Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins has made her first major career move since leaving her parliamentary role four years ago. Higgins, who shortly after departing her role became an advocate for survivors of sexual assault.
In her first career move in four years and an attempt to ‘own her identity’ outside of the media, the ex-political staffer has joined independent public relations agency Third Hemisphere as director of public affairs.
“There was this general feeling of ‘how long do I have to be the story for?’ At what point do I get to put it to rest and actually get on the tools and be a working person again, and have my own identity outside this narrative of Brittany Higgins,” Higgins told The Australian Financial Review.
“Who I was was really founded in my work. I was the most intense person back in the day – the first one in and the last one out – I had no work-life balance, and it was exactly how I liked it.
“To lose that was really quite tough. To start to reclaim that sense of identity feels good.”
The new job shouldn’t require too much adjustment for the former Liberal staffer, who had an established career in media relations before being forced into the spotlight. Third Hemisphere founder and CEO Hannah Moreno is a rape and domestic violence survivor and also does advocacy work around gender equality and sexual harassment. This helped secure Higgins decision to join the PR agency.
“As a multiple-time rape survivor myself, I have long admired Brittany’s courage in taking a public stand on her own experiences, and the deeper gender inequities occurring in our highest halls of power. But beyond this, it is her depth of skill and experience in media, government, public policy, and advocacy that attracted her as a candidate for this role,” Moreno said.
Moreno claimed The Women Leading Tech Award in 2024, Presented By Atlassian. The award celebrates Moreno as a woman who drives innovations, create change, smash glass ceilings and forge bold new paths for everyone to follow.
Higgins will also be joining husband David Sharaz, who joined the PR agency earlier in the year as a director.
Both are working from home full-time whilst taking care of their three-month-old son Freddie.
“We made a promise to ourselves that we weren’t going to put our life on hold,” said Sharaz.
“Jeremy [Third Hemisphere managing director] and Hannah come to this with open arms, knowing that there is still going to be media mentions of us, we’re still going to occasionally have to navigate that world, and it’s hard to find an employer who will respect that.”
