Maryam Zahid is an award-wining Afghan-Australian human rights champion, diversity and inclusion practitioner, self-taught artist and social commentator.
Maryam Zahid is the founder of Afghan Women on the Move, an organisation that supports the health, mental wellbeing, individual growth and development of Afghan and other women of diverse migrant backgrounds. Maryam’s work aims to help women reach their full potential in all aspects of life: employment, study, art, financial literacy, swimming and more.
Maryam grew up in Afghanistan and arrived in Australia just before her twentieth birthday. Having missed out on the opportunity to go to school as a child, Maryam convinced the principal of Blacktown’s Mitchell High to allow her to enrol, despite being several years older than the other senior students.
Maryam has over twenty years’ experience in the community sector, working in domestic violence, refugee resettlement and with newly arrived migrants.
She was Blacktown City Woman of the Year in 2019 and is currently a Westpac Social Change Fellow for 2024. She studied Values and Public Policy at Oxford University and graduated from Stanford University Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders.
Alongside her community work, Maryam is an emerging playwright and exhibition producer.
Leanne Redpath is a Dharug artist, educator and book illustrator. She is also connected to the Burubiranggal, Warmuli and many other family groups across Sydney and NSW. Leanne started painting with her mother as a young child. She is the author of Cooee Mittigar and Sharing, children’s books created to share Dharug knowledge and culture. Leanne is a long-serving director of the Dharug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation. She is a mother and grandmother, and she loves spending time with her family and on Country.
Mayor Chagai is the founder and head coach of Savannah Pride, a basketball club that mentors and connects young people through sport. Savannah Pride is a grassroots youth organisation that draws on the South Sudanese community’s passion for basketball to foster community harmony. At six years old, war forced Mayor to leave his South Sudanese village. He made his way via Ethiopia to a Kenyan refugee camp, where he discovered he had a gift for basketball. A true community leader, Mayor’s work with Savannah Pride creates a supportive place where young people in the Blacktown LGA can channel their energy and grow.
Kim Loo is a doctor who has worked in the Blacktown LGA for 35 years. She is committed to highlighting the evidence around social, environmental and commercial determinants of health. She is a tireless advocate for climate justice.
Kim is a fourth-generation Australian with a Malaysian Chinese cultural background. She is the mother of two adult children.
Kim is passionate about permaculture and cooking and she uses these activities and values to grow her community.
She contributes to many public health and wellbeing organisations including NSW Doctors for the Environment, Asian Australians for Climate Solutions, the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Hills Doctors Association and the Western Sydney Primary Health Network.