CO-CREATING RESILIENT FUTURES BY JOINING THE DOTS BETWEEN PEOPLE, PLANET AND LIVED EXPERIENCE
Image: Golden Everlasting Daisy (Xerochrysum viscosum)
Once Upon Tomorrow is a specialised change consultancy founded by Maree Grenfell that co-creates resilient futures by joining the dots between people, planet, knowledge, and lived experience.
We focus on navigating uncertainty and responding to the interconnections and complexities of the climate emergency, and societal challenges. By building social capital and designing creative and strategic frameworks, Once Upon Tomorrow helps organisations and communities transition toward a just future where they can adapt, survive, and thrive.
We we this by:
Inclusive collaboration: Designing and facilitating dynamic workshops, labs, and courageous conversations where everyone has a voice to reach clear, actionable goals.
Supported transformation: Designing and delivering programs that shift perspective and practice, ensuring organisations and communities are prepared for both today's and tomorrow's shocks and stresses.
Systems level change: Co-creating strategy and policy designed for action (not sitting on the shelf!)
Collaborative impact: Supporting major cross-sectoral initiatives and bringing exceptional teams together for greater capacity.
ABOUT MAREE GRENFELL FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL
Maree Grenfell is a prominent change strategist and facilitator specialising in urban, community and disaster resilience. She is passionate about this beautiful world and committed to working with others for lasting change.
Maree is best known for her landmark tenure as the Deputy Chief Resilience Officer for Resilient Melbourne (part of the Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities network), where she co-authored Australia’s first metropolitan-wide resilience strategy involving 32 local councils. Her career spans leadership roles at the City of Melbourne and Cairns Regional Council, as well as academic contributions to the University of Melbourne's Beyond Disasters Advisory Committee.
Maree’s core expertise lies in transformational facilitation and systems-level strategy, specifically designed for an era of climate emergency and social uncertainty. She is a specialist in community-led disaster resilience, having trained over 1,000 practitioners in the fundamental skills required to identify and respond to local shocks and stresses. By blending strategic urban planning with a human-centered approach, Maree excels at helping organisations build "collaborative capacity," fostering the courageous conversations needed to shift perspectives and create equitable, future-ready communities.
Image: Gratitude to Mara Ripani at Village Dreaming
OUR SERVICES
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STRATEGY & SYSTEMS CHANGE
Time is of the essence for radical transformations - not for strategy that sits on the shelf! Good strategy can enable ambitious outcomes and provide pathways to shift culture.
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ENGAGEMENT & CAPACITY BUILDING
We love facilitating conversations that connect diverse perspectives and emerge inherent wisdom. We can design community conversations, workshops and capacity building / training programs.
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TOOLS & ACTION
Sometimes we need a creative hand to unpack complexity and join dots to enable effective action. We love creating tools to help multi-disciplinary thinking and to get things done.
