Culture Spring

Boudene Hauraki – Project Lead

Boudene Hauraki (Bou) has a strong passion for working with young people and community. He holds his head high as an indigenous Maori man identifying within the LGBTQIA+ community, and uses his position as a community leader in Melbourne and New Zealand to do great things for his communities.

Bou has worked within the public service sector across New Zealand and Australia for the past 10 years, working primarily with indigenous communities to improve overall social and health outcomes in youth justice, suicide prevention, and disability, while working extensively on community development programs within communities struggling with drug and alcohol addictions and truancy.

Bou specialises in facilitating co-design and youth-led initiatives by bringing together the voices, skills and expertise of young people and experts in relevant fields. Bou has a passion for supporting all communities to reach their upmost potential.

Rosie Thyer – Chairperson

Rosie (she/her) is a university student, studying a Bachelor of Law (Honours) and Global Studies. Rosie identifies as a Vietnamese and South-East European person and acknowledges that her upbringing in Melbourne has allowed her to make use of the opportunities available and use her privilege for change. She believes that the Culture Spring’s work  has the ability to enforce structural change, whilst striving to place multicultural young people at the forefront of decision making processes.

Rosie has extensive experience working in Local Council Groups advocating for change, in academic settings and in the wider community. She works for the Victorian Multicultural Commission in their Multicultural Youth Network, whilst also advocating for ethical engagement in other community platforms.

She is passionate about her studies and hopes to incorporate social justice and human rights with the law. Since being part of Culture Spring, Rosie has been exposed to the barriers and motivations that come with working in the sector and hopes to continue to learn as the youth-led unit develops.

Emily Unity

Emily Unity is a lived and living experience professional who is passionate about advocating for the human rights of all people, regardless of background, identity, or intersectionality.

Emily is currently the Lived Experience Lead for the Royal Children’s Hospital, on the Committees of Management for VMIAC (State Consumer Peak) and Centre for Multicultural Youth, on the boards for Midsumma and Intertwine, and advisory committees for UNICEF, Headspace, Beyond Blue, CYDA, Orygen, and more.

For their work, Emily was recently awarded Mental Health Advocate of the Year, Youth of the Year, Disability Leadership Award, Innovation in Protecting Children Award, Children and Youth Empowerment Award, Community Leadership Award, 25 Under 25, 30 Under 30, and inducted in the first cohort of the Multicultural Honor Roll.

Emily grounds their work in their intersectional experiences of mental health, disability, LGBTQIA+, homelessness, neurodiversity, and being a young carer from a refugee and migrant background.

Enya Cai

Enya Cai is passionate about ensuring diversity and creativity is valued across society – through individual, structural and systemic change. This has led her through a wide-ranging career across public policy, workplace inclusion, consulting and the arts.

After some time away from work, Enya now freelances across the Arts and Corporate sectors. In the creative world, she is a project manager and producer for theatre and arts projects, and teaches for the Australian Girls Choir. Across Corporate clients she provides specialised advice on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and facilitates leadership training.

Enya previously worked in Victorian Government across social policy areas, including at the Victorian Multicultural Commission, Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector, and was the Oceania Diversity and Inclusion Advisor at EY (Ernst & Young). She is experienced in leading teams to develop and implement policies and programs with an intersectional lens across gender equality, multicultural communities, LGBTQ+ and disability. Her internal audit background also gives her an unusual love of process maps, risk and budgets.

Enya holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accounting. Outside work she spends her time finding joy through music, food and cats.

Hashmat Najib

Hashmat, born in Afghanistan, migrated to Australia as a teenager. He now works as a Risk Specialist at Woods Bagot, a global architecture company, and has previously managed supply chain risks during the COVID-19 pandemic in the public health sector.

Beyond his career, Hashmat co-hosts the pioneering Afghan podcast, ‘Amplifying Afghan voices in the West, one conversation at a time’ where they deep-dive into social issues impacting the community in Australia and beyond.

As a two-time refugee with lived experiences, Hashmat is driven to advocate for disadvantaged young people in Australia. As a member of the Committee of Management for CultureSpring, Hashmat is honoured to leverage his personal experiences as a migrant and an Australian-Hazara to positively impact the lives of disadvantaged youth from migrant and refugee communities in Australia.

