Rae Johnston

Rae Johnston is a multi-award-winning journalist, TV, and radio presenter focusing on the geekier side of life.

The first Science & Technology Editor for NITV at SBS, Rae is also a producer and host of the top-rated technology podcast, Queens of the Drone Age.

A leading commentator on all things science, technology, business and pop culture, Rae has worked with every major television and radio network in Australia at some stage of her decade-long career. Today, you will most likely catch her hosting documentaries or travel shows, presenting science and technology segments or reading the news with SBS, NITV, ABC and Network Ten.

Rae is currently serving on the boards of both the Telstra Foundation and Swinburne University of Technology. She also acts as an External Assessor with Screen Australia and Film Victoria, helping to fund independent video game development.

Previously, Rae was the first female editor of Gizmodo Australia and the first Indigenous editor of the youth media website Junkee.

Rae is a proud Wiradjuri woman born and raised on Dharug and Gundungurra country, where she lives today. Becoming a single Mum at 19 fuelled her to follow her passions, and show her son how to achieve his dreams.

Rae’s work has seen her awarded the Lighting The Way prize for advocacy and support of the Australian games industry at the Australian Game Developer Awards. The Australian Games Awards named her Journalist of the Year and The Gamechanger – awarded for challenging negative misconceptions about video games. Most recently, she took out the Best Consumer Technology Coverage prize at the Australian IT Journalism Awards.

Rae is a founding mentor with The Working Lunch program, supporting underrepresented entry-level people in the video game industry, and is also a mentor and media trainer for Science Media Centre Australia’s Indigenous Science program and the Superstars of STEM.

Rae is a warm and highly professional MC. In the last 10 years, she has handed out hundreds of awards and chaired even more discussions about science, technology, business and pop culture for corporations, government and the not-for-profit sector.