FWD+ORGANISE 2021 SPEAKERS
FWD+Organise 2021 featured a compelling line-up of 60 speakers in Australia and around the world to inspire, motivate and equip you with new tactics, strategies, tools and insights for your community organising and digital campaigning.
RANDA ABDEL-FATTAH
Palestinian Egyptian Muslim award-winning writer, former lawyer, advocate and academic
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Randa (she/her) is a DECRA research fellow in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University researching the generational impact of the war on terror on Muslim and non-Muslim youth. Randa's books include Islamophobia and Everyday Multiculturalism and Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity and Coming of Age in the War on Terror. Randa is also the author of 11 novels including multiple translations, stage productions in the U.S. and Australia. She has been nominated for Sweden's 2019 and 2018 Astrid Lindgren Award. Her children’s novel, Where the Streets Had A Name, won the Middle East Outreach Council USA's 2011 Young Adult Book of the Year, is on the Australian national curriculum, was in New York Library’s Top 100 books and was adapted as a play, performed in front of Australian schools. Randa is working on the screen adaptation of her novel, Does My Head Look Big In This?
SARA M SALEH
Award-winning Arab-Australian poet, human rights activist and long-time campaigner
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Sara (she/her) is the daughter of migrants from Palestine, Egypt, and Lebanon, living on Gadigal land. A human rights activist, community organiser, and campaigner for refugee rights and racial justice, she has spent over a decade in grassroots and non-governmental organisations in Australia and the Middle East. Within the Palestinian diaspora, Sara has worked to support youth and build communities grounded in the interconnectedness of Indigenous struggles for self-determination and transnational solidarities. A poet and writer, Sara has been published in English and Arabic in national and international outlets and anthologies. She is co-editor of the 2019 anthology Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity. Sara is the first Australian poet to win both the Australian Book Review’s 2021 Peter Porter Poetry Prize and the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2020. She is developing her first novel as a recipient of the inaugural Affirm Press Mentorship for Sweatshop Western Sydney.
JEANINE HOURANI
Director, Road to Refuge
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Jeanine (she/her) is an organiser, and storyteller based in Naarm. She is the Director of Road to Refuge, an organisation that aims to change the narrative on refugees and people seeking asylum. Previously, Jeanine has held roles in policy, advocacy, research, and program evaluation. She brings experience working both in an Australian context, and in the Middle East.
KOKETSO MOETI
Founding Executive Director, amandla.mobi
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Koketso (she/her) has a long background in civic activism and has over the years worked at the intersection of governance, communication and citizen action.She currently serves as the Founding Executive Director of amandla.mobi, a community of 750,000+ people working to turn every cellphone into a democracy-building tool to ensure that those most affected by injustice can take collective action on issues affecting their lives. She was recently announced as an inaugural Collective Action in Tech fellow. Koketso is a 2019 Atlantic fellow for racial equity, is part of the inaugural cohort of the Obama Foundation fellowship, and she is also an Aspen Institute New Voices senior fellow.
TAREQ ALANI
Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, PushBlack
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Tareq (he/him) is the cofounder and Chief Product Officer of PushBlack, which was founded in 2015 to use media services to mobilise Black people in order to build political and cultural power. PushBlack has since grown to become the largest nonprofit Black media platform in the United States, with over 9 million monthly readers. Throughout his 10 year career, Tareq has applied his knowledge of behavioral technologies, civic engagement, and digital strategy to win campaigns at organizations such as National Domestic Workers Alliance, Working America AFL-CIO, and Fund for the Public Interest.
JESS HARWOOD
Communications Campaigner, The Sunrise Project
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Jess (she/her) is an environmental campaigner, illustrator and facilitator with more than ten years experience in coal and biodiversity campaigns. Originally studying law, Jess began her work in the coal space at NSW Farmers Association where she worked on a program to skill farmers with knowledge of their legal rights when negotiating with mining and gas companies. Jess has worked on the Stop Adani campaign for the past five years, using her art to motivate people to join the campaign to stop Australia’s largest coal mine being built. Jess’ art and illustration has been featured on the BBC and ABC, and by many environmental and social justice campaigns. Of Indian and UK origin, Jess lives on Gadigal land in Sydney and is supporting a new group in the climate and environment space, SAPNA South Asian Climate Solidarity.
NADIA MONTAGUE
Lead Organiser, Victorian Trades Hall Council
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Nadia (she/her) is lead of campaigns at Victorian Trades Hall Council. She believes that the working class should be in power, and launched Australia's first progressive-only candidate school coaching program in 2019, where candidates were successfully elected. Nadia has been working in elections for 17 years. She has worked in the across the environment and union movements as an organiser and trainer.
RUCHIRA TALUKDAR
Researcher and writer, Climate Justice Research Centre (UTS) and Co-founder, Sapna South Asian Climate Solidarity Project
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Ruchira (she/her) is a writer and researcher on climate and environmental justice and activism. Her Doctoral thesis compared the politics and social resistance on climate and coal in India and Australia. She has worked in environmental justice campaigns across India and Australia over 15 years. She also conducts training sessions for environmental and civil society organisations on cultural literacy and finding intersectionality between various modes of climate justice. Her passion is to bridge disparities across the climate activism of privileged societies with that of marginalised ones including Indigenous and communities in the Global South, and more fundamentally to diversify the understanding and practice of environmental and climate justice activism.
