Lisa Finn Powell is an arts and culture and community engagement professional, speaker, author, publicist, producer, presenter, copywriter, vocalist, vocal coach, musician and choral conductor. She regularly works across sectors as a media consultant, strategic planning facilitator, keynote, MC and moderator.
She was previously the Relationships Manager for Penrith Performing & Visual Arts, working within a busy multi-artform context (Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith Conservatorium of Music, Q Theatre and Penrith regional Gallery) managing the publicity and media, community and stakeholder engagement, development and strategic partnerships. She created, produced and hosted the Women Out West panel discussion series at the Joan showcasing the diverse voices of western Sydney women. She also co-produced and presented the Stories Around the World radio show and podcast.
Lisa is a multi-genre vocalist and band leader and has performed around the world including, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Dover Street Jazz Club, Australian War Memorial and National Museum of Australia. In London she created and headed up the vocal coaching arm of Felix’s School of Rock, conducted the FSOR Rock Choir and was the founder and director of Flash Choir London. For the 2012 London Olympics, she was selected as a Sing Out! choral director for the Cultural Olympiad.
She is the author of The Thin Time (2018) and the upcoming Accidental Expat series (2026), and is an alumnus of Varuna, the National Writers House. In 2015, she developed the Notes to Self and Writing in the Dark writing workshop series. As a journalist, columnist and writer, her work has been published in the US, UK and Australia.
She holds a Master’s Degree, Social Policy (University of East London) and a Bachelor’s Degree Communications, Art History and English Literature (University of Missouri).
Lisa currently serves on the Board of the Penrith Valley Chamber of Commerce (since 2022) and on the Management Committee of the Penrith Women’s Health Centre (since 2024).