Bec Allen is a foundation student of BDC, starting in Year 7 in 1995 and sitting for the HSC in 2000. She was the inaugural House Leader for O’Shane House and excelled in Drama and Visual Arts. Bec is a graduate of NIDA (Bachelor of Theatre, Technical Production), University of South Australia (MBA) and the University of London (Masters in International Diplomacy). 

Bec spent 15 years working in the cultural sector, touring new Australian theatrical productions across the country and around the world. She has produced over 20 mainstage productions and worked with companies including Sydney Theatre Company, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Belvoir and Force Majeure. She has sat on the Board of numerous not for profits organisations and is a peer assessor for state and federal funding programs. 

Bec and her partner, Dr Kathryn McCabe embarked on an adventure in 2016, relocating to California where Bec began work as an adviser to the UN Special Rapporteur in Cultural Rights whilst completing her second Masters.

They ended up spending five years in the US, travelling to 48 of the 50 states, hiking, cycling and sampling the culinary delights of America. Highlights included; scaling Half Dome in Yosemite, seeing bears in the Grand Tetons, participating in the inaugural Women’s March and meeting the notorious RBG. 

Bec and Kathryn have spent the past 3.5 years in Washington DC where Bec was Director of Cultural and Public Diplomacy at the Embassy of Australia. A highlight of which was coordinating the AUS/US State Visit in September 2019. In her own words, she says, “However the work I am most proud of is the many Australian artists and companies I was able to support and assist to show their work in the US, to connect with their peers and to experience for themselves the project that is America. I also relished the opportunity to work outside of my arts background and jumped wholeheartedly into anything human rights and foreign policy related.

But mostly with experiences that will influence us personally and professionally forever. My biggest lesson has been a truer understanding of the saying "you can't be, what you can't see". I saw and benefitted from so many acts of kindness, of constructive critique, of women helping women, of standing up and speaking out and the deep value of community service. “

Finally, Bec headed home at the end of 2020 during Covid-19, to take up a position with the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra in the Soft Power section. Bec is looking forward to representing Australia in future postings abroad.

What an amazing journey, Bec. Congratulations for what you have done and for the person you are.