How great are Canberrans?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
We might be biased (as we do write about them every day) but there are plenty of people who live right here in the capital, doing remarkable things.
Like many women, Ms Rodriguez was taught to hold her car keys in between her fingers in case she got into trouble while walking in the street. But, as she pointed out when we spoke in May, car keys only work like brass knuckles if you can box like Floyd Mayweather.
As a more effective measure, the Canberra mother came up with the beacon, which pairs with a free app that aims to provide awareness and information about the safety of an area. The beacon itself has a 1000 lumen light, a 140-decibel siren and a SOS button to help in a situation where you are getting attacked.
Another Canberra mother doing incredible things is Cath Willis who is on a mission to break the myth that adventure travel is only for the young or athletic looking people through her Instagram page @plus_size_adventurer.
Willis believes people should have big ambitious goals and encourages others to get out of their comfort zone via her social media.
Australian National University student Ibidolapo Adekoya is also doing great things. In the lead up the university's annual Three Minute Thesis Competition, Adekoya spoke about her malaria research.
Having grown up in Nigeria, the student has had the disease several times. It is this personal knowledge of how bad malaria is that inspired her research, in the hopes that it will lead to new and better drugs which, unlike the current one, won't be resisted by the disease.
And then there's Canberra Girls Grammar School's Eliza Coggan and Nicola Duncan who have set up Plastic Free for Freyja. The small business sells a variety of plastic alternatives including bamboo coffee cups, reusable produce bags and string carry bags.
But not only do these packs go to help the planet, all profits go to local girl Freyja Christiansen who was diagnosed with clear cell sarcoma, a rare type of cancer, in 2017. The seven-year-old has been going through treatment ever since.
What is also remarkable about this story is that while Eliza and Nicola had heard about Freyja, they didn't actually met the local girl until after they decided to build a business around her.
Helping strangers is also something Higgins resident Oliver Tester knows a thing or two about.
When hearing about a Canberra woman who had lost her ring at a dog park on Facebook, Tester was more than happy to help out. He went out one Saturday afternoon - three weeks after the woman had first lost her ring - and was able to find it with his metal detector.
When asked why he did it, he said: "When I can see that I can help out somebody, I do".