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Lived Experience Speakers

Charlie Di Stefano

Charlie Di Stefano

I’m a lived experience storyteller whose advocacy began long before I ever stepped into a speaking role. It started the day I lost my brother, Lucca, when I was 17. That moment split my life in two and I had no roadmap for what came next. I was a teenager trying to carry an adult-sized weight, surrounded by people who cared but didn’t know how to talk about death. The silence around me was loud. Friends avoided the topic, teachers didn’t know what to say, and even family members struggled to look at grief directly.

That sense of isolation stayed with me for years. It taught me how deeply uncomfortable our society is with grief, how quickly we shut down when loss enters the room, and how many young people end up navigating it alone because no one ever showed them how to talk about it. That became the seed of everything I do now.

My project Is This Forever? grew directly out of that experience. It started as a film about my relationship with Lucca, the way we grew up together, the memories that shaped us, and the pieces of him that still guide me. But it became much more than a film. It became a space where I could finally explore questions I’d held onto for years: What does it mean to lose someone so young? How do you rebuild identity, family, and self after a loss that big? How do you grieve when the world avoids the topic entirely?

Through creating the project, I discovered how healing art could be. Storytelling became my way of breaking the taboo around death, not just for myself but for others who felt the same silence I once did. I learned to show up emotionally, to lead with compassion, and to embrace sides of myself I once pushed down, especially the softer, intuitive, vulnerable qualities often labelled as feminine. Those qualities weren’t weaknesses; they became the foundation of my strength.

That realisation shaped my mission. I’m passionate about helping young people, particularly young men, access the full spectrum of who they are. Too many boys grow up believing they have to hide their emotions, power through pain, or harden themselves to survive. That hyper-masculine path doesn’t just shut down vulnerability, it disconnects them from themselves and can lead to dangerous behaviours, loneliness, and a fear of expressing anything real.

My work is about offering an alternative. I want to show young people that grief doesn’t have to be hidden, that talking about death doesn’t make you weak, and that embracing your emotional side can be one of the most courageous things you ever do.

Whether I’m speaking in schools, sharing my story through film, or engaging with communities, my goal is the same: to create spaces where people feel safe to talk about the hardest parts of being human, without shame, without judgment, and without pretending they’re fine when they’re not.

Lucca’s memory lives through every talk I give, every story I share, and every young person who realises they don’t have to navigate grief alone. That is why I do this work and why I will continue to do it.

Previous experience

I have delivered a number of talks in high schools across Victoria, sharing my lived experience with grief, loss, and masculinity, and helping young people feel more comfortable having honest conversations around topics we’re often taught to avoid.

I’ve spoken at multiple film festivals where my work and personal story have been featured, and I’ve contributed to discussions on grief, mental health, and resilience for news articles, radio interviews, and podcasts.

Across every setting, my focus has been on creating safe, open spaces for young people and communities to explore difficult emotions, challenge outdated ideas of masculinity, and understand that grief is not something to hide from — it’s something we can grow through.

Rate of pay

To be discussed on request

Areas of advocacy

Changing the way Adolescents view death, grief and masculinity

Contact details

Location

Victoria

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