Zara Seidler has achieved what mainstream media couldn’t. Through The Daily Aus, a social-first news platform, she has engaged Generation Z in news and current affairs. With the drinks industry currently defining how it connects with this new generation, Zara was the ideal speaker of the Drinks Association’s 2026 International Women’s Day lunch.
Zara’s keynote explored what it means to build a room that doesn’t yet exist. She shared her learnings from building a newsroom that reaches more than a million Australians each month and provided insights into how she has challenged norms to drive success.
Starting without a roadmap
Zara co-founded The Daily Aus with Sam Koslowski in 2017 after noticing that many of their peers wanted to understand the news but struggled to access it. The problem wasn’t a lack of interest – it was that the news often felt written for people who already understood the system.
“We identified that young people were really curious about the world around them. They were hungry for information, but something was stopping them from actually getting that information,” she explained.
For three years the project remained a side hustle, run outside their full-time jobs. Then the pandemic arrived in 2020 and suddenly millions of Australians were looking for simple, reliable news updates. Their audience grew rapidly and the founders made the decision to raise capital and build the business full time.
“I was actually told by my boss at the time that this was the riskiest thing I could be doing and that it probably wouldn’t work,” Zara shared. “It’s been a long slog trying to prove her wrong but hopefully I’m doing that each and every day.”
The “secret sauce” behind the growth
Reflecting on the growth of The Daily Aus, Zara shared three principles that have shaped the organisation.
The first was a conscious choice of how they would engage with the audience they were trying to build.
“We decided very early on that we were going to speak across from our audience, not down to them,” she said. “We’re not expecting them to know everything. We’re taking them along on a journey of understanding.”
The second principle was meeting audiences where they already are. Rather than trying to push people away from social media or into traditional news formats, the organisation delivers information directly on the platforms young audiences use. They don’t rely on shifting habits but rather bring the story directly to the reader.
The third was investing in future leaders. The Daily Aus newsroom now includes around 30 journalists, all under the age of 30, reflecting the audience they serve and creating opportunities for emerging talent.
“We’re constantly upskilling the next generation of storytellers,” she said. “Not just leaders in media, but people thinking deeply about the issues facing the next generation.”
Learning through failure
While the success of the business is impressive, Zara emphasised that the journey has been full of mistakes.
One memorable example involved a major brand refresh that backfired when audiences strongly rejected the new design.
“We spent months working on it and launched, thinking everyone would be obsessed with it,” she said. “It turns out people really, really hated the font.”
Another moment came when she accidentally uploaded a photo of her own feet into a carousel post about a serious international issue. Rather than hiding from these moments, Zara believes they are essential to growth.
“Failure is fieldwork,” she said. “Every time something goes wrong, it teaches you something you couldn’t have learned any other way.”
Building the room... and keeping the door open
As she closed her presentation, Zara reflected on her experience of building The Daily Aus, namely, how she has done so without a journalism degree.
“Not knowing the rules isn’t a disadvantage,” she explained. “Sometimes it’s the whole advantage. It means that you can be curious, that you can push and that you can create new rules.”
Finally, she encouraged the audience to build new structures and create space for others to follow.
“Every woman in this room has at some point been in a room that wasn’t designed for her,” she said. “When you do get in the room, don’t let the door close behind you. Make sure you leave that door open for someone else to walk through.”
View the full image gallery of the Drinks Association's 2026 International Women's Day event.
Event photography by Belinda Rolland.