction markets, cultivated over two decades as the founder and managing director of a leading construction services firm.
Currently, he serves as chairperson of the board at Structum Pty Ltd and holds board positions at Atlas Investment Corporation and 1v1 Gamefight. Additionally, he dedicated eight years to the Property Advisory Group of not-for-profit organisation YWCA NSW, five of which he led as chairperson.
His professional journey encompasses ventures in startups, private companies, and the not-for-profit sector. Peter serves as a dedicated mentor and advisor, leveraging his broad experience to collaborate effectively with fellow board members, offering incisive questions and strategic insights to drive success.
He earned a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from the University of Sydney. Born in Australia from a migrant family of the 1960’s European Diaspora, he currently resides in Sydney with his wife and three teenage children.
As an Entrepreneurial Leader with a strong and proven background of innovative transformation across a number of Financial Services organisations, Chris has over 25 years leading global technology teams working across senior leadership roles including at the C-Suite level.
Beyond Chris’ leadership roles in Barclays Global Investors, Blackrock, Macquarie Bank, Challenger and Cuscal, Chris also served on the SWIFT User Group of Australia, and Chaired the FSC Technology and Innovation Expert Group.
Recently, Chris has taken up a board seat for an innovative technology start up company, GameFight, and has advised other boards with their business strategies. Having joined the board of Lift Off Early Intervention in 2024, Chris is excited to join Voula and the leadership group in guiding the strategy for such an inspiring and purposeful business
During the first 20 years of her career, Kate worked in senior leadership roles in the Australian and Asia Pacific region including positions with Citibank, ANZ Banking Group and Commonwealth Bank generating revenue and building business relationships.
In 2001 she joined the Not for Profit industry as Head of Fundraising at The Smith Family, CEO/Executive Director at YWCA NSW and CEO at Learning Links. She was also on the National Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters Australia for 5 years.
During 2015/6 she travelled extensively throughout the world and when she returned, she shared her experience volunteering and coaching MBA students at UTS and senior women in banks and NFP organisations.
In 2016 she formalised her consulting business, joining Active Directions, a niche consulting company, offering practical and pragmatic support to businesses at every stage of their development, delivering effective strategies focused on growth, operational improvement and investor readiness.
There she focussed on supporting the MD and developing the business consultants as well as undertaking commercial consulting projects specialising in Indigenous and NDIS focussed Not for Profit organisations.
Whilst Kate is now semi-retired, she continues to be passionate about transformational and organisational change management, relationship building, and revenue generation to support increased returns on economic, human and social investment. She has a personal focus on and involvement with the theory and practice of supporting young people and their education focussing on early intervention and lifelong learning.
