2026 Shortlisted Nominee
Positive Role Model Award: Gender
Yvette Cave is a personal trainer, community leader and founder of Wave Wahines, a surf club she created 10 years ago to support girls and later women over 30 facing barriers to accessing sport, and now supports all ages into surfing. Recognising the lack of ethnic diversity in surf spaces, she created bespoke programs for diverse ethnic communities, including the Syrian Surf Club for girls displaced by conflict and developed surf‑therapy programmes for women living in refuge from domestic violence . Yvette speaks and writes on equity in surfing and ocean advocacy, and now serves as EDI Manager for Surfers Against Sewage. She has also delivered trans+ and non‑binary youth sessions, championing inclusive, safe access to ocean sports. Yvette is now a Churchill Fellow and is working to making systemic change across the sector and space she is so passionate about.