Meet the Team!
 | Pronouns: She/Her Caitlin VanDolderen is an enthusiastic, friendly 23-year-old who is currently completing her Certificate 3 in business at YO Bendigo. She spends most of her time with her 4-year-old son watching Paw Patrol or playing pretend. She is a sucker for a rom-com and will always cry during “me before you”. She hopes to continue learning as much as she can and keep pushing herself to do her best. Caitlin is passionate about ensuring everybody feels safe and accepted and can be unapologetically themselves. She is excited to see where her time at YO Bendigo takes her and has an open mind about her future. |
| Caitlin VanDolderen - Community Connections Trainee - Youth | |
 | Pronouns: She/Her Self-defined as a unique mixture of confident but awkward, Jesse is the go-to for any enquiries regarding events, joining the YO events or inviting a young person to perform at your event! From a small, rural township, Jesse has always been passionate about the local community and ensuring young people from regional and rural areas have plenty of opportunities to follow their passions and be their best confident selves. Always known as the “arty kid” throughout high school, Jesse has always enjoyed painting, drawing and anything that involves having a flair for creativity (with a few fun murals around Bendigo). This is showcased by her bachelor’s in fine arts, a bachelor’s in Business Management and Marketing, and through her involvement in varying hackathons, accelerator programs and community-based arts and media roles. |
| Jesse Munzel - Community Connections Officer - Youth | |
 | Pronouns: She/Her Chelsea is a mother of 2, comes from a big family and has lived in Bendigo all her life. She likes a good scary movie, anything Bratz, fun socks, banana flavour (but not real bananas!), metal and pop punk music and going on long drives and adventures with family and friends. She doesn’t like country music or cheese on anything ever, including pizza. You can find Chelsea taking her kids to the park most weekends, or doing the latest hobby she has picked up- the most recent is teaching herself how to do acrylic nails. |
| Chelsea Hill - Community Connections Officer - Youth | |
 | Pronouns: He/Him Leon Moulden has a diverse background in higher education, the community sector, small business, and local government. Leon has worked in several community development roles since commencing work at the City of Greater Bendigo in 2016 and has been in his current position as the Youth Lead since July 2021. Leon supports the City of Greater Bendigo Youth Council and its activities, which include overseeing the development and implementation of the City’s strategic commitment to young people in Greater Bendigo. When he isn’t busy supporting young people to be empowered and active young leaders, Leon is either in his vegetable garden or revegetating his eight-hectare property. Leon has qualifications in the social sciences and has an unfinished PhD gathering dust on a shelf in his library. |
| Leon Moulden - Community Connections Officers - Youth Lead | |
Others you might see | |
 | Pronouns: She/Her Kristy is a born and raised Bendigo woman. She works in the Early Years section of the Community Connections team and is always busy with the next great event for children in Greater Bendigo. Kirsty started working for the City in 1998 and has had many roles that support children in our community ever since. You might have also seen Kristy running around with the Bendigo Easter Festival each year. Kristy is the proud mum of three teenagers and two very spoilt dogs! She is always out running around with her family, whether that’s from footy, cricket, basketball or dancing. She loves Bendigo for its food, events, culture, parks and open spaces. |
| Kristy Bennett - Community Connections Early Years Events | |
 | Pronouns: She/Her Jo has spent most of her career working in communication, employee engagement and change roles in medium to large corporations. Her first job was as a journalist and that’s where she developed a love for connecting with the community, something she’s enjoying again in her current role. This is Jo’s first stint working for local government and after 5 years she still gets to learn something new most days. In her role Jo leads the Early Years, Youth, Positive Ageing and Community Engagement teams to do all the wonderful work they do. Outside the office, you may see Jo being dragged around the streets by a big black dog that was meant to be a labradoodle but is definitely more wolfhound than anything else. |
| Jo Connellan - Community Connections Coordinator | |
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