SALEM BARAHMEH
Executive Director, PIPD/Rabet
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Al-Shabaka policy member Salem Barahmeh (he/him) is the Executive Director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy. He is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the US Middle East Project and previously worked as an international affairs advisor to Dr. Hanan Ashrawi at the PLO. He has also worked at Portland Communications in London, as a Policy and Public Affairs Advisor and for the Palestinian Embassy to the United States. Salem received a BA in Government from Lawrence University and an MA in Law and Politics from King’s College London.
SONIA SOFAT
Co-Founder & Director, Hue
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Sonia (she/her) is an Indian woman of colour currently living on Gadigal land. She is part of the first generation of her family born in Australia and was raised on the unceded lands of the Boonwurrung people of the Kulin Nation. Her family has roots in Punjab, and they migrated to Australia via Kenya and the UK. Growing up in a culturally displaced family Sonia believes strongly in community, culture and adapting tradition. Sonia is the co-founder and director of anti-oppression organisation Hue: Colour the Conversation. She is a community organiser and has over a decade worth of experience working in the NFP sector in campaigning, advocacy and activism roles. Sonia was also one of the founding directors at Democracy in Colour.
ELSA TUET-ROSENBERG
Co-Founder & Director, Hue
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Elsa (she/her) is a queer, Jewish and Chinese woman of colour. She is an educator, facilitator, activist and performer. She is the co-founder of Hue, an antiracism & social justice organisation that provides training and consulting to organisations. Previously she was the Director of Training at Democracy in Colour and a program presenter at PROJECT ROCKIT. She is also a board member at Switchboard, a community organisation that supports LGBTIQA+ mental health. She has performed in the sold out shows: Safeword at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, and Poona at the Next Wave festival. In 2020 she was awarded one of Out for Australia's 30 under 30, for LGBTQIA+ role models and leaders.
BEN RAUE
Electoral Analyst, The Tally Room
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Ben Raue (he/him) is an election analyst who runs the Tally Room website and podcast, where he covers Australian elections, with a special focus on profiling local electorates and mapping election results. Ben works as a data analyst at the Australian Conservation Foundation and does freelance analysis work for a range of progressive campaign groups. Ben is also an adjunct associate lecturer in government at the University of Sydney.
LATOYA AROHA RULE
Campaigner, #JusticeforFella #BanSpitHoods
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Latoya (they/them) is an Aboriginal & Māori, Takatāpui person residing on stolen Gadigal land, Sydney. Latoya is undertaking their PhD at the University of Technology Sydney, where they're also a Research Associate with Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research. Outside of academia, they've had their words and creative works, by way of poetry and photography, published in exhibitions and magazines in Australia, Brooklyn - New York, the UK and Berlin. They also have work held in Museum collections within Australia. Most importantly - Latoya has led the #JusticeforFella & #BanSpithoods campaigns since 2016 and has been an organiser on Aboriginal rights issues more broadly since 2013. In 2020 Latoya was named as one of 5 global racial justice leaders for Time Magazine's 'People of the Year' issue, and was also named as a Deloitte, Google & EnergyAustralia Top 50 LGBTQI+ leader of Australia.
JAMIE MCCONNACHIE
Executive Officer, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (NATSILS)
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Jamie (she/her) has leadership aspirations to deliver positive outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in contact with the criminal justice system. She is a committed and multi-functional individual as recognised by the Law Institute of Victoria, for Academic Excellence in a Law Discipline and, ‘Ricci Marks Young Aboriginal Achiever of Year’. Jamie is proudly committed to the preservation of Aboriginal people through the access and receipt of justice and police accountability.
BRITTANY BENNETT
Data Director, The Sunrise Movement
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Brittany (she/her) is an analytics engineer who leverages the insight from data to understand how movements build power and win. She is the inaugural Data Director at Sunrise Movement where she built the infrastructure that enabled Sunrise to train over 12,000 people during the pandemic, reach 6.5 million voters during the 2020 election, and mobilize tens of thousands of members in actions. Brittany holds a B.S. in Engineering Science from Smith College and was previously the Executive Director of Engineers for a Sustainable World and a youth vote enthusiast at New Era Colorado.
RENEE CARR
Executive Director, Fair Agenda
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Renee (she/her) is a campaigner and strategist passionate about growing movements for change. At Fair Agenda she has led campaigns that have: secured millions in additional funding for domestic violence services, stopped almost a billion dollars of cuts to parental leave, and helped decriminalise abortion in Queensland, NSW and South Australia. In 2015 she was named as one of Australia's '100 Women of Influence'. Before co-founding Fair Agenda, Renee was part of the team that led The End of Polio campaign to secure $118 million in additional funding from countries for global polio eradication efforts. Renee has a Bachelors of Law and Arts at the University of Melbourne.
NOURA MANSOUR
Community Organising and Advocacy Lead, Australia Palestine Advocacy Network
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Noura (she/her) is a Palestinian educator, community organiser and political analyst from Akka. She has 20 years experience working with grassroots organisations and schools in Palestine, South Korea and Australia. She has a background in politics and advocacy and is a policy member at Al Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network. Noura's currently based in Australia and works as a personal assistant for her two sons: 4 year old Rami and 2 year old Razi, in addition to her role as a Community Organising and Advocacy Lead at the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.
