Jason Kimberley
Founder & CEO
Cool Australia
Victoria, Australia
“Our environment is not separate to us. It’s not the environment...it’s ours.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationJason Kimberley
Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
Growing up, I became more and more concerned that we were constantly taking from nature without giving much back.
I did well in school and really enjoyed it growing up but I didn’t have much interest in continuing after high school—I went to college but dropped out after a semester to travel and start working.
After visiting Antarctica with some friends, I started doing research for a book about our trip—through that research, I discovered that there were many bizarre and unethical practices going on.
I realized we had a lack of knowledge about conservation and sustainability, and decided to take it upon myself to create classroom resources to help spread awareness at the student level.
I was running a publishing and photography company at the time, which my staff and I transitioned into an online education business called Cool Australia.
I self-funded the business for the first few years to get us off the ground, but it didn’t take long for Cool Australia to gain a lot of interest and start making an impact in schools.
Cool Australia is now in 90% of schools in Australia, but I hope there comes a day when Cool Australia doesn’t need to exist because conservation and sustainability are inherent in the school system.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Founder & CEO
I lead a company that helps to get sustainability curriculum into classrooms.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Environment & Nature
Education
Teaching / Mentoring
Day to Day
It's my job to make sure everyone else in the organization has the tools they need to succeed. I spend my time checking in with everyone to make sure they're on track with their work and that the company is running smoothly.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
When creating a company, you first have to believe in yourself and understand what you're doing. If you don't, no one else will. Measure what you bring to the table. Evaluate your audience and measure how you'd tip the scale. Analyze the state of things without your product, then analyze the state with your product. How big is that impact? What's it worth? It's also important to find people to support your weaknesses. If you're an ideas person, you need to put detail-oriented people around you.
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"You need to know what you're doing, when you're going to do it, and how to get there."
Challenges I Overcame
Work Stress
Financial
