In 2009 Neda and her husband migrated from India to Australia.

Despite a successful career in India and holds a degree in Commerce in accounting and marketing, Neda struggled to secure a job in her field in Australia and instead worked in a contact centre for many years.

This is a reality for many educated migrant and refugee women, who find themselves employed in positions below their level of education and expertise.

Neda knew she had greater aspirations. “I’m someone who loves to take on challenges. I’ve always been ambitious,” she said.

The idea of creating her own business selling ready-made spice blends had lingered in her thoughts for years.

Neda explained how in Indian culture food brings families together. She recalled, “Growing up in India, we didn’t have much money, but our bellies were always full of food from a home-cooked nourishing meal.”

When Neda came to Australia, she noticed the store-bought spices did not do justice to the original flavours. She began making her spice blends from scratch, utilising recipes handed down through generations.

“The idea to start a business came to me from my challenge of preparing nutritious home-made meals for my family with a lack of time to cook from scratch,” she said.

Neda wanted to help home cooks with hassle-free yet authentic Indian cooking in their kitchens.

In search of a sounding board and seeking validation, she shared her business idea with a friend.

Her friend responded with uncertainty, casting doubt on Neda’s ideas and confidence.

Years later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a workplace injury forced Neda out of her job.

At home and injured, she fell into a depression.

“With young kids to care for, I felt the pressure to contribute financially to support my young family,” Neda said.

Neda felt more compelled than ever by the idea of being independent and self-employed.

“I realised that it should be me who decides what I want to do. I do not need validation from other people who may not see my vision yet,” she said.

“My mum came to Australia during that time and as we talked, I shared my entrepreneurial idea with her, and she encouraged me to take the first giant leap,” Neda said. “My mother was always supportive of everything I do.”

In 2022, Neda began working on her product, established Bombay Spices and started selling it at local Victorian farmers’ markets.

“Engaging with people at the markets made me happy and confident. I knew it was the right path,” she said.

Neda’s husband was initially uncertain about the idea because he wanted her to focus on her injury recovery.

“It took some time, but he eventually came on board and now he sees my vision and is very supportive,” Neda said.

Neda now offers a range of eight different spice blends and has garnered a loyal following from market customers who eagerly wait each week to purchase their favourite spice blends.

Neda gives a lot of credit to the resources and start-up programs that have helped her along the way. This year, she began working with the Ignite small business start-up Female Founders to get her business to the next step.

“If you believe in yourself and your vision, you can use the resources available to you to get where you want to go,” she explained.

“We may not always have the support of our family or friends when we need it most. However, you need to take that first step and others will join you on your journey,” Neda said.

Kimia Yousofi’s life journey exemplifies the transformative power of equal opportunities.

The now 27-year-old, returned to Afghanistan to train for selection at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. She represented her country with pride and four years later, she once again qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Competing in Tokyo, however, coincided with the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, bringing with it oppressive measures against women.

As a female athlete representing a country under Taliban rule, Kimia became a target. Her involvement in sports clashed with the new restrictions imposed on women. In a courageous move, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), with the assistance of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), secured a safe exit for Kimia.

Arriving in Australia in 2022, Kimia found a welcoming athletics community and a chance to continue her Olympic journey. While training for selection to the Paris 2024 Olympics, she has also embarked on a journey to learn English at TAFE.

“When I came to Australia my English was zero. Then after one week, the Australian Olympic Committee gave me a coach, John Quinn. It was so hard just to communicate. I couldn’t talk with him. [We spoke through] a translate application. On the first day [of training] I didn’t talk with my teammates, just my coach, by application. After maybe six months, I realised the names of my teammates! And then I started talking with them. [Communication] was difficult for me.”

What Kimia found though, in her athletics team, was a group of similarly motivated, supportive people.

“I’m happy that I’m training with them. They always help me when I need help during training. They are positive. And I think it’s the best part of my squad. They are positive, always. The positive attitude helps us a lot because the training is hard.”

Kimia’s resettlement journey goes beyond personal success. She actively uses her profile to advocate for refugees, especially Afghan women. In less than two years, Kimia’s story has reached over 1.8 billion people worldwide. Her advocacy has extended to a meeting with UN representatives, where she has shared her experiences and addressed the issues faced by refugees in Australia.

Kimia’s resilience and commitment exemplify the potential for positive change when women are given equal opportunities.

Despite the adversity that Kimia has experienced during her life, she believes it’s important for women to persevere.

“When [the] Taliban came, I was in Afghanistan. At that time I didn’t have any idea about what I should do. I said, “I don’t want to stop. It’s not the end of my life; it’s not the end of my journey.”’

