The ACT’s Local Hero award recipients for 2025 are passionate about empowering migrant women, writes Jo Falvey.
“We won an award recently, and afterwards, as we were getting the photos taken, people were like, ‘You look very natural together, this is so nice. Oh, you’re best friends, aren’t you?’ ‘We are and this is also my wife,” said Hannah.
Hannah Costello and Vanessa Brettell met at a busy London pub in 2015. Both had worked in the hospitality industry since they were teenagers. During Vanessa’s time at university, she went on an exchange program to Colombia where she witnessed stark inequalities. In Cartagena she saw how tourism brought wealth to the city yet many people lived in poverty, with the influx of money not being distributed fairly. Reflecting on these experiences, Vanessa decided that her passion and skills could best be used to create a social enterprise—one that could give back in a meaningful and lasting way.
They opened the first Cafe Stepping Stone in Colombia, where it ran successfully for three years before COVID-19 shut the borders and they made their way back to Australia. They first opened in the artist community at Strathnairn Arts in West Belconnen. They opened the second location in Dickson under Common Ground Canberra, a low-cost supportive housing initiative offering employment opportunities to those living in the building and beyond.
The motivation for opening the cafe also stems from Vanessa’s family history. Her grandmother migrated from India to Canberra in the 1960s with her husband and children, who were one of the first Indian families in the city. The family focused on full assimilation, only speaking English at home and avoiding traditional practices like wearing saris outside. Unfortunately, this effort led to social isolation for her grandmother. Vanessa is determined to prevent new arrivals from experiencing the same sense of isolation. “My grandmother’s experience was one of social isolation,” she says. “She didn’t feel she could freely express herself and I don’t want new arrivals to feel like that.”
At Cafe Stepping Stone, Vanessa and Hannah aim to provide a space where people can feel part of society, offering social opportunities for connection, informed choice and belonging.
Hannah points out the difference it makes for their staff, some of whom can only work a few hours a week but find joy and a sense of community in the café. “They say, ‘I would just be at home with my family. I wouldn’t see anyone. But here, I get to come out, talk to people and I feel at home at work,’” she says.
Cafe Stepping Stone is located at 90 Stockdill Drive, Strathnairn and 8 Hawdon Place, Dickson. Check out the menus at https://cafesteppingstone.com/
