Meet our 2022 Emerging Leaders:

Jacob is a social problem solver for hire, a Support Worker and a social entrepreneur currently focussed on growing his donut shop, DoughingNuts Donuts. He is passionate about finding solutions of change for his community and has devoted himself to use business to bring forth this change.

Jacob has two work-integrated social enterprises (WISEs), DoughingNuts Donuts and Full Spectrum Services and Supports. Both implement “Buddies in Business” with the collective goal of creating jobs for those with autism and other intellectual indifferences while working towards a united mission of creating purposeful employment and opportunities. His social enterprises will create a labour distribution company and infrastructure to provide meaningful employment pathways and business partnerships.

Jacob imagines a franchise like Jims.net, but with more social and economic value.

I’m the finance manager of HoMie, an organisation that supports young people affected by homelessness or hardship to equip them with skills, confidence and experiences to be more work-ready and better prepared for their future. We are gender neutral, we are socially conscious and we are a community. Our Brunswick St store is a base for HoMie’s two social impact programs – our VIP Days and a training location for our HoMie Pathway Alliance Program, as well as where we showcase our latest releases across all seasons. My role as a finance manager involved an overall management of finance function of HoMie including setting up a budget, assisting audit process, department tracking.

Sammy Jetson is a Strategic Engagement Officer who provides links and connections with a range of partners for the Christie Centre and its Social Enterprises, based in North-West Victoria. Authentic relationships are the cornerstone to creating community change and it is Sammy’s engagement with emerging and established enterprises and her encouragement of shared knowledge, capacity for analysis and the use of evidence based practice that offers succinct and purposeful impact statements as a measurement for success. Sammy has a BA with First Class Honours in Gender Studies & Social Analysis from the University of Adelaide which underpins her commitment to social change through a critical lens. Economic and social inclusion for people experiencing cognitive impairment through disability or mental illness is at the centre of Sammy’s social purpose. Through this program Sammy aims to develop the confidence and courage necessary to advance her career and drive change further in her community.

Katherine Mullett is a Gunaikurnai, Ngarigo Monero woman. Katherine started her first company called Booth Boolooman Pty Ltd. Booth Boolooman is a Gunaikurnai word for “between two.”

Katherine wants to promote the celebration of the world’s First Nations people live every day.

Nearly two years ago, Katherine started Deadly Wears with her cousin. Deadly Wears is an Aboriginal owned family business. Deadly Wears wants to promote and support you to wear your ethics, to show off your pride for the diversity of Aboriginal design. Deadly Wears donates 10% of its profit to plant to trees, to support Caring for Country. Our clothes are Ally Friendly.

More recently Katherine started Djambies. Djambies is a Gunaikurnai word for Friends. Djambies is an educational subscription business for anyone to learn more about First Nations people. Djambies supports learning, challenges your unconscious bias towards race and supports First Nations businesses through promotion and supplying products to the subscriber. Djambies is a place where the subscriber can become a stronger ally with resources in one place.

Anushka is a passionate psychologist driving advocacy and change for minority communities across Australia with her primary focus on Cultural Psychology and Educational & Developmental Psychology. As the founder of Umeed Psychology – a social enterprise enabling positive mental health conversations and outcomes through a psychology private practice, Anushka aims to support the betterment of Asian Australian and Pacific Islander mental health. Umeed Psychology approaches mental health from a holistic lens and aims to provide prevention, intervention and postvention services. This includes but is not limited to culturally sensitive professional development resources and workshops for mental health practitioners, individual and group counselling, consulting services for other organisations and events, support groups and research. Anushka is a published researcher (Dealing with Student Trauma: Exploring School Leadership Experiences and Impact) and is looking to advance research and understanding of multicultural mental health to complement her Masters research project which focused on the impact of biculturalism and intergenerational family conflict on the mental health of Asian Australians.

Hi I’m River, I work at Green Collect as their Pathway Support Coordinator. I am helping to develop and implement job programs that assist people who face barriers to employment. Green Collects primary purpose is to foster a circular economy, focusing on resource recovery by sorting through items to save them from landfill. This amazing work also creates job opportunities, which is where my role sits.

I am also working toward creating my own social enterprise that uses ideas around intersectional feminism to create communities through workshops and other social groups. I am focusing on how attitudes around self-worth, belonging and value correlate with issues faced by young people around the ages of 14-25.

Ruby is a broadcaster and youth advocate, and is the Social Enterprise Manager at SYN Media, a youth community media organisation and radio station. SYN Media encompasses SYN Media Learning and SYN Production Services, Social Enterprises which uplift the voices of young people in Australian media while offering them meaningful employment opportunities.

Bianca has extensive leadership experience within the for-purpose space, with a particular interest within the disability sector. She is a keen advocate for seeing young people in leadership positions as well as ensuring young adults with disability are meaningful contributors to society. With a background in education and inclusive employment, Bianca has provided countless opportunities for people with disabilities to enter the workforce.

Bianca is the General Manager of All Things Equal, a grassroots social enterprise providing purposeful paid employment for people with disability in hospitality settings. She is driven by her responsibility in this world to create a more inclusive society for everyone in it!

Sakshi is the Metropolitan Manager at SENVIC, and looks forward to supporting you and the social enterprise ecosystem to thrive in Victoria. She is also the founder of a social enterprise herself, Humanism Global which provides textiles education and safe employment with women from Pondicherry, South India. Prior to venturing into the social enterprise sector, Sakshi graduated with the Bachelors of Biomedicine & Commerce (Finance) and a Masters of Entrepreneurship from Melbourne Business School, and has worked in Finance at EY, public health and systems change consulting. Sakshi also loves learning and teaching, and in her spare time is tutoring at Melbourne University, facilitating and mentoring entrepreneurship workshops with migrants and refugees through Catalysr, and facilitating school workshops on emotional resilience. She also loves reading start-up and personal development books, listening to podcasts and loves to dance.