Jo Cooper

Jo Cooper is an author, keynote speaker, recording artist, systems change authority and founder of The Good Warrior. Her work examines how disrespect becomes normalised, how power protects itself and how institutions can be redesigned around accountability, courage and human dignity.

Her authority is grounded in demonstrated impact. Beginning in 2015, Jo led a landmark five and a half year legal challenge against a blanket ban on pets in her Darlinghurst apartment building. The NSW Court of Appeal ultimately ruled in her favour. The Cooper Case helped reshape strata law in New South Wales and is now studied by university law students across Australia.

At the centre of Jo’s work is a simple but confronting truth: disrespect is the gateway. It is where harm begins, where cultures erode and where systems quietly fail long before a crisis is recognised. Jo applies this lens across sectors, positioning respect not as a value statement, but as a design principle and measurable foundation for sustainable systems.

Through her book Toppling Towers of Power and her work across storytelling, music, media, research and education, Jo connects the dots between bystander behaviour, institutional design and long term societal outcomes. She reframes sustainability as not only environmental, but human and cultural.

The Good Warrior grew from this body of work. It is an education, media and impact platform designed to move people and institutions beyond awareness into meaningful action.

Jo represents a new model of leadership. One that moves beyond advocacy into ecosystem building, beyond awareness into action and beyond compliance into courage.