TOM MAITLAND
CEO and co-founder, Raisely
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Tom (he/him) is the CEO and co-founder of Raisely, where he's helped progressive causes run best-practice online fundraising and raise over $200m online. Previously, Tom led digital at Agency, working with large international charities to run more effective tech and digital strategies.
ALIYA AHMAD
Associate Director, Economic Media Centre
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Aliya (she/her) is the Associate Director at the Economic Media Centre, an organisation that trains and pitches diverse spokespeople with lived experience of economic issues into the mainstream media to help create more inclusive policies. She is a media campaigner with deep experience shifting media narratives on issues of economic and racial inequality. Previously the Senior Media Adviser at the Victorian peak body for homelessness, Aliya ran and coordinated media for the Make Social Housing Work campaign that helped deliver the largest social housing investment in Victoria in decades. As Communications Director for Democracy in Colour, Aliya ran rapid response media campaigns that got Sam Newman and Pauline Hanson off the air and helped to shift racist narratives that scapegoated migrant and working class communities throughout the pandemic. She sits on the board of Switchboard Victoria and is part of the National Media Engagement Advisory Group for Media Making Change at OurWatch.
LIZ MCKENNA
Postdoctoral Scholar, P3 Lab
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Liz (she/her) is a postdoctoral scholar at the SNF Agora Institute and P3 Lab at Johns Hopkins University. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. Liz studies left and right-wing social movements in the United States and Brazil, using multiple methods to examine when civil society organizations safeguard against authoritarianism, and when they become the primary carriers of it. She is the co-author of Groundbreakers: How Obama's 2.2. Million Volunteers Transformed Campaigning in America (Oxford University Press, with Hahrie Han) and Prisms of the People: Power and Organizing in 21st Century America (University of Chicago Press, with Hahrie Han and Michelle Oyakawa). Liz received the 2021 American Sociological Association Best Dissertation Award for her monograph on politics and organizing in contemporary Brazil. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a political and community organizer in Ohio and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
NEHA MADHOK
National Director, Democracy in Colour
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Neha (she/her) has over a decade of experience in Australian political campaigning and is driven by the power of grassroots organising to win tangible outcomes for social justice. Currently, Neha is a National Director at Democracy in Colour, a racial justice organisation led by and for people of colour. Previously she was a Senior Campaigner at 350.org Australia. Neha has worked on the Yes campaign for Marriage Equality, and she was a Digital Campaigner in the Australian union movement.
SARA SMYLIE
National Coordinator of New Organising, United Workers Union
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Sara (she/her) works for the United Workers Union, where she focuses on digital transformation and innovative approaches to organising. Sara has a decade of experience across unions, advocacy organisations and print media, with a strong interest in harnessing technology to build power.
ANTONIO GREER
Australian Digital Lead, Global Strategic Communications Council
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Antonio (he/him) has spent most of his working life in the NFP space. Currently based in Naarm (Melbourne), Antonio is originally from the UK. With a keen interest in the user journey, he has spent a career trying to create impact. Constantly trying new and interesting ways to test what works from a digital point of view.
CLAUDIA SOLOMONS
Audience Insights & Search Engine Marketing Project Manager, Global Strategic Communications Council
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Claudia (she/her) has extensive project management and campaign experience across digital, research, and strategic communications, with a key expertise in climate and energy. Over the last 18 month she has been involved in an incubator project operating as a digital toolbox and advisory service that provides the climate movement with the ability and capacity to get clearer messages to the right people at the right time.
SIMONE CAMERON
Co-founder, Home to Bilo
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Simone (she/her) is currently on Gubbi Gubbi country in Queensland. She is a founding member of the #HometoBilo campaign, which, in its advocacy for Tamil family Nades, Priya, Kopika and Tharnicaa, has challenged the government’s narrative about people seeking asylum. Originally a teacher of English as an additional Language/Dialect, Simone moved into the asylum space in 2014, doing case work and volunteering. Simone is finalising her studies in a Bachelor of Laws, and is currently working on an Honours thesis. Her thesis analyses the government’s justification for the repeal of the Medevac laws (medical transfer laws for people detained in offshore processing centres) in 2019.
BRONWYN DENDLE
Co-founder, Home to Bilo
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Bronwyn (she/her) is a Social Worker with over 20 years of front-line experience advocating for rural communities in Central Queensland, Australia. She is a co-founder of the Home To Bilo Campaign, the grassroots community-led push to have a local asylum-seeking family returned from detention to their home town of Biloela. Bronwyn often refers to herself as an accidental activist. From a humble beginning the Home To Bilo campaign gained public and political attention around Australia and the world. With her background qualifications in social work, economics and political science, Bronwyn has a strong social justice framework, and serves as a Board Director on a number of rural community organisations. She is passionate about sustainable rural communities and bringing Priya, Nades and their girls Home To Bilo.
ANGELA FREDERICKS
Co-founder, Home to Bilo
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Angela (she/her) joins us from Gangalu country in Biloela, Central Queensland, where she works in private practice as a Mental Health Social Worker. In 2018 Angela made the leap from individual advocacy on a small scale, to making national headlines as she fought for the safety of her friends, affectionately referred to as “The Biloela Family”. She admits to having no idea what she was doing when she launched the “Home to Bilo” campaign with her friends. Now over three years later she has learnt what it takes to lead a small town’s fight into the national arena, changing the hearts and minds of many along the way.
