Melicent Jane Ellis

Melicent Jane Ellis OBE (March 23, 1887 – July 6, 1974), born Melicent Jane Ayscough and known as M. Jean Ellis, was the Australian co-founder of the Penguin Club, which encouraged women to speak publicly with confidence. It was her leadership that saw the organisation spread to every state in Australia. The not-for-profit organisation is now known as "Speaking Made Easy".

Life Ellis was born in Brisbane in 1887. She married the historian and writer Malcolm Henry Ellis in 1914 in the Anglican St Luke's Church in Brisbane. Ellis had intended to be a nurse and she had saved up fifty pounds to pay for her training. This did not happen and their daughter was born in 1915. Ellis later attended lectures at the University of Sydney.

The Penguin Club was still young when the country was at war, but Ellis still managed to visit different branches in different states.

Each state in Australia had its own council who were elected twice each year. Each state would send two delegates to the Penguin Club's Federal Council.

The organisation she created was renamed "Speaking Made Easy" and it encourages membership irrespective of gender.