Projects
Alongside coaching and consulting, Nicola Penn has brought several projects to life that reflect the things she cares about most.
A deep respect for First Nations culture and the knowledge it carries. A belief in empowering women through quality products. A commitment to the small daily rituals that help people invest in how they feel. And enough perspective to know when to lighten up and have a laugh.
Four very different projects. One consistent thread.
Dance Rites
Launched 2015
Dance Rites is Australia's national First Nations dance competition, created to ensure that vital cultural knowledge, including language, dance, skin markings, instruments and ceremony, passes from one generation to the next.
Nicola worked alongside Rhoda Roberts OAM, Arrow Collective and the team at the Sydney Opera House to launch and establish this landmark event. First Nations culture is not a relic. It is a living, breathing gift that belongs to all of us to understand and protect. Dance Rites exists to make sure it endures.
Since its launch, the event has grown into one of the most significant celebrations of First Nations culture in Australia.
Role: Donor and strategy
Partner: Sydney Opera House, Rhoda Roberts OAM, Arrow Collective
Bloom Street Surf
Launched 2017
Bloom Street Surf began with a simple frustration. The surf accessories available for women were either impractical (not suitable for a quick change in the car park) or function without style.
So Nicola designed them herself.
Every product in the range was built with real surfers in mind. Locally manufactured, thoughtfully designed and made to last. Bloom Street Surf was about empowering women to have exactly what they needed in the water and out, without compromise.
The range sold out.
Role: Founder, designer and brand director
Bloom Daily Oil
Coming Soon
Bloom Daily Oil is a natural, nourishing body oil developed by Nicola as a personal wellness ritual.
There is something powerful about small, considered rituals. The ones that ask nothing dramatic of you but quietly change how you feel. Bloom Daily Oil was created for exactly that. A beautiful, natural product with Australian ingredients, designed to reward the person using it.
Simple. Considered. Yours.
Available to purchase soon.
Aloha
Created 2021
Before viral was a strategy, it was an idea, a storm, and a very short contact list.
A film director approached Nicola and Aloha with a concept: two surfers riding waves in Sydney Harbour, right alongside the Opera House, in the middle of a storm. Simple enough, right? The video was pulled together and edited weeks in advance, then held until the right weather hit Sydney. When it did, it was shared with just three or four people, chosen specifically for their reach and influence within the surf and media industry. Would viewers believe? Could we collectively pull this off?
By mid-afternoon it had gone global. News channels around the world picked it up. The debate about whether it was real drove as much reach as the footage itself. People claimed they had seen those surfers out there. Others argued the geography made it impossible. Every time a significant storm rolled through Sydney in the years that followed, someone new discovered it and the story started again.
Role: Creative strategist and campaign lead
Client: Aloha