MOIRA CULLY
Lead Digital Organiser, Victorian Trades Hall Council
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Moira (she/her) is the Lead Digital Organiser at the Victorian Trades Hall Council, supporting unions in best practice digital campaigning and organising. She leads Megaphone - the petition platform of the Australian union movement - as well as digital fundraising and a project to disrupt online disinformation. She is also a co-founder of the Progressive Tech Network.
RUBY MARSHALL
Digital Organiser, Victorian Trades Hall Council
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Ruby (she/her) started as a digital organiser at Victorian Trades Hall Council at the beginning of 2021, where she works on the petition platform of the Australian union movement, Megaphone. She assists unions with their petitions and helps them with their digital organising needs. Recently Megaphone reached a million unique signers which was an exciting achievement for the team. Ruby is also currently studying a post-graduate certificate in comms and media.
APRYL DAY
Founder, Dhadjowa Foundation
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Apryl (she/her) is a proud Yorta Yorta, Wemba Wemba and Barapa Barapa woman. She is a community organiser and campaigner, and a member of both WAR VIC and Pay the Rent. She is the daughter of Tanya Day – a proud Yorta Yorta woman who died in custody in 2017. Apryl and her family successfully led the campaign to end the criminalisation of public drunkenness in Victoria and is at the forefront of the fight for police accountability and justice matters. Apryl established the Dhadjowa Foundation to provide strategic guidance and support to amplify the campaigning of families, and to fight for justice for all families of Aboriginal and Torres Strait people who’ve died in custody.
GEORGIA KRIZ
Digital and social media expert
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Georgia (she/her) is a digital and social media expert. She was previously the Digital and Social Media Manger at the Australian Council of Trade Unions. She has previously worked in LGBTIQ advocacy, gender equality advocacy and on local, state and federal election campaigns.
TILLY LANGFORD
Young Workers Tiktok Content Creator, Australian Council of Trade Unions
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Tilly (she/her) is a Gumbaynggir woman, and avid Tiktok content creator, as well as a third year Arts/Law student at the University of Sydney.
CAT NADEL
National Director, Tomorrow Movement
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Cat (she/her) is the National Director of Tomorrow Movement, a movement of young people fighting to end the influence of big business on our politics and win a tomorrow with good jobs, great public services and a safe climate for all. Cat first cut her teeth campaigning at university, where she was part of the student powered campaign that got Monash University to divest $450 million from coal. Before co-founding Tomorrow Movement, Cat spent four years as a climate campaigner at Environment Victoria. This role involved working with communities in the Latrobe Valley, Westernport Bay and suburban Melbourne to build power for strong climate policies and a just transition. Cat grew up on the banks of the Maribyrnong River on Wurundjeri country, and still lives and works in Naarm (Melbourne).
TASNIM SAMMAK
Organiser, Free Palestine Melbourne
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Tasnim Mahmoud Sammak (she/her) is a PhD candidate at Monash University’s Faculty of Education, a single mum of two boys and a local Palestinian Muslim organiser. Her research engages in critical race counter-storytelling of 9/11 gen subjectivities, imaginaries and visceralities. Tasnim’s grandparents were exiled from Yaffa during the Nakba in 1948 to a refugee camp in Gaza then to Al-Hussein refugee camp in Jordan after Israel’s annexations of 1967. She writes essays and commentary from a politicised identity that have found home in Djed Press, Overland, Podium and Mangal Media to the dismay of White and Zionist supremacists.
LAURA SCALAFIOTTI
Director, GoodChat
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Laura (she/her) is an Italian woman, living on Dharawhal Country. Laura co-founded GoodChat in 2016. Since then has has worked on over 700 social change campaigns, from worldwide climate action drives to micro fundraisers for plant DNA swabs! Laura is now GoodChat’s Managing Director. She is driven by the impact of video storytelling as a key tool in the fight for a more just and sustainable world.
CLARE LEWIS
Creative Producer, GoodChat
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Clare (she/her) is GoodChat’s Creative Producer, she’s passionate about storytelling, social change and digital strategy. After working as a curator and writer in the art world, she has been making successful doco features, shorts and digital content for the large and small screen for over ten years. She directed There Goes Our Neighbourhood for ABC about Sydney’s largest inner city public housing estate and the fight to save their homes, and produced I'm Wanita a feature doco released theatrically and in festivals this year. Clare has produced and directed cutting edge content for dozens of successful social impact campaigns, and loves getting to the heart of the matter!
CHRIS COOPER
Senior Campaign Director + Head of APAC Office, Purpose
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Chris (he/him) is Senior Campaign Director at Purpose, a global social impact agency, where he brings over a decade of experience in strategic communications and advocacy to a wide range of issues including misinformation and tech regulation, public health, and climate change. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, he has worked with activists, civil society, and the private sector to leverage culture and storytelling to shape policy, behaviour and systems. He is also Executive Director of Reset Australia, a policy think tank working to counter digital threats to democracy - specifically the harms caused by unregulated big tech.
