Tahlia-Rose Vanissum is a proud Woppaburra woman and Traditional Owner of the Keppel Islands. Tahlia-Rose works across her community and the public sector to improve services for First Nations women, girls and people with disability. She is currently undertaking a Master of Culture, Health, and Medicine at the Australian National University (ANU).

Tahlia-Rose’s is passionate about building understandings and identification of intersectional and systemic discrimination through truth-telling. Tahlia-Rose embodies an inclusive, respectful and reciprocal approach to leadership that amplifies cultural strengths and building the capability of others to identify and address discrimination across national frameworks, jurisdictional priorities and institutional settings.

Tahlia-Rose is currently leading work within the Department of Social Services to embed the National Agreement on Closing the Gap across the Commonwealth’s Social Services Portfolio. Tahlia-Rose is the Chair of the ACT Government’s Ministerial Advisory Council on Women, Sisters in Spirit Aboriginal Corporation, and a Board Director at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) the ACT’s public and largest vocational education provider and CIT’s wholly-owned subsidiary CIT Solutions.

In her admittedly limited spare time, Tahlia-Rose is completing the AICD’s Company Directors Course as a 2023 Disability Leadership Scholar. Tahlia-Rose also holds vocational qualifications in government, business, leadership, and human resources management and a Bachelor of Criminology from the ANU

Jacqueline Hui Hian Mayer is the Director of Multicultural Policy at the Department of Home Affairs. A former litigation lawyer, Jacqueline is now a happily established career public servant who prefers the Cabinet to the Courtroom. Prior to joining Home Affairs, Jacqueline held various executive level roles at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Defence. Jacqueline is the Founder of the Asian Australian Storytime Project – an early childhood education social enterprise which shares Asian Australian histories with all Australian children through storytelling. In her spare time, Jacqueline enjoys spending time with her Chinese Australian dog – an Australian Cattle Dog x Sharpei who responds to commands in both English and Mandarin.

Nu Nu is an Assistant Secretary at the Department of Treasury and a 2021 Sir Roland Wilson Scholar with a broad range of experience across tax policy, legislation, forecasting and macroeconomic modelling. Nu Nu also previously led the BHP’s macroeconomic team in Singapore and worked in the World Bank’s macroeconomic modelling team in Washington DC. Nu Nu is passionate about diversity and inclusion and creating a public service that truly reflects the Australian community it serves. In 2014 she led the Department of Treasury’s analysis of gender bias in promotions outcomes and most recently has been involved in analysing outcomes for NESB/CALD men and women as well as staff who identify as Indigenous or as having a disability.

Tharani is the National Relationships Leader at Deloitte Australia. In this role, she is responsible for strengthening Deloitte’s relationships with NEDs, C-suite, and emerging leaders across the Australian market.

Tharani is also the National Leader for Deloitte’s Social Impact Practice, a dedicated practice that works with leaders from across the eco-system to influence social impact at scale, and is also the National Race & Culture leader.

Outside her Executive role, Tharani is a Non-Executive Director on a number of Boards, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF Australia), Settlement Services International (SSI- Australia’s largest refugee and migrant resettlement agency) and previously, the Deloitte Foundation.

She is a passionate speaker and strong advocate for social impact, profit with purpose, corporate and social sector collaboration, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Brenda Gaddi (she/her) is a Filipina settler living, working, and playing on sovereign land of the Wallumattagal clan of the Darug nation. She is a first-generation migrant born and raised during the Martial Law era in the Philippines. She and her young family arrived in Australia in the late 90s to join her mum.

Brenda is an entrepreneur with a deep curiosity for discovering new opportunities that will take her out of her comfort zone. She is an avid trail runner and calls running a moving meditation.
She was part of the inaugural Changemakers Program. Changemakers is a campaign shining a spotlight on individuals using LinkedIn to drive genuine change in the world of work. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations. She is currently completing her Master of Public and Social Policy at Macquarie University.

Brenda has been building women-focused communities and championing women’s voices for over a decade. She established one of the first community platforms in Australia where content creators were fairly remunerated for their work and time. She got involved in the not-for-profit space in 2015. She is passionate about racial, economic & social justice, gender equity, and intersectionality.

Starting Women of Colour Australia is Brenda’s most important and biggest initiative so far. She is equal parts excited and terrified. Creating change is not meant to be easy. Growth and comfort do not co-exist.

As we stand in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the first and original matriarchs of this land, we humbly ask for your help in creating a fairer and more equitable for all Women of Colour
Let’s get things done.

