Educating future entrepreneurs. Investing in big ideas.

You know how entrepreneurs struggle with everything, everywhere, all at once? Yep. So do I.

Given the fact that I am now old enough to remember the comet that killed the dinosaurs, I've made so many wild mistakes across so many industries and so many attempts to be an adult, that I figured that I had better be honest about it. Firstly, because someone, somewhere might have photos to prove what I did in the 90s. Secondly, because age comes with a certain level of "don't give a damn" that I am enjoying leveraging.

So what do I do?

1. Create a lot of content online because I enjoy it and I am an attention-seeking show pony.
2. Train organisations in digital skills, AI adoption and speaking confidence.
3. Train individuals in all those same things in-person and online.
4. Buy distressed retail and food/bev businesses, fix them and grow them.
5. Train small business owners Australia-wide on behalf of Meta AU/NZ.
6. Deliver digital advisory services for the ASBAS Digital Solutions program.
7. Deliver an innovation and entrepreneurship program for Darwin Innovation Hub.
8. Write long lists of things that I do.

You can book a one-hour call with me for $165 (AU).
You can subscribe to my newsletters through this profile.
You can run screaming from this profile and tell people I'm an idiot.

I'm happy with any of those actions.

Dante St James

I admit it. My LinkedIn Local nights in 2025 got stale. As the year dragged on, I felt like I was just "calling it in."

I had to make a decision this year on whether I let the whole thing go, or try something new.

Given that I have quit way too many things over way too many years, I decided to give it one more year, but mix it up.

Our February LinkedIn Local Darwin event wasn't a networking event, but networking happened.

It wasn't a pitching event, but people pitched naturally and within context.

The food and drinks were there as they usually would be.

But the whole thing was different.

I stole the idea of movement to music from Ripple Festival, who did this so well last year

I made up an activity called "Build a Bridge" where groups collaborated on ideas of how to get each other from where they are to where they want to be.

We made bloody paper planes and threw them around.

People relaxed. They laughed. They had conversations that lasted long after the activities stopped.

So I guess that I'll be continuing LinkedIn Local Darwin this year after all.

But I suppose that was the plan all along.

Oh - and the next one in April will be completely different to this one as well.

I'll let you know when it's on in the next month.

Educating entrepreneurs, speakers & leaders.

Opal Healthcare

Communications Manager

Communications and Engagement Manager

Tiny artist

Art CV

Kangaroo Valley Art Prize 2020 - Semi-finalist
Blacktown City Art Prize 2017 - Finalist
Kangaroo Valley Art Prize 2018 - Finalist

Guest on ABC Radio's All in the Mind: Prescribing Art for Mental Health (https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/prescribing-art-for-mental-health/12523324)

Freelance writer

I write anything that interests me, from horror to juvenile fiction, from absurdist to historical. I've also written a poem.

I was awarded an Australian Society of Authors mentorship in 2008 and an Australian Horror Writers Association mentorship in 2010. I wrote the Little Red Ute series (Omnibus Books 2010), which have featured in the NSW Premiers' Reading Challenge and the children's television program Wurrawhy. Local language editions of the Little Red Ute series have been published by Modern Education Press (China).

Literary CV

Australian Horror Writers Association mentorship - 2010
Australian Society of Authors mentorship for adult fiction - 2008

Books:
Little Red Ute and the dump trucks
Omnibus Books
July 2010

Little Red Ute visits the farm
Omnibus Books
July 2010

Little Red Ute and the big race
Omnibus Books
September 2010

Little Red Ute enters the ute parade
Omnibus Books
September 2010

Novellas:

The Road to Ophir (as Adam Kilby)
Smashwords

Short stories:

Zoo Quest and The Max and Emily Code 2016 - for the NRMA

The crow
Short and Twisted 2013
Celapene Press

A day at the gallery
Short and Twisted 2011
Celapene Press

One of those girls
365 Days of Flash
Pill Hill Press

After the fire
365 Days of Flash
Pill Hill Press

Idi’s Army
Short and Twisted 2009
Celapene Press

Australia Day
Short and Twisted 2008 
Celapene Press

Professional memberships:
Australian Society of Authors

Australian Horror Writers Association

Competitions:

Ice Cream Sunday
Shortlisted - Charlotte Duncan Prize
Celapene Press
June 2010

The Labours of Mediocus
Commended - Best of Times Short Story Competition – Spring 2008

Woolworths Group

Communications Specialist

NRMA

Internal Communications Advisor

NBN Co Limited

Advisor, Internal Communications and Intranet

NSW Business Chamber

Communications Executive

Systems Manager

Australian Business Limited

PC Support Officer/Systems Administrator

I’m an experienced communicator, with a strong project and strategy background. I’m confident working with stakeholders at all levels, and enjoy finding creative ways to engage people. My career has spanned internal and external communication in professional services, retail, motoring, and telecommunications. I believe communication may start from the what, why, where, who and how but people are at the heart of every message and everybody has a story worth telling.

I also love a segue, and 'story' brings me to writing and creating tiny art. I don’t understand verb conjugation or gerunds but I like to think I know when words work and when they don’t. I read a lot, and I think that helps. One day I submitted a picture book manuscript and a marketing plan (which no marketer would recognise as such) and was lucky enough to end up with The Little Red Ute series. And I mean it when I say ‘lucky’. You need to do the work but you also need things to fall your way to get a book contract. Before that, I held mentorships with the Australian Society of Authors and the Australian Horror Writers Association. 

The next step is making sure those mentorships weren’t earned in vain. Novellas – beautiful, spare things you can knock over in a train trip. They don’t sell but I love reading them and I love writing them. So that’s what I do. Practice may not make perfect but it makes you better, so my latest thing is writing haikus in cards instead of saying ‘Happy birthday’. My other grand project is a manuscript on tiny art (more on the art below).

The proudest moment in my career was when I was invited to read one of my Little Red Ute books at my son’s preschool. I finished reading and asked ‘Any questions?’ One boy raised his hand and asked why I was wearing a blue shirt. I thought that was a wonderful, original question. I smile every time I think of it.  
 
When I’m not writing, I like to make tiny sculptures, sketch whatever comes to mind, and paint miniature landscapes, portraits and genre scenes on old business cards and recycled materials, like tiles and wood. Most of my paintings don’t turn out as I imagined them but sometimes I paint something I’m rather pleased with. Whatever the result, making art makes me happy. It puts me in a euphoric mood that can be annoying for others. People frown at me and say “What are you so happy about?” I was a finalist in the 2017 Blacktown City Art Prize and the 2018 Kangaroo Valley Art Prize (semi-finalist in 2020), which, along with the Little Red Ute books, are just about the highlights of my life.

taplio

The Battle

Dante St James

Mitch Lewis

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taplio

The Battle

Dante St James

Mitch Lewis

Followers

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dante St James's LinkedIn Performance

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