CAITLIN HOMRICH-KNIELING
Deep Canvass Coordinator, We the People MI
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Caitlin (she/her) is the Deep Canvass Coordinator with We The People based in Detroit. Organizing found her while she was doing her MA in Anthropology at UMass Amherst in 2014-2016. She is originally from the rural, working class “Thumb” of Michigan, and she roots her motivation to fight for multiracial liberation in the lives of her loved ones there. Her vocation is using the practices of curiosity, storytelling, honesty, and love to build bridges with people of different life experiences and perspectives, and training others to do the same. She is a new mama and devotes her spare time to Catholic prayer practices, giving astrology readings, renovating her home in Detroit, and visiting her family.
AMELIA BRIGGS
Data Organiser, United Workers Union
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Amelia (she/her) is a Data Organiser at United Workers Union, which is a general job tile that basically means 'do whatever you can to remove data barriers and make data better for organising teams'. Lately she has been working on a project to improve collection and storage of digital engagement data, and another one to introduce visualisation tools to improve leadership mapping. She also worked as an organiser at UWU before this role, at GetUp! in their 2018 election campaign, and has a maths degree too.
RHIANNON WILLIAMS-DEMMON
Acting Lead Organiser/Digital Organiser, GetUp
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Rhiannon (they/them) has been an election and community organiser for over 6 years. They have a passion for taking lessons in these fields and applying them to the digital space so we can build meaningful online communities of action, based on relationships and impact. All in the hope of creating more accessible and creative movements.
TEAGAN BUCKLEY
Digital Marketer, United Workers Union
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Teagan (she/her) is a Digital Marketer at United Workers Union and has been working in marketing for several years – running, evaluating, and optimising digital campaigns for the likes of The Good Guys, Maurice Blackburn, and Federation University.
DHAKSHAYINI SOORIYAKUMARAN
Tech Policy Director, Reset Australia
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Dhakshayini (she/they) is a proud Tamil whose ancestral lands are in the north and east of Illankai (known as Sri Lanka). They are the tech policy director at Reset Australia, a think-tank focused on digital threats to democracy. Dhakshayini is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) exploring race, surveillance and digital identification systems. She is a former civil engineer who has founded and led several non-profit organisations and projects focused on communities of colour in Australia and the Pacific. They have worked on migration (as the former Director of Human Rights and Racial Justice at the ACCR), climate change (with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in Fiji), and with young people (as the founder of YLab).
DIANA SAYED
CEO, Australian Muslim Women's Centre for Human Rights
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Diana (she/her) is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights. She joined the organisation in October 2019 as an international human rights lawyer with experience working in both Australia and the United States. She is the former Campaigns Manager at Fair Agenda and Senior Crisis Response Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia. Diana has appeared as a regular panellist on The Drum, ABC The World, SBS, Al Jazeera, MSNBC and ABC Q&A. With a Master in International Human Rights Law she is an expert on issues pertaining to gender equality, social justice, and human rights. She has worked as a lawyer, advocate, and campaigner for over a decade, and has the lived experience of being a visible Muslim woman of colour in Australia, as a former refugee from Afghanistan.
SAGE AKOURI
CEO, Speak Australia
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Sage (they/them) is a queer non-binary neurodiverse Lebanese migrant living in regional Victoria and a long standing advocate for the LGBTIQA+ community. Sage's experience extends across the NFP sector having led several initiatives, programs and campaigns at Minus18 and Equality Australia and most recently has co-founded a NFP organisation called Speak - creating LGBTIQA+ inclusive spaces in regional Victoria whilst focusing on intersectionality within LGBTIQA+ communities.
PATRICK SHAW
Field Organiser, Adam Bandt
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Patrick (he/him) is interested in how community groups can support each other to create a more cohesive society. From working as the New Group Support Coordinator at ACF to Field Organiser for Adam Bandt's campaign, it's important to engage everyone both online and in real life to make a better world.
BETH KOCH
National Network Organiser, Australian Conservation Foundation
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Beth (she/her) is ACF’s National Network Organiser. She grew up a pastor’s daughter in country QLD and cut her teeth organising faith communities from an early age. She’s worked in international development, for a political party and started at ACF about five years ago organising river communities in regional Australia. Her role at ACF is focused on initiatives that help ACF to scale the organising program to be a thriving, broad and impactful network of community groups.
HOLLY HAMMOND
Director, Commons Social Change Library
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Holly (she/her) is the director of the Commons Social Change Library, an online collection of resources to help build stronger and smarter social movements. Holly has a life long commitment to social change, from high school activism to peer based advocacy groups, environmental blockading, union organising, coalition building and international gatherings. Since 2005 she has focused on supporting movements to be more effective through training, facilitation and coaching, including as director of Plan to Win. A current focus of her work is social movement research including documenting stories of campaign and organising innovation.
DANIEL STONE
Executive Director, PrincipleCo
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Daniel (he/him) is an experienced social justice advocate, having worked on a number of national, state and local progressive campaigns over the last 10 years. He specialises in work that sits at the intersection of technology, storytelling and culture, with a focus on developing deep and long term social change.
EDIE SHEPHERD
First Nations Justice Senior Organiser and 2022 Federal Election Organising Co-Director, GetUp
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Edie (she/her) is a proud Wiradjuri and Noongar woman. Edie works as senior organiser in the First Nations Justice Team at GetUp!, where she builds the skills, capacity and collective power of First Nations people. Edie has previously worked as a senior organiser at Original Power. Before Original Power, Edie spent 3 years working as an organiser in the trade union movement, running Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organising and political capacity building programs in Victoria. She has worked as a youth worker, community organiser and campaigner within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, as well as in broader social and economic justice spaces.
