Theia Gabatan

About Me

I’m a Filipino-Australian born in the Philippines and grew up in Aotearoa and Australia. From a young age, I’ve always gravitated towards creative pursuits, social justice and storytelling. I believe stories, creativity, education and community are the meta. I love spending time writing, discovering new music, writing my hot takes on Letterboxd, taking photos, creating stuff, and learning something new!

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

What do you do at Blackbird?

In a nutshell, I get to focus on scaling Blackbird’s social mission to unleash creativity in young people. I run Protostars, find and share stories of creativity and work with other organisations to unleash creativity in young people across Australia and Aotearoa through project-based grants!

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. Most of my work was centred around initiatives and programs that enabled and empowered young people to reach their full potential and be lifelong learners.

What do you believe that others do not?

I've always been passionate about making tech, startups, entrepreneurship and creative careers more accessible and inclusive to every person. I'm a big believer in the idea that having a more diverse pool of founders and operators means a more diverse range of ideas and more diverse problems being addressed. (Also, empathy and listening are super underrated superpowers tbh)

What ideas are you excited by right now?