“Never give up. In every way. [There could be a] problem, issue, or barrier, but don’t give up. Because you can overcome problems. And problems can come to teach you something. You will go one level higher. Just keep doing.”

In 2018, Roaa and her family found safety in Australia after being forced to leave Egypt and then China.

From her earliest years, Roaa wanted to become a psychologist and was committed to doing whatever it took to achieve her goal.

She has excelled academically throughout her life, achieving second place in her city in Egypt and securing the top position in her school during her years in China.

Arriving in Australia, Roaa faced the daunting task of adapting to a new school system and learning English. Initially, she struggled to achieve her usual high marks.

“I have always been a high achiever,” Roaa said. “It was difficult for me to accept receiving Cs. I thought, ‘What is happening?’”

From a young age, Roaa has always been taught the value of education by her parents. “I know that having an education as a woman is so powerful,” Roaa said.

As Year 12 approached, Roaa’s confidence dwindled.  She sought validation through others so that she could find the confidence to achieve the high marks required to apply for a psychology degree. When she sought advice from a particular person, however, they dashed her dreams.

“I was told that I had just moved to Australia and my English was not very good,” Roaa recounted.

“I was told not to get my hopes up, as I might not get into psychology, so I should begin exploring other options.”

“When I left that room, I had given up on my dream of studying psychology,” she said.

Roaa went home and started looking for something ‘easy’ to get into it.

Roaa remembered, “I was feeling quite unsure of myself at the time, and I just needed to hear someone say, ‘Yes Roaa, you can do it.”

During her high school years, Roaa observed a common challenge in her community; psychologists found it challenging to fully understand the specific struggles of women from refugee backgrounds.

“Mental health is getting worse, especially for women in my community,” Roaa emphasised.

“My community needs more Arab psychologists who can empathise and understand their situation – their trauma and experiences. They need someone who has experienced something similar, not someone who has not felt what war means.”

Roaa decided to find confidence within herself and not abandon her dream of helping her community. “I told myself ‘Why not give it a shot? You will never lose anything by just trying,” she said.

Despite the challenges of COVID lockdowns, Roaa dedicated herself to her studies and completed Year 12, surprising herself with an ATAR of 94.5.

As university offers flooded in, Roaa chose to accept a double degree program in psychology and media and communications at the University of Sydney.

Roaa explained, “Do not ever underestimate what someone can do simply because they are a woman, or they have migrated from another country and their English may not be as good as yours. Even if they are refugees, do not assume they are incapable.”

“They have faced a lot of challenges that fuel their desire to achieve better. They are awaiting the opportunity and once given; they will seize it and strive to excel as best they can.”

In 2022, Roaa received an SSI Allianz Scholarship which supports her ongoing studies.

Lucy grew up in what she calls the ‘rougher end of Logan’ in Yugambeh country in Queensland. She has spent her life in an urban community where all forms of government ‘were missing the mark’ when it came to social disadvantage.

“Due to being a Black fulla and the massive oppression that has occurred for my father, my grandfather and my great grandmother who were taken off the country by force has always placed me in a position of disadvantage,” she said.

Early in her life, she understood the struggles of her Mob and the long road ahead to turn things around,

Lucy was raised by a single white mum who never shied away from the fact that her kids were Black.

“I was exposed to racism from a young age, and my mum was our biggest advocate. She would say to us kids ‘I would never understand what it feels like, but as your mother, I feel the pain and it is my responsibility to use every bit of my white privilege to give you the best start in life.’”

Lucy’s mum equipped her and her siblings with knowledge of politics and literature and showed what their force needed to grow into to become drivers of change.

“My mum is everything to us – she is the matriarch of the family.”

Today, Lucy champions her unique approach to change as the National RAP Manager for the Salvation Army.

“Some of the most inspirational women in my life have been my leaders and co-workers at Salvation Army, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. They’ve truly listened and allowed me to create spaces for women to speak up.”

The common thread in Lucy’s life has been strong women coming together to fight for a better tomorrow for First Nations Peoples across their lands – but often these women faced resistance across many facets of Australian society.

“Women from other Mobs are my sisters, we band together – from the commonality of the oppression we’ve all faced together. It is sad but it is the way it is.”

“In Aboriginal communities, women are the backbone. But their voices don’t always fit,” she reflected.

“Our men are on a real journey of reconstructing who they are because our women are so strong and have stepped up. But this is also the case in white culture – in politics, everyone struggles when a woman speaks up.”

In the weeks and months following the 2023 Constitutional Referendum, Lucy has hosted Voice-inspired sessions with Mob23 in partnership with local ‘Yes’ groups, continuing the fight for First Nations Peoples. Lucy is determined to turn disappointment into strength and optimism for her Mob.