KRISTIN O’CONNELL
Activist, Antipoverty Centre and Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union
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Kristin (she/her) is an antipoverty activist living on the Disability Support Pension. She is an unemployed worker at The Antipoverty Centre and the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union, which provides peer support, rights information and representation for people in the social security system, and campaigns publicly for the rights of everyone who relies on income support to live.
LIZZIE O’SHEA
Founder and Chair, Digital Rights Watch
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Lizzie (she/her) is a lawyer, writer and digital rights advocate. Her commentary is featured regularly on television programs and radio, about law, technology, or human rights. In print, her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Guardian, and Sydney Morning Herald, among others. Lizzie is a founder and the chair of Digital Rights Watch, which advocates for human rights online. She also sits on the board of Blueprint for Free Speech and the Alliance for Gambling Reform. At the National Justice Project, Lizzie worked with lawyers, journalists and activists to establish a Copwatch program, for which she was a recipient of the Davis Projects for Peace Prize. In June 2019, Lizzie was named a Human Rights Hero by Access Now.
JESS BECKERLING
Campaign Director, WA Forest Alliance
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Jess (she/her) is the campaign director of the WA Forest Alliance. Jess lives on the south coast of WA on Pibulmun Country and has been involved in the WA environment movement, principally forest conservation for more than 20 years. Having recently succeeded in a community campaign to end native forest logging in WA, Jess is focused on ensuring the full and secure protection of the South West forests and building the capacity of the movement for climate and biodiversity.
BRIDGET TODD
Podcaster and Comms Director, UltraViolet/There Are No Girls on the Internet podcast
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Bridget Todd (she/her) got her start teaching courses on writing and social change at Howard University. Since then, she's trained human rights activists in Australia, led strategy for organizations like Planned Parenthood, the Women's March, and MSNBC, and ran a training program for political operatives the Washington Post called “the Hogwarts of the Democratic Party.” She’s questioned Obama about policy on MTV and been on the Daily Show. Previously, she worked with AFROPUNK, a music and culture festival, to produce a global salon where she’s hosted folks like Angela Davis, Ava Duvernay, and #MeToo creator Tarana Burke. Currently, Bridget is the communications director for the gender justice organiSation UltraViolet. Her critically acclaimed tech and culture podcast There are No Girls on the Internet won a Shorty Award for a miniseries exploring disinformation.
DESIREE CAI
Campaigns Lead, Tomorrow Movement
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Desiree (she/they) is Campaigns lead at Tomorrow Movement, a movement of young people fighting for a future with good jobs, great public services and a safe climate for all. She has campaigned on a range of issues from economic justice to sexual assault on campus and access to higher education. Desiree live and works on Wurundjeri land.
NINA ATKINSON
Organiser and Campaigner, Tipping Point
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Nina (she/her) is an organiser and campaigner with Tipping Point, working on the #StopAdani campaign. Nina has been focused on supporting the #StopAdani movement to adapt to lockdown conditions over the past 18 months, allowing the movement to push over 30 major companies to rule out work on this coal project since the pandemic began.
ANISHA SENARATNE
Collaboration Lead, Foundation for Young Australians
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Anisha (she/her) has just started a new role as Collaboration Lead at the Foundation for Young Australians and is looking forward to working with young people to develop and implement programs to foster collaboration and collective wellbeing among youth social justice movements. Prior to this, she spent four years at GetUp within the Human Rights team working on Racial Justice campaigns. She is passionate about the power of deep organising and community building to transform the future and drive progressive change. Anisha is Sri Lankan, migrated to Australia in 2010, and has been living and working on Wurundjeri country ever since.
ELLA SHI
Digital and Communications Organiser, Migrant Workers Centre
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Ella (she/her) is the Digital and Communications Organiser at the Migrant Workers Centre. The Migrant Workers Centre works alongside the union movement to empower migrant workers to fight for their rights at work. The organisation also lead campaigns fighting for changes across industrial law and calling for visa reform to improve the working lives of migrants in this country. Ella is a proud ASU member and former ASU workplace delegate. Previously Ella was an organiser and 2019 election campaigner at GetUp.
QIANE MATATA-SIPU
Co-Founder, Protect Ihumātao
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Qiane (she/her) is of Māori (Te Waiohua ki Te Ahiwaru me Te Akitai, Waikato, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngā Puhi) and Cook Islands ( Arorangi-Rarotonga, Temakatea Oneroa-Mangaia) heritage. For 15 years she has worked across media as a journalist, documentary photographer and communications consultant and strategist. She is also an artist and passionate social activist, founding NUKU, a social impact movement amplifying Indigenous women through podcast, photography and a self-published book. Qiane is also a co-founder and leader of the Protect Ihumātao SOUL campaign that she formed with five of her cousins to protect their ancestral land from development. Her key roles with Ihumātao included strategy, political engagement and media/comms.
