About

Michele Ong is a creative technologist, content creator, business owner, and entrepreneur who holds a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science and a BA in Asian Studies. She has over 20 years of experience in the tech industry, doing the remote work thing long before COVID made it mainstream in Australia, and has worked with small businesses, startups, and internationally recognised brands in Australia, North America, and Europe, consulting on technological and business solutions for their personal and business development goals. In 2022 and 2023, Michele was nominated for the Women in Tech WA Tech [+] Award in the Advocacy, Community & Volunteering category.

Despite the solitary nature of her work, Michele rather likes people. She even made her Computer Science Honours thesis about psychometrics and the qualities that can contribute to success in computing. The experience initiated a lifelong passion for the anthropology of STEMM, and looking for the liminal spaces that connect people and technology.

This curiosity about people, women in STEMM (being one herself), and their stories, as well as the increasingly cross-disciplinary nature of these fields, led her to produce a YouTube channel and podcast called STEAM Powered to increase the visibility of women in STEAM, communicate the depth of scope of these fields, and highlight the importance the Arts and humanity as a part of the STEMM whole.

Since its launch, Michele has shared the journeys and life lessons of more than 60 fascinating STEAM Powered women from around the world, inspiring herself and audiences in more than 50 countries with coverage of topics not just in STEMM fields, but also experiences with mental health, ethics, changing fields, alternative academic careers, motherhood, being a first generation college student, and balancing the two-body problem.

In addition to her consulting work, Michele is developing SaaS tools to optimise workflows and facilitate growth and audience reach for content creators and podcasters like herself. Her first product is Podbite for annotation and sharing of longform podcast content that can be used as a learning aid for listeners, and a promotional tool for creatives, speakers, and producers.

Michele will soon be launching her second podcast, The Rejection Economy. In her conversations through STEAM Powered, and with others she has met on her own journey, rejection (and failure) is a frequent theme, and one with which Michele is becoming acquainted in her own path as a creator and entrepreneur.

Ever curious, she wants to know more.