Shazya Khan is a dedicated volunteer member of the Growth and Sustainability team at Women of Colour Australia. She has been actively volunteering with the organisation since 2021. With a passion for empowering others and promoting inclusivity, Shazya brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her role. As a Diversity Consultant, she specialises in helping organisations create more inclusive and equitable workplaces for women. Her motivation stems from a strong desire to make a positive impact and support workplaces that prioritise gender equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Dr Varina Michaels is all about people. Leading people, learning about people and advocating for people. She is an experienced Strategy, Leadership and Human Resource Management professional with deep expertise in Global Diversity and Inclusion, Intercultural Management, Neurodiversity and Leadership Development. Dr Michaels is Founder and Director of Paisley Group, sits on the Board of Women of Colour Australia and is an inclusive leader, international speaker and published academic.

Jacqueline Hui Hian Mayer is the Director of Multicultural Policy at the Department of Home Affairs. A former litigation lawyer, Jacqueline is now a happily established career public servant who prefers the Cabinet to the Courtroom. Prior to joining Home Affairs, Jacqueline held various executive level roles at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Defence. Jacqueline is the Founder of the Asian Australian Storytime Project – an early childhood education social enterprise which shares Asian Australian histories with all Australian children through storytelling. In her spare time, Jacqueline enjoys spending time with her Chinese Australian dog – an Australian Cattle Dog x Sharpei who responds to commands in both English and Mandarin.

Michelle is an ambitious and inquisitive individual interested in effectively utilising behavioural psychology, behavioural economics and ethics to gain insight into what drives human behaviour and decision-making. She has an academic background in Psychology and Neuroscience and also works within the Diversity, Equality & Inclusion (DE&I) and Ethics fields.

Michelle is currently an Organisational Culture and Change Lead at the Reserve Bank Australia (RBA).  Prior to joining the RBA, Michelle worked as a consultant advising on Risk & Compliance and Risk/Organisational Culture and Change Engagements.

Michelle’s work focuses primarily on the role that individual, environmental, societal, and cultural factors have in shaping and driving organisational culture. She views organisational culture and change through a psychological and behavioural lens, and is interested in how these two lenses can be applied to develop targeted strategies to solve and anticipate complex cultural problems.

Beyond organisational culture and change, Michelle also works within the ethics space where she focuses on the role that ethics has in decision-making and governance. Michelle draws on her psychology background to bring a deep appreciation of human behaviour to her work.

Christina Li is a governance, risk and compliance leader with 10+ years’ experience across NSW Government sector. Christina is Co-Chair of the inaugural Transport Multicultural Network and has been recently selected as a Member of the NSW Public Service Commission’s Inclusion Council. Christina is passionate about driving change to promote inclusion and diversity in Transport and increasing the number of culturally diverse staff in the pipeline for leadership roles. She is a strong advocate for amplifying the voices of her culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) colleagues and sharing lived experiences to drive real inclusive practices. 

Jessica has been with the Department of Communities and Justice since 2014. Starting her career in policy and projects, Jess has developed her professional career through supporting under resourced and under serviced groups in the community to have equitable access and information in their interactions with the criminal justice system. Since 2021 Jess has been Chair of the DCJ Multicultural Network. 

Since August 2023, Jess has been leading a team to develop, implement and oversee anti-racism initiatives across the Department of Communities and Justice. The goal of the unit is to better support staff from culturally diverse background and Aboriginal staff who experience racism in the workplace and build a workplace that is culturally safe and free from racism.

Xiaoyan Lu is an Executive Director at the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO). She received an Australian Day Achievement Medallion in 2020 in recognition of her leadership in business transformation through data analytics. Before joining the ANAO in 2018, Xiaoyan dedicated 11 years to the Australian Sports Commission leading data-driven decision-making initiatives. Xiaoyan also worked in the private sector as a research consultant for four years.

Xiaoyan is an immigrant who came to Australia at the age of 25 starting her first job as a receptionist. Today, she is a mentor who helps others realise their career potential.

Oanh Thi Tran is a Commissioner of the Fair Work Commission, Australia’s national workplace tribunal. Prior to coming to FWC in July 2023, Oanh was Principal Solicitor at the Young Workers Centre, Legal and Industrial Officer at TCFUA and CFMMEU) and an employment and discrimination law lawyer in firms in the UK and Qld. Oanh started her legal career as an Associate in the Qld Supreme Court. Oanh was born in Viet Nam and came to Australia with her large family as a refugee when she was 3 years old. She cares deeply about social justice and the dignity of all work.

Vanessa is a Director in the Pacific Division at the Department of Defence. She has spent a decade specialising in strategy, policy and engagement in the Indo-Pacific. She has served as a trusted advisor to a number of senior military and Defence leaders, including Chief of Army and Deputy Secretary Strategy, Policy, and Industry. Vanessa is passionate about staff development, and supporting CALD colleagues in the national security sector. Vanessa has a Master of Military and Defence Studies and is a graduate of the Australian Command and Staff College. She is a Cantonese heritage speaker.