DOUGIE HERD
Executive Director, Community Connections
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Dougie (he/him) joined the team at Community Connections in July 2018. Dougie has worked for more than 30 years in disability advocacy, disability advice and service delivery in Scotland and Australia. This includes six years leading the staff team supporting the official advisory body to Ministers of the NSW Government – the Disability Council of NSW. And for two years Dougie was a member of the senior executive leadership team of the National Disability Insurance Agency responsible for launching the NDIS in 2013. Dougie is Chair of the ACT Disability Reference Group, the ACT Government’s official advisory body on disability policy. He is also Co-Chair of the ACT Disability Justice Strategy Reference Group. Dougie is a NDIS participant. He has been a quadriplegic wheelchair user for 37 years. He recently completed an Honours degree in English Literature at the Australian National University. He writes. And every Sunday morning Dougie follows the fortunes of Partick Thistle Football Club, the third and least famous football team in Glasgow. More often than not, they lose.
JAWOON KIM
Grassroots Engagement Coordinator, Results Australia
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Jawoon (she/her) is a movement woman building grassroots movements for social justice everywhere and practising self-love through Pilates. As a young woman of colour based on the Gadigal Land, Jawoon is passionate about creating a more just and equal future for all people, but particularly for women and girls and communities of colour. She was first introduced to the world of community organising at Amnesty International Australia 10+ years ago, and she since has worked in strengthening community capacity in gender equality movements and international aid and development. Currently, she works as a community organiser at Results Australia, working with empowered everyday people to end global poverty by influencing the Government to invest in global public goods such as health and education.
ALEX RYAN
Co-Director, AktivAsia
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Alex (she/her) is a founder and Executive Director of AktivAsia Regional. AktivAsia trains activists and organisers from across Asia and West Papua to gain the skills, knowledge and determination they need to create a flourishing future. Alex is passionate about activist learning and has been working in the social and environmental justice space for +30 years. During Covid Alex co-founded Lips Events, a queer group that connects queer, bi and trans women and non-binary folks. Earlier this year LIPS put on BUTCH, a celebration of masc identifying women (cis and trans), gender diverse and trans-masculine people through fashion, music and community. Today Alex lives on Gadigal country, but prior to this she spent 13 years in Indonesia working on everything from forest campaigns to disaster response to setting up a highly successful ethical reclaimed timber business. While there, she spent six years writing and performing with Bali’s top all-women comedy troupe in Balinese and Indonesian language to loud and rowdy local audiences. Her troupe, Gedebong Goyang, are ‘famous in Bali’. As side gigs she volunteers her time as a member of the State Emergency Services, as well as being a singer-songwriter with a passion for busking with her trusty guitar.
KAZ UY
Community Organiser, Tipping Point
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With roots in the Philippines, Kaz (she/her) is passionate about people-powered change and integrating intersectionality and best practices in community care and allyship from her home culture in her community organising work, to deepen the climate justice and social justice movements’ commitment and capacity to work in solidarity with frontline communities facing injustice in Australia. Prior to working with Tipping Point, Kaz has been supporting community groups to take action and building the leadership of emerging campaigners and organisers (especially young people of colour) as an organiser for Oxfam Australia and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, and as a training officer for Democracy in Colour. Kaz loves surfing and currently lives on the unceded lands of the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation on the Surf Coast.
AMANDA ATLEE
Organising Lead, Amnesty International Australia
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Amanda (she/her) enjoys seeing the sparks created when people do things outside of their comfort zone and achieve more than they thought possible, individually or collectively. That’s why she has worked in community organising for over a decade now, with the team at Amnesty International Australia. Amanda has also worked for the National Autistic Society in London, campaigning for improved rights, services, and opportunities to help create a society that works for autistic people. In the end, she believes that empowering people to uncover what they’re capable of is an act of human rights advancement in and of itself. While the last two years have presented some of the toughest challenges we have faced -- the energy and commitment of our activists, Amanda believes, fuels our ability to drive change.
LAURA MELVILLE
Organising Program Co-Manager, Environment Victoria
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Laura (she/her) is a community organiser with 10 years of experience building people power to win campaigns for climate justice. Laura has extensive experience developing leaders through her time empowering young people at the AYCC. She is now the Organising Program Co-Manager at Environment Victoria.
LARISSA BALDWIN
First Nations Justice Director, GetUp
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Larissa (she/her) is a Widjabul Wia-bul / Bundjalung woman and currently First Nations Justice Director at GetUp. She dedicates her life to fighting for First Nations justice and Self-Determination. From staunch grassroots resistance, to building the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network, to starting First Nations Justice campaigning at GetUp, Larissa has a passion for mentoring young people, and crafting brilliant campaign strategies.
LEONIE DYER
Employment Services Manager, House of Welcome
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Leonie (she/her) is the Employment Services Manager at House of Welcome, assisting people seeking asylum and refugees to access education, skills training and employment in Western Sydney. She's a resident of Merrylands in the Cumberland LGA and a first-timer in community organising with the Cumberland Candidates Forum last month.
MADELEINE HOLME
Associate Director, Reveille Strategy
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Madeleine (she/her) has worked for the union movement, the aid and development sector and for environmental organisations. In these roles she has led campaigns on workplace rights, economic justice, climate change and energy efficiency. Madeleine has a particular interest in how progressive organisations can use online tools to organise and build power for working people. Madeleine is currently an Associate Director at Reveille Strategy.
