Theia Gabatan

About Me

I was born in the Philippines and grew up in Aotearoa and Australia. From a young age, I’ve always gravitated towards creativity, social impact and storytelling. I believe a mixture of stories, education, capital and community are the best way to create generational change. Outside of Blackbird I write essays, make websites, review films on Letterboxd, take photos and make jewellery.

"There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or to accept the responsibility for changing them."

What do you do at Blackbird?

In a nutshell, I focus on scaling Blackbird Foundation's social mission to unleash creativity in young people. I primarily focus on leading our grant programs, community, and impact initiatives.

What did you do before Blackbird?

Pre-Blackbird I worked in various marketing roles at organisations in the education, construction, social entrepreneurship and social impact spaces. At uni I studied law and business, with a brief stint in politics and comms. I also had a bunch of passion and side projects: an online magazine, running social entrepreneurship conferences, a vintage reselling side hustle.

What do you believe that others do not?

Cultivating curiosity is the singlemost impactful thing we can do to change the world. Everything is downstream of curiosity.

What ideas are you excited by right now?

I'm really excited about everything. But especially anything that intersects creativity, gaming, digital identity, community, biomaterials, consumer brands/trends and culture.