Our Team

The Learn To Surf guides are created by Messenger Publishing, with the support of major surfing organisations and bodies including Surfing Australia, Surfing New South Wales, The Surfers Group owned and operated by world champion surfer Barton Lynch, Manly Surf School, Let's Go Surfing at Bondi Beach, Surfing Byron Bay, SLAM Beach Volleyball Festivals and the Northern Beaches Womens Boardriders Association.

Thanks so much to everyone involved. We're having a blast!


Lisa Messenger
The Learn to Surf series is the brainchild of Bondi resident and surfer (well, she's getting there) Lisa Messenger. Lisa is Managing Director of three marketing and publishing companies and has worked globally in events, sponsorship, marketing, PR and publishing. She has authored nine books and has appeared in numerous news and features in publications such as Marie Claire and Harpers Bazaar and business media such as My Business, Company Director and Anthill. Lisa has won numerous awards and honours, including being named a finalist in both the 2005 and 2006 Telstra Business Woman of the Year Awards as well as being named finalist for the Champion of Champions Award and in 2007, a finalist in the My Business Awards for fastest growing business. She recently won the Thought Leaders Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 Award.

More on Messenger Publishing

Messenger Publishing is a creative company specialising in innovative, out of the box and lateral publishing solutions. With backgrounds in marketing, sponsorship, events, PR, journalism and publishing, we help people create books as marketing tools – either for a location, a company, an event or an individual.

We have never been limited by, locked into or entrenched in any way by conventions or traditional approaches. We love to push comfort zones and invoke attitudinal shifts to make extraordinary things happen. We are passionate about having fun and letting our imaginations soar beyond predictable solutions, demonstrating that there is always more than one way to do anything.

In the Learn to Surf series, Messenger Publishing hopes to create a vibrant tool for local communities to help themselves, providing them with exposure but also a product they can sell over and over. We love Australia and the outdoors, we love our hot tourism spots, we love our people and we’re proud to produce a series of books that reflects just that! We hope you’ll walk this journey with us.

Unlike traditional print and publishing companies, we have a strong marketing background from securing sponsorship for some of Australia’s premier arts and entertainment acts to running PR and marketing campaigns. This industry savvy, alongside our passion for local culture and communities provide us with unique insights that allow us to envisage multiple platforms of possibility for both you and your business.

Consequently, Learn to Surf will be supported by a multi-level marketing campaign, aimed at helping the local communities from the grassroots up. This will include a range of events in conjunction with surf schools and organisations in each area as well as a launch in every location and a targeted PR campaign to consumer media, both of a local, state and national level.

It’s our aim not only to produce books for people in these areas, but also to drive people to the areas and/or create further fascination around the areas. The Learn to Surf team has already started working with a range of tourism bodies and tour companies to ensure books are made available to people who are planning to visit Australia.