About Us

Penny Burke, the Director of Essence, began the Essence consultancy in 2006 after many years experience with a wide range of marketing and communications projects, large and small, in a range of sectors from traditional packaged goods and retail to services and social marketing.

From the very beginning, her passion for strategic communication, straight forward advice and specific measurable outcomes was evident. And today, this is still a passion that every member of the Essence team shares and seeks to uphold.

Over a number of years Essence has been lucky enough to work with a range of outstanding clients with genuinely fascinating projects, often complex and sensitive stakeholders, and frequently urgent deadlines(!).  To see more of the specific Essence clients and testimonials click Our Clients.

As a boutique consultancy, we pride ourselves on our nimble and innovative services, our senior personnel who are used to working at the highest level, and our level of organisational responsiveness and attention to detail.

We also share a strong and enduring philosophy that family is important. We don’t just ‘talk’ about being family friendly – we live and breathe it every day. Everyone at Essence is encouraged to try and find that elusive work life balance – to live the joy of family life whilst simultaneously working on challenging and fascinating projects, delivering beyond the call of duty. We do strive to ‘have it all’ – and we very often succeed (if on small amounts of sleep!).

Our Key People

Penny Burke has worked in the field of marketing and advertising for her entire career spanning Melbourne, Sydney, and London.  Prior to establishing Essence over five years ago, she spent 12 years at Clemenger BBDO as Strategy Planning Director, overseeing strategic developments for major communications projects.  She holds a Bachelor of Business (Marketing), and has lectured and tutored at a range of Melbourne universities including RMIT, Monash and Swinburne.  She also sits on the board of Kennards Hire, a privately owned tool hire company, and Brainwave, a charity established for children and their families suffering from acquired brain injury. Penny is a full member of the Australian Social and Market Research Society (AMSRS), is a Qualified Practising Market Researcher (QPMR), a member of the Australian Marketing Institute and the Institute of Board Directors.

To contact Penny, please email her on penny@essencecomms.com.au or call her on Tel: 03 9572 4125 or Mobile: 0419 620 755.

Alison French, Senior Consultant, has a Bachelor of Communications and is a member of the Australian Market Research Society. She has 13 years experience in marketing and research and spent three years heading communications for Victorian Department of Human Services (DHS – now Department of Health and Department of Human Services) and six years with the Department of Defence.

Alison’s area of expertise is in strategic communications, consultation and market research. She has a natural skill in facilitation which ensures clear direction and achievable outcomes for her clients.

Alison’s achievements include managing a major statewide project aimed at building confidence in Victoria’s public health system and project managing and co-facilitating an extensive consultation program for the government reforms into childcare and early childhood education. This included 48 public forums and 35 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and service providers.

To contact Alison, please email her on alison@essencecomms.com.au or call her Tel: 03 9572 4125 or Mobile: 0412 553 376.

Tracey Steedman, Project Manager has extensive project management experience across a range of industry sectors. She is extremely well organised and professional, managing multiple projects concurrently to deliver efficient and effective services to every client. Tracey is an expert event manager co-ordinating seminars, meetings and forums with particular expertise in logistics management, scheduling and event format and design. She has an attention to detail that ensures each project runs smoothly, on time and to budget. 

To contact Tracey, please email her on tracey@essencecomms.com.au or call her Tel: 03 9572 4125 or Mobile: 0412 772 359.