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YOUTH AMBASSADORS 2017

Reena Augustine

Finalist, IABCA 2016

Hailing from a small city in India, Reena has came a very long way,and not just geographically breaking down barriers for Indian woman the world over .she is an inspiration to be around and a joy to meet. She does everything from modelling, to managing, to acting, to radio to you name it. Maintaining humility and warmth at every turn, she places great value on relationships with family and friends and continues to give her all to the community and the events to which she attends and indeed organises.

In all that she does, she promotes multiculturalism, & peace and gives time freely so others may grow, this lead her to win the Women in Business Community Achievement award 2016

Pritika Desai

Winner, IABCA 2016 

Pritika, 25, is raised in the Northern Territory and works in youth and community development. In 2013, she founded ShoutOut!, a youth led project focused on changing community perceptions and understanding of youth mental health and advocating for more accessible and relevant support for young people. She is the 2015 NT Young Achiever of the Year, 2016 Darwin Young Citizen of the Year and 2016 India Australia Business and Community Awards Young Community Achiever of the Year. 

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Peter Doukas

Managing Director, Denison Toyer

Mr Doukas is the Managing Director of a Sydney CBD law firm Denison Toyer operating mainly in commercial, administrative and property law. He has worked in corporate governance since 2006 and has provided extensive advice to associations and NGOs. He is currently a member of the NSW Government’s Justice Multicultural Advisory Committee and serves on various other non-profit boards. He was elected as the youngest ever Chair of the Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW in 2013 and re-elected in 2015. 

Indranil Halder

Sales Executive, Crown Group

He has a broad multinational experience in the telecommunication, pharmaceutical & medical and real estate industry. He studied Bio-Medical Science and hold a MBA. He has been working as sales executive for over 15 years in the Australian corporate sector. He travels across the  globe to understand people, culture and cuisines. He is also a member of the NSW Polo Association, a travel writer for Indian English daily and  has written his  international student  memoir : Warrior In The Sanctuary to promote high quality Australian education to overseas markets. He also supports various charitable organisations to make this world a better place.

Deepti Sachdeva

Winner, IABCA 2016

Deepti is someone with a deep passion for all kinds of stories – back stories, user stories, episodic stories, breaking news stories... and how people learn from these stories, what they retain, what has an impact, what changes them and what they chose to forget.  She has won multiple awards for her multi-platform productions including many at Asian Television Awards, World Media Festivals and International Business Awards.

Francesca McMillan

Finalist, IABCA 2016

Francesca McMillan is a South Australian Community leader with a diverse mix of Fiji Indian and Italian background but born in Australia. She holds a double degree in Commerce and Administrative Management and worked in the education system for many years. In 2014 she was crowned Mrs Universe Australia and is Creative Director of Fusion Beats Dance – Bollywood specialising in choreography, cultural arts education, MC and public speaking, managing cultural events and a social media leader in the cultural Dance Industry.

Simran Sapra

Mrs India Australia 2016

Summy is Mrs India Australia 2016, 1st runner up. A humanitarian, model and actor. She also carries Mrs Photogenic 2016 subtitle.  A mother of 2, uses the pageant platform to empower youth and teach young kids about the Indian culture and actively volunteers her time with Children’s Research Medical Institute (CRMI).  Furthermore, Summy is active in the Indian community attending various events making special guest appearances, hosting events, doing short films and participating in fashion shows..

Ash Nugent

Deputy CEO, CareerSeekers New Australian Internship Program

Ash is a Melbourne-native that now lives in Sydney. He is the Deputy CEO of CareerSeekers New Australian Internship Program. CareerSeekers is a nonprofit social enterprise that creates paid, professional work placements for tertiary-qualified refugees, enabling them to restart their career in Australia. Outside of his paid employment, Ash founded Masala Football Club, a multicultural suburban AFL club. The club serves as a bridge between newly arrived communities, and the community-at-large. He is currently working on an education initiative for Bihar, India called schoolgoers. 

Uppma Virdi

Winner, IABCA 2016

Uppma is the granddaughter of an Ayurvedic doctor who used to make Ayurvedic chai blends. Uppma learnt how spices balance, their properties and the art of chai. She created Chai Walli to share her grandfather's deep rooted knowledge and her passion of chai and spices. Chai Walli wholesales blends across Australia, retails them through its e-commerce website, collaborate with many Australian dessert houses and restaurants to create chai infused food and also run the Art of Chai workshops for consumers to learn about the Indian culture of chai

Ben Scott

Global trade and investment strategist 

President,

India Australia Exchange Forum (QLD/NT)

Mr Scott is the inaugural President of the India Australia Exchange Forum (IAEF) for Queensland and the Northern Territory, and is deeply passionate about the progression of India-Australia relations. As a risk management and investment strategist he has successfully managed investment funds and founded two boutique investment groups. He is passionate about social enterprises and in 2016 brokered agreements between African football great and humanitarian, George Weah and Indian entrepreneur Nirav Tripathi to provide otherwise unattainable opportunities to children around the globe. He is a University of Queensland  graduate, and obtained a scholarship to study at the National University of Singapore.

AMBASSADORS 2016

Dr Tanveer Ahmed

psychiatrist, local politician and author

He works in western Sydney and flys in and out of regional New South Wales. He is an elected councillor in the City of Canada Bay. He is the author of migration memoir 'The Exotic Rissole' and writes for the mainstream press. He is the co-founder of bddiaspora.com, a site aimed at the desi diaspora. He appears regularly in the media, most commonly on Weekend Sunrise where he does a regular mental health segment, Sky News and writes a regular column for the Spectator Australia magazine. He has co-hosted prime time gameshows and presented international news stories for Channel 7. 

