Isabelle Oderberg was born in Melbourne but moved to Hong Kong soon after, spending her formative years there with her family. She came back to Melbourne, finished high school and completed a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism).
After working in the tech trade press, she headed to London where she worked within the financial trade press, as well as at Reuters and Dow Jones Newswires. She returned to Australia in 2006 to work at Australian Associated Press as lead mining writer before becoming founding news editor at Business Spectator, where she was later interviews editor and China commentator. She then moved to the Herald Sun, becoming the country’s first social media editor, before being elevated to become national social media editor for News Corp in Australia. She then moved into the not-for-profit space as social media lead for Australian Red Cross, before working in a variety communications and media relations roles.
Most recently she was acting editor of Pro Bono News, in addition to her freelancing work and writing her first book, Hard to Bear: Investigating the science and silence of miscarriage. She has written for Meanjin, The Guardian, ArtsHub, Beat Magazine, The Age & SMH and more. She was a founding committee member of Women In Media Victoria, a board member at the Melbourne Press Club and Quills judge for five years and has lectured extensively in journalism. She is the former editor of Pro Bono News and is now the Deputy CEO of the Public Interest Journalism Initiative.