Our Team

Cofounder & President

Jodie is a large-hearted creative virtuoso, unleashed! Her conscientious core combines with a deep commitment to living authentic to her ethics, Jodie is a mother and animal lover celebrating more than ten years as a passionate vegan. Co-founder and President of the sanctuary, she dedicates her time to delivering our mission and message to the world: providing care and guiding compassion for all animals. She is our most public (human) face at the sanctuary and takes particular joy from leading our conservation efforts for wilderness regeneration to restore and protect the land.

With a diverse professional background in interior design, leadership, music composition, and fine art, Jodie takes great pride in mentoring tertiary students, guiding them to nurture their artistic talents and build purposeful careers. For Jodie, mentorship is about more than imparting technical and aesthetic skills—it’s about fostering authenticity, resilience, and the belief that art can drive meaningful change in the world. 

Jodie brings the same drive and energy when designing meaningful spaces, composing music, supporting animal rights, or empowering other creatives. Her personal mission: let's make a difference with heart, integrity, and a deep commitment to ethical and sustainable practices.

Cofounder & Secretary

Glenn chose vegan when he was sixteen years old. He was out fishing with his Dad and caught the slowly fading eyes of a beautiful Snapper he had just caught. It rocked him like a tidal wave suddenly hitting the boat:  we are all one on this planet, using my own wits to harm another animal, let alone paying for someone else to use theirs, is not only unfair but ultimately harmful to all of us.  

As a young adult Glenn developed a passion for protecting native bushland in Australia. Some twenty years later, when the time finally came to put his modest moolah where his mouth moves, he decided to bring these two passions together and help create an animal and wilderness sanctuary, adjacent to one of Australia's most precious national parks.  

Often scratching his fingers as the property manager at Sanctuary of Sentient Beings, Glenn spends his dawn and dusk caring for the land and tending to sheep, cows, dogs, cats, one little human, kangaroos, wallabies and occasionally even koalas.  

Glenn is also a singer songwriter with decades of collecting callouses touring and releasing music (glennmusto.net). He maintains his passion to care for country through strategic regional land use planning projects and loves to teach and write about zen philosophy. 

Treasurer

Melissa has known Glenn and Jodie for more than 20 years through the wonderful world of music, and after learning of the Sanctuary, she offered to help the best way she knew how; working with finances. Lo and behold, Melissa is our Treasurer!

Melissa operates her own accounting firm, Sidekick Advisory; has been playing classical guitar since she was 6 and dabbles in writing her own music (albeit extremely shy); grew up with birds, dogs, cats, ducks, and loves to cuddle any animal that will let her do so.

Melissa enjoys taking walks in the bush with her camera (and husband) and snapping pictures of the local wildlife. Taking life slow where possible and enjoying the world around us.

Vice President

Gavin spent much of his youth immersed in the world of computers, initially in darkened rooms, and later transitioning to similar settings in local pubs, where he discovered the vibrant music scene. It was there that he was fortunate enough to encounter Glenn and Jodie performing in various acts. With a natural talent for the keyboard, Gavin quickly found his niche assisting the duo with band websites and tech-related issues—much to the benefit of their music and everyone within earshot.

Gavin joined the Sanctuary to support its IT infrastructure and is always working to explain things in terms that are accessible to all. When he's not behind his computer, he's likely found serenading his beloved cat, Biscuits, with some of the most questionable karaoke anyone has ever heard.

A vegetarian for the past 24 years, Gavin's commitment to animal welfare deepened the day Biscuits showed up on his doorstep, making it an easy decision to welcome her into his life. By day, he's a software engineer, but his passion for helping animals continues to drive his work at the Sanctuary.