Paul's areas of expertise:

• Relationships (including intimate, social, and working relationships)
• Social and emotional support
• Building emotional intelligence skills; and
• The autistic adult lived experience (including managing burnout, executive function, and sensory needs)

Paul's Bio:

Paul is an autistic life coach, speaker, facilitator, and trainer, with a passion for neurodiversity and emotional intelligence. Leveraging his own lived experience, as well as insights gained from many years working with the autistic community, Paul seeks to promote emotional and psychological safety by bridging the empathy gap between mainstream and neurodivergent culture.

Paul completed a double degree in Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Technology from Monash University in Melbourne Australia. He subsequently worked 5 years as a structural stress analyst for Boeing in Port Melbourne and Seattle. In search of a more meaningful life, he left engineering behind to pursue a career which makes use of his natural talent for communication and Emotional Intelligence. Paul is now an ICF-accredited life-coach and (soon to be published) author of “Unlocking Your Emotional Brain”.

Since discovering his own autism at the age of 30, Paul has worked in a variety of mentoring and educational roles helping parents, students, and teachers, to understand the ‘human side’ of autism.

Shannan's areas of expertise:

• Understanding children's behaviour as a means of communication
• Advocacy across education and support services; and 
• The experience of parenting an autistic child.

Shannan's Bio:

Shannan grew up on the Mornington Peninsula and attended Toorak College in Mount Eliza. She holds a BA from the Australian National University in English Literature,  Psychology, and Sociology. After 15 years of corporate training, procedural writing, and process analyst employment in Sydney, Shannan was inspired to work with Paul Micallef to establish Autism From The Inside after her son was diagnosed with autism just before his third birthday.

She began a master's degree in Autism Studies at Griffith University but deferred it until 2026 to pursue an accelerated master's degree in counselling at the University of Canberra. She plans to return to Griffith University after completing her Counselling Degree, motivated by a passion to cooperate, serve, and connect.

She is a full-time parent, carer, student, and advocate, focusing on collaborating, engaging with, and celebrating intersectionality and ability within the autistic community. Shannan has been formally assessed as autistic in December 2023, and is proudly neurodivergent.