Kevin Kapeke

Kevin works as the Engagement Coordinator, Young People at VicHealth. He sits within the CEO’s office and in close partnership with all teams across VicHealth. He is responsible for coordinating and managing VicHealth’s partnerships with youth organisations, as well as supporting the integration of voices, lived experience and diverse perspectives of young people across Victoria into the work of VicHealth. Kevin also serves on the Africa Day Australia, Zimbabwean Community, and YMCA boards.

Krushnadevsinh (Kano) Ravalji

Krushnadevsinh (Kano) Ravalji is the founder of Third Culture Australia and an award-winning speaker, consultant, and trainer. Kano works with young people, multicultural communities and organisations to promote inclusion, equity and leadership.

Kano led a project with the North Melbourne Football Club – The Huddle, to encourage multicultural people to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations and has conducted research with the Australian National University and UNICEF into the experiences of young people with institutionalised racism. Kano is a member of the Western Metropolitan Partnership and previously worked in the Access and Inclusion team at the Victorian Electoral Commission, increasing the CALD community’s participation in the democratic process over three elections. These organisations enable Kano to broaden his engagement with the community, and allow him to advise policy-making that is culturally appropriate, inclusive and helps organisations become more culturally responsive. He shares his common migration experience to empower others to own their stories and be confident in their identities.

Liem Nguyen

Liem Nguyen is a young Vietnamese Australian man and wears many hats. He is a Grants Manager for a Philanthropic Foundation, leads cybersecurity for a Family Office, Co-Founder, Director of Community & Culture at OKIRU, Host of the OKIRU RISE Together Podcast, Committee of Management for CultureSpring and works in wellness as a casual community yoga teacher and mindfulness guide.

Born and bred in Footscray, from two generations of Vietnamese refugees, Liem cherishes Australia’s multicultural fabric. His curiosity has led him on solo journeys to explore places like Palestine, Iran, India and Pakistan. His lived experience and travels informs the work that he does with multicultural communities. He is also one of 10 delegates representing Australia in the Australia-Vietnam Leadership Dialogue in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2023. Outside of work, Liem loves to keep active and creative through music, movement, meditation, reading and writing.

Martika Shakoor

Martika (she/her) is a second generation Afghan migrant. She works within the youth multicultural space and a member of a number of committees, including the Australian Multicultural Council.

Her passions include youth, justice, creative arts and advocacy which have led to her involvement in a number of initiatives throughout her career. Martika believes in working with refugee and migrant young people as agents in their own lives, and that having them at the forefront of our work in sustainable, intentional and meaningful ways is absolutely necessary.

Safar Ibrahimi

Safar Ibrahimi, Afghan/Hazara/Australian person, is a Democracy Ambassador (DA) who helps Multicultural Communities better their understanding about elections and democracy. It is his belief to ensure voting is inclusive and easily understood for all.

In the past 6 years, Safar has been working as a community consultant, recruiter and program developer across public and not for profit, and most recently has been working as stakeholder’s consultant engagement where he focuses on building new partnerships with employer and community stakeholders, to create employment opportunities to meet the needs of jobseekers, businesses, and the local communities.

Safar has a driving passion for social justice but on the side, also enjoys reading and playing sport.

Thomas Feng

Thomas Feng 冯子晋 (he/him) is a Chinese-Australian writer, advocate and photographer who has been on the Culture Spring Committee of Management since August 2022.

Professionally, he works as Media and Communications Manager for Human Rights Law Centre, with extensive communications, strategy, media and community engagement experience which focuses on translating complex issues into compelling campaigns, particularly to improve diverse and marginalised communities.

Thomas previously led high-performing, creative teams at Youth Affairs Council Victoria and Road to Refuge, centring lived experience and using advocacy on a number of issues, including the reinstatement for a Federal Minister for Youth, more COVID-19 support for young people, raising the age of criminal responsibility, and building stronger social connection between people seeking asylum and communities.

Thomas has been heavily involved in the youth sector for a decade, and is passionate about making spaces where young people can expand their realm of possibilities.

Thomas holds a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Melbourne, and was a 2021 Centre for Australian Progress Fellow.