Australia is made up of over 300 cultures and ethnicities

Isabel Zhang is a distinguished expert with over two decades of experience in social and commercial research, insights, and strategy across the Asia-Pacific region. Her expertise is nationally and internationally recognised, particularly in the fields of social, cultural, and commercial research, as well as business strategy and consulting. A skilled communicator, advocate, and facilitator, Isabel excels at engaging and inspiring her audience, driven by her steadfast commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion.
 
Throughout her career, Isabel has built an impressive track record of bridging multicultural communities with public, government, and commercial sectors. Her work spans areas such as social and policy research, community education, and commercial ventures. A key focus of her efforts has been to promote and advance multicultural approaches within the complex frameworks of social, business, and political reforms, ensuring that diverse CALD voices and perspectives are meaningfully included in these transformative processes.
 
Isabel has conducted extensive research with a wide range of communities and organisations, making her a sought-after panelist at multicultural engagement forums and platforms, including SBS and ABC International. In addition to her research, she serves on the Advisory Board of St. Vincent’s Private Hospital, acts as a Goodwill Ambassador for the Museum of Chinese Australian History, and is a Vice President of the Australia China Business Council Victoria.
 
Her career is a testament to her unwavering dedication to fostering diversity, advocating for inclusivity, and promoting cross-cultural understanding in Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific region.

Niharika Hiremath is a South-Indian mental well-being peer practitioner and intersectionality advocate living on the lands of the Boonwurung people of the Kulin nation (Melbourne, Australia). A mental health advocate by lived experience, a social worker by study and a student of life – she tries to identify and bridge systemic gaps within the wellbeing sector. Niharika focuses on the mental wellbeing of refugee and migrant-background communities through exploring culture and identity, and their overlap with mental health across a number of facets including service delivery, clinical & quality governance and through driving organisational & systemic change.

Niharika works toward increased sectoral cultural humility by being a member of headspace National’s Advisory Board, a member of the Refugee and Migrant MH Partnership led by the former Migration Council of Australia, AASW-certified Social Worker and Project Lead with the South Eastern-Melbourne Primary Health Network (SEMPHN), as well as on a number of other committees and working groups.

Also the co-chair of AIDMH’s professional & peer arm Solis, Niharika believes in the importance of narrative approaches, as well as the need for agency and self-determination, when working toward increased cultural humility, and a safer & more culturally responsive system.

Karen is known for her skills in delivering outcomes in a human kind of way. She develops highly engaged and performant teams that have direct impact aligned with business strategy. In her leadership roles, Karen has delivered projects that have seen products and platforms become #1 at speed and ease, delivered multi-million dollar revenues and created client connection and lovability.

As pragmatic leader in her field, Karen uses User Experience (UX) and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) knowledge to help organisations become more empathetic, creative and inclusive.

Karen has, and continues to, work with many large-scale clients in sectors that include eCommerce, banking, telecommunications, retail, and government.

Margherita is lesbian with disability from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background. She brings expertise from her intersectional lived experience as well as her activism, advocacy, and professional experience. Margherita has been representing and working on issues for women, people with disability, CALD and disability communities since 1980.

Margherita has extensive knowledge and experience working with LGBTIQ+ communities and allies. She is well known and well regarded across LGBTIQ+ communities in Victoria, Australia, Oceania and beyond, particularly for her advocacy around LGBTIQ+ disability intersectionality. She is considered as a lesbian elder within Victorian LGBTIQ+ communities.

Margherita currently holds positions as Co-Chairperson of ILGA Oceania and board member of ILGA World. She is appointed to the Victorian Government LGBTIQ+ Taskforce. She is Deputy President of Drummond Street Services’ board and a founding member and Secretary on the management committee of Inclusive Rainbow Voices (LGBTIQA+ People with Disability)

Maria is a lauded human rights advocate and champion of diversity and gender equality. She holds extensive experience and expertise, particularly around the rights and meaningful inclusion of women from migrant and refugee backgrounds in policy and system reform.

Maria has made significant contributions to policy development, research and community education, including as a member of the federal Access and Equity Inquiry Panel and as the inaugural Chairperson of the Harmony Alliance – Australia’s national coalition of migrant and refugee women. Maria has also contributed to state and federal family and gender-based violence prevention and response strategies, including as part of the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children which oversaw the development of the First National Plan to End Violence against Women and their Children.

She has undertaken extensive research with diverse communities and organisations and has been published in the Feminist Law Journal, Family and Domestic Violence Clearinghouse, and the Australian Institute of Criminology. She is also the co-author of the book Blood on Whose Hands? The Killing of Women and Children in Domestic Homicides, published by the Women’s Coalition Against Family Violence.

Maria was formerly Special Advisor, Multicultural Communities, for the Department of Justice and Community Safety. She is also a Board member of the Coronial Council of Victoria, Reconciliation Victoria, the Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre, and the National Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity.

Marshie is a member of the South Asian Communities Ministerial Advisory Council. She has 2 decades of experience in working as an Engineer (Bach Chemical Engineering (Hons) and Science) and is passionate about using science and engineering to create cohesive and sustainable communities.

Marshie has always been a fierce advocate for inclusion and diversity and her goal is to create better communities by working through an intersectional lens. She also runs a dance school, which she founded, and uses that as a platform to bring about social change.

Marshie is a Board Director of, and has been volunteering with Austral-Asian Centre for Human Rights and Health (ACHRH) since 2017, helping develop and facilitate family violence prevention and mental health projects.

Narissa is a Thai-Lebanese Australian and strong advocate for diversity and compassionate inclusivity in the mental health sector. An engagement professional with a background in community-focused suicide prevention, Narissa’s lived and professional experience encompasses the intersection of wellbeing, culture and faith.

Narissa has developed capacity-building and wellbeing projects for migrant and refugee communities, with a focus on destigmatisation and creating safe, strengths-based conversations.

Narissa’s work in community, stakeholder and lived experience engagement is driven by a commitment to honouring diverse and lived experience perspectives of mental health, and giving these influence to develop culturally safe, responsive and meaningful approaches to care.

Amanda Daluwatta is a researcher and mental health clinician who is passionate about equity, diversity, and advocacy. She has been working in the mental health field for the last 8 years across community and hospital settings. Amanda is passionate about developing culturally responsive and safe interventions that have direct potential for translation into clinical practice. Additionally, she is interested in working collaboratively with multicultural communities to break down mental health myths held within the community. Her current research project is titled “Sri Lankan Australians: Let’s Talk about your Mental Health”. Excitedly, she has conducted the largest study on Sri Lankan migrants’ mental health, their mental health literacy, and mental health service engagement in an Australian context.