Lucy cites her sister who summed up the defeat of the Voice beautifully, “We will never recover – we had a chance to recover, and we didn’t. However, we now have six million new friends – the six million who voted yes.”

The Gold Coast Afghan community hosted a barbeque one afternoon for Lucy’s Mob23 to give them hope after the vote, which also coincided with the beginning of the Gaza/Israel war.

“These Afghan brothers and sisters had taken the time out to host something for my Mob, and they didn’t mention once that their neighbouring country was entering a war and that they might have family there, or their struggles,” she reflected.

For Lucy, investing in women and ‘counting them in’, as is this year’s theme for International Women’s Day, is a no-brainer in helping solve some of the most critical issues Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women face today, such as domestic violence, incarceration rates and finding a path forward post-referendum.

“There is a real push towards accepting women and their stories in our community. If Australian governments are serious about closing the gap, they must change their structures to allow women to have their voice heard in different areas of society and positions of power.”

“My early years were tumultuous and catastrophic at times. I grew up violently poor and entrenched in my parent’s unhealed wounds. Police sirens, black eyes, dislocated from the motherland Papua New Guinea, I am driftwood, and my performances are earth, solid grounding. I exist and create because of healing.”

When Mel Ree responded to our request to be profiled as part of International Women’s Day, she spoke with her truth.  Her words were powerful and revealing, as she began her story with the heartbreak of her childhood.

Out of the chaos and trauma, Mel was clearly a woman who was destined to evolve, share herself and her talents and help heal others through art and performance.

The first to do many things in her family lineage, like attend university, live in a big city, and pursue a career in the arts – Mel has forged ahead with pride and courage, but it hasn’t been without sorrow and grief.

“I am the first to speak our families’ truths with pride. I have lifetimes of intergenerational trauma and negative programming I have to work through in all areas of my life … My art is my therapy and I have accepted the whole truth of my ugly and it is powerful and beautiful in its own way, and I am thriving because of it,” Mel said.

Upon graduating from acting school, she found herself embodying other people’s stories – but not her own. It was through her friend and creator, Ayeesha Ash, who opened the door to poetry, and another world opened for Mel. One that allowed her to start her own journey of healing.

Through Ayeesha, and her dearly departed mentor, butch Queen activist and storyteller, Candy Royalle, Mel began her journey in leading through her words and art.

“I wrote, I spoke fearlessly, I opened my heart and emptied its contents into the bodies who came to witness and hold space at our poetry events, and my heart always returned more full,” she said.

“Poetry is one of the last revolutionary spaces where the voice of the people in the trenches, the marginalised, the outcast and the ‘different’ – we gather here to speak truth.”

Mel’s poetry and performances speak to, and represent, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) women and Queer communities – something that was historically missing in mainstream media for far too long.

“Imagine never seeing your reflection. You wouldn’t know yourself. Wouldn’t recognise the intricacies of the shape of you, wouldn’t know that when the sun hits your iris at a certain angle you can see all your ancestors gathered like petals in bathwater, gentle, overwhelming beauty.

We NEED to see ourselves to know ourselves! I have become the woman I needed when I was a child. My friends, all of them, I would DIE and be reborn to have seen them on my screens and magazines as a child. I would have been saved from years of self-loathing. I would have known then I was beautiful too.”

Mel’s stories are not only raw and heartfelt reflections of marginalised communities, but also the truth of her life as a Black woman.

“My story is the story of healing. Of black rise and revolution. When I perform my own work I offer this story, with every cell in my body, with the intention that I might inspire someone’s healing or at the very least, give them permission to stand in their truth.

When I am a part of someone else’s work, I wear my afro full volume, I speak eloquently, my chest is high and I let every woman know, there is no shame, stand proud my sister, I will open this door and build its foundations strong for when you are ready to come through.”

With so much to say, and with the prospect of touching so many lives, Mel’s words on International Women’s Day are a call to action for women of all communities.

“Let love lead.

We, the world, our leaders, are so broken, our most sacred spaces infiltrated by greed, power hungry toxic patriarchal systems. Women possess all the qualities to heal the world, but they do not know or feel they have a right to because they haven’t seen themselves reflected, represented, in all the spaces they are not, women should know, feel, SEE that they are entitled to, deserve to be there and take up space.

The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. Let’s try something new then hey?

Let women lead.”

Mel Ree will be performing her show, Revolution Renegade, as part of the BEMAC program for 2024.

Mel also hopes to one day take her one-woman show ‘Mother May We’ nation-wide, which premiered at Sydney’s Griffin Theatre in 2022.