Indranil Halder

Sales Executive, Crown Group

He has a broad multinational experience in the telecommunication pharmaceutical, medical industry and real estate sales. His career started as coordinator for MBF’s( private health fund) GP Asthma Management campaign in 2000. He then worked as telesales executive for Virgin Australia where he achieved outstanding result in sales. During his tenure in Virgin Mobile, he also helped with marketing projects and training staff members at various stores in and cross Australia until 2003. 

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Navdeep Pasricha

IABCA winner Young Community Achiever 2015

He has been in Australia for over 4 years . Navdeep takes it upon himself to step up and make an impact in the wider community , be it on a local or international level . Navdeep has been in youth work , counselling troubled youth who face issues ranging from self-harm , divorce and rape . This counselling is done both in a one to one and camp setting. Navdeep also contributes to organising an annual Indian Community fundraiser on the Gold Coast , an Indian Youth camp in Brisbane, mentoring Indigenous youth, and presenting in-school youth leadership workshops .

A forum which has hosted four successful dialogues in Australia and India. He has worked at various top-tier law firms in India and Australia. Shaun graduated with distinction from Oxford University (UK) and was the top graduating law student from his cohort at Macquarie University (Australia). He has also studied at the National Law School of India University (India), giving him an in-depth understanding of the Australian and Indian legal systems. Shaun is passionate about promoting the Australia-India relationship and has published a book entitled "Australia and India: 

Shaun Star

 co-founder, Australia India Youth Dialogue

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Ky Chow

 Associate Editor, The Australian Financial Review

As a journalist and multimedia producer for almost a decade, Ky has interviewed Australia's top CEOs, directors, regulators, ministers, as well as business owners and inspiring startups. He has written and produced videos on a range of topics including business, lifestyle and technology, and has published op ed on social issues. Besides his work at SBS Radio, Sky News Australia and Fairfax's Australian Financial Review, Ky regularly appears on ABCNews24 TV, Radio National and Hope 103.2. He has a keen interest in ethnic communities and regularly appears and hosts panels on ethnic diversity issues. Before his journalism career, Ky worked for five years in consulting and marketing for organisations such as KPMG, CommSec and Macquarie Bank.

Sally Hetherington

Operations Manager, Human and Hope Association (HHA)

She is originally from Sydney, she has been living in Siem Reap, Cambodia, since 2011. Passionate about developing the capacity of citizens in developing countries. Thanks to her commitment to capacity building, HHA will be entirely locally operated by mid-2016, enabling Cambodians to empower their impoverished villagers out of poverty through education, vocational training and community support programs. Sally will remain on the Australian board when she departs, where she is responsible for raising funds for HHA's ongoing running costs. Sally is no stranger to volunteering, having held several roles in Australia to address poverty, disease and education issues.

Navneesh Garg

CEO, Adactin Group

AdactIn Group a fast growing, award winning professional services company with specialization in Software Testing Services to organizations that help them improve their Testing Processes and Quality. Adactin has been won numerous awards in past few years including winner of Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2014 and Anthill top 100 Coolest companies of Australia 2014.Technology geek himself, Navneesh has authored two books on Test Automation which are ranked amongst top 20 testing books on Amazon.com. His second book was launched by Dr Geoff Lee MP. He has a considerable global audience and has presented at multiple international forums as a speaker. 

Deepa Mathew

Manager Deals Desk SA/NT regio

Commonwealth Bank of Australia

She holds a Bachelor of maths from Bangalore university in India. Deepa has great deal of experience in dealing with people from different backgrounds, she has found her success in being straight in a crooked situation. Her interests outside of work include Classical Indian Dancing with many public dancing displays. She is an active coordinator of public events such as Bollywood stars directly from Indian invite to Australia to perform nationally. She was part of a successful Pilot in SA in the CBA which identified areas to improve market share, through the test and learn that she was a pivotal part of the formation of the role nationally.

Kerry-Anne Peterson

​Miss Colyton Galaxy Australia 2015-16

2nd Runner Up Miss Bula Hibiscus Kerry-Anne is of Macedonian-Indian heritage and is a model as well as a pageant title holder. She is very dedicated to charity and spends most of her spare time raising funds for various charities, she has raised over $35 000 for charities including: Make A Wish Australia, Variety Children’s Charity, Children with HIV in Cambodia, Breast Cancer Awareness, Brainstorm, Cerebral Palsy research, Building a school in Leyte – Philippines and Ovarian Cancer research. Her most recent goal was accomplished when she raised over $5100 for Make a Wish Australia in the span of 3 months. 

Ananya Soni

Miss India Australia International 2015

She is a beauty queen, actress, author and humanitarian. . She has also been Miss World Australia 2015 - Miss Multimedia and Runner-Up. 
After high-school Ananya was awarded a place to study Undergraduate Medicine (MBBS) at the University of Newcastle. During medical school she founded a group named ASPIRE to promote international rights and equality. She was also awarded many scholarships including the John Flynn Placement Program.
She is trained in classical and contemporary dance disciplines and has acted in numerous plays.

Lisa Sthalekar

International Cricket Player

Lisa made her debut for Australia in 2001 and has been part of four successful World Cup victories, with the last one being held in India, 2013. During her time with the Australian team, she was vice-captain from 2006 – 2008 and had the privilege of captaining her country for a few matches. Lisa is the first player in women’s cricket history to have scored over 1000 runs and taken 100 wickets. At a state level, Lisa made her debut for NSW in 1998 and has been part of winning an incredible 15 WNCL titles out of a possible 17, leading the Breakers to five consecutive titles as Captain. 

AMBASSADORS 2015  - Click Here

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