DUNGOG Shire’s tech and business community is celebrating a major achievement, with local founder Emma Spartalis awarded third place in the Women in Tech category at the 2025 Women Changing the World Australia and the Pacific (APAC) Awards.
The prestigious awards, which have an international reach, attract thousands of nominations each year from across the APAC region.
They recognise women driving meaningful change in innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership, education and humanitarian impact.
Progressing from nominee to finalist and now award recipient has been especially meaningful for Spartalis, a rural mum of two young children under the age of three.
Based in Dungog Shire, Spartalis is the founder of AI Doubles™ and Spartalis Consulting, where she builds ethical, human-centred artificial intelligence designed to support women and regional communities.
She was also featured this week in national publication Woman’s Agenda, sharing her story with a national online audience.
Spartalis is believed to be the first tech founder in Dungog Shire and almost certainly the first female tech founder in the region to be recognised at this level.
“This has been incredibly meaningful,” she said.
“I’m so proud to be able to share this story with my fellow rural neighbours.”
Emma’s journey into tech was far from traditional.
After leaving school in Year 10, she later earned both a degree and an MBA and now represents rural Australia in a field typically dominated by major cities.
Category leaders from the APAC awards will go on to represent the region on the world stage in Paris in April 2026.
By Shannon BENTON
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