JACK MILROY
CEO & Principal Consultant, Defiance
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Jack (he/him) helps unions and progressives raise money and build power online. He has spent a decade and a half building and scaling campaigns using technology, working on elections and advocacy campaigns in Canada and Australia. Jack has worked as a strategist at leading progressive organizations in Australia and Canada: Leadnow.ca, the Labor Party, Vision Vancouver, and the BC NDP. Jack now runs Defiance, a digital fundraising and strategy consultancy based in Hobart, Tasmania.
JOANNIE LEE
Community Organiser, Democracy in Colour
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Joannie (she/her) is currently the community organiser for Democracy in Colour, a racial and economic justice organisation in Australia. Born in Malaysia and only moving to Australia when she was in her teens, her lived experience as a migrant and her identity as a person of colour led her to be passionate about building the political power of people of colour and anti-racism in Australia. She currently lives on Dharawal Land in South West Sydney and have been organising communities of colour in Western Sydney and across Australia.
STACEY BATTERHAM
Senior Campaigner, Australian Council of Social Service
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Stacey (she/her) is the Senior Campaigner at ACOSS. Stacey has a background in digital campaign, community organising and digital fundraising. Prior to joining the ACOSS team, Stacey was Senior Campaigner at Fair Agenda where she worked on campaigns to help secure additional funding for domestic violence services, and decriminalise abortion care in Queensland. Stacey was also the Head of Campaigns at Oaktree where she managed a team to create campaigns to promote global equality and climate justice.
JON FERGUSON
Community Organiser, Australian Conservation Foundation
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For the last 12 years, Jon (he/him) has worked in the Australian union movement, organising and campaigning for better working conditions for union members in various sectors. With a recent move to Brisbane, Jon decided to leverage the skills he had and move into the environmental space, taking on his current role of Community Organiser at the Australian Conservation Foundation.
KATE COLVIN
National Spokesperson, Everybody’s Home campaign
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Kate (she/her) is currently the national spokesperson for the Everybody’s Home campaign and Deputy CEO and the policy and strategic communications lead at Council to Homeless Persons. With over 20 years’ experience in leadership and advocacy roles in the community sector, Kate has led successful campaigns on social housing and housing affordability, youth justice, and accessible transport.
TIMOTHY PETTERSON
Hospo Voice Coordinator, United Workers Union - New Organising Pipeline Portfolio
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Tim (he/him) is a coordinator in UWU’s New Organising Pipeline, which is a team of digital organisers, marketers and strategists aiming to test, trial and incubate alternative approaches to organising, new tools and new membership models. For the last five years Tim has also been leading UWU's Hospo Voice project which reimagines what a union looks like in the digital age. Hospo Voice explores how unions can create alternative membership models to engage young workers in our movement, and how digital tools like AI can be used to help union members organise and win in highly insecure and fragmented industries like hospitality where traditional workplace organising and bargaining strategies are less effective.
DAVID BARROW
Lead Organiser, Sydney Alliance
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Over his 11 years at the Alliance, David has organised across issues, including transport, employment and energy. He has worked closely with faith groups, unions, schools, charities, and migrant communities to build power for the common good. Before the Alliance, he had organised for 7 years as the President of the UTS Union Board, the NSW and then the National Union of Students. David plays a leadership role in the Uniting Church as a member of the NSW Synod standing committee and at his home congregation of Leichhardt Uniting Church council. He is proudest of the 250+ diverse young leaders he has mentored over the last decade. He is a nostalgic Coastie.
SORCHA ROCHFORD
Sr. Director of Strategic Partnerships, NationBuilder
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Sorcha is the Sr. Director of Strategic Partnerships at NationBuilder. She manages customer relationships and strategic partnerships for a host of the most influential political, brand, and non-profit organizations around the globe. She is a political strategy leader, committed to building community in an effort to develop more effective leaders from all walks of life. Prior to joining NationBuilder, Sorcha worked as a Senior Associate of Dewey Square Group where she developed and managed grassroots organizations for a variety of candidates, ballot initiatives, businesses, and non-profits. Sorcha has also served as a political advisor on a number of federal, state and municipal campaigns across New England. Currently, Sorcha serves her communities as US Ambassador for the British and Irish Trading Alliance, as a board member for Suffolk University Alumni and the Boston and New England Rose of Tralee. She is also the co-host of the Unapologetic Women podcast.
MARCELLA BRASSETT
Training and Campaigns Lead, Democracy in Colour
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Marcella Brassett is a writer, media & communications expert and campaigner. She has worked for Not for Profit organisations, Members of Parliament, election candidates and in the racial, social, climate and gender justice, movements for the past 15 years. Marcella was Media and Engagement Manager on hiatus at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, and currently is training activists of colour with Democracy in Colour, a racial justice organisation. Marcella had a leading role in the Kids Off Nauru, Medevac, Home to Bilo campaigns and was one of the lead national organisers for March for Justice.
MANISHA AMIN
Chief Strategist, Centre for Inclusive Design
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Manisha (she/her) is the chief strategist and visionary at Centre for Inclusive Design. With a background in strategic marketing, communication, transforming cultures and creativity she is a thought leader in the power of thinking from the edge. She has a unique talent for seeing beyond the horizon to emerging trends, defining them and building powerful communities to bring them into being.