Melbourne Asia Game Changer Awards 2024 - Finalists
Arts and Culture
Marjorie Tenchavez
Founder and Director,
Welcome Merchant
Marjorie Tenchavez is a first-generation Filipina-Australian social justice practitioner. Arriving in Australia as a 12 year old with her family during the rise of Pauline Hanson, she never imagined that she'd one day be leading a social enterprise that works to tackle racism in Australia. Her earlier years in Australia were not easy, with just a single parent supporting 2 kids. Despite the barriers, Marjorie went on to complete a Bachelor's Degree in Social Science and received a scholarship from the EU Commission to complete a Masters in Human Rights and Democratisation at the University of Sydney. She also spent some time travelling around the world and living in cities as diverse as Milan, Istanbul and Colombo. Marjorie's years of travelling has influenced her life ethos.
Nowadays, Marjorie is the Founder & Director of award-winning social enterprise, Welcome Merchant. This social enterprise provides a free, consolidated platform for entrepreneurs who identify as a refugee, a former refugee and/or as a person seeking asylum. Welcome Merchant has also built a vibrant community, which is evident at our events and fundraising efforts. Welcome Merchant is challenging the status quo through their refugee-powered Curated Events, social media support, online directory, free skill building workshops and merchandise partnerships. Through Welcome Merchant, refugee and asylum-seeker entrepreneurs can demonstrate their unique stories and talents in their own voice.
Prior to starting Welcome Merchant in 2020 on Instagram, Marjorie had been working in the social justice space since 2011, at organisations like Amnesty International Australia and Metro Assist. Marjorie never saw herself as an entrepreneur until realising Welcome Merchant can be more than an Instagram account.
Priya Srinivasan
Director,
Sangam
Dr. Priya Srinivasan is an award winning performer, choreographer, and writer, who co-founded and leads Sangam, a transformative cultural platform addressing inequity in the arts in Naarm. Since 2019, Sangam has thrived under her guidance, showcasing hundreds of South Asian creatives towards self representation, research and artistic excellence on Australia’s funded stages. Rooted in Indian classical dance, Priya's work emphasizes feminist decolonization, spotlighting minority women's stories and First Nations exchanges. She has a PhD in Performance Studies and has published an award winning book: Indian Dance as Transnational Labour (2012) which is taught worldwide. As a choreographer and director her acclaimed intercultural, collaborative pieces have graced stages, museums, site specific locations worldwide, from the USA, China, Europe, India to Australia. Her groundbreaking work bringing research into practice has shifted notions of what counts as contemporary art in Australia. Her most recent acclaimed interdisciplinary, intergenerational performance with Uthra Vijay and Philipa Rothfield, The Durga Chronicles won a Green Room Award (2023) and an international award from DSA for performance that transforms the public sphere (2024) ; Agam, a collaboration with Hari Sivanesan and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra resulted in an unprecedented, highly successful large scale intercultural performance at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl (2023); Sangam Labs Leadership Exchange in Bengaluru brought together intersectional artistic leaders and organisations between India and Australia (2024) with the support of Global Victoria. Priya is the inaugural recipient of the Asia Pacific Impact Award from Creative Australia (2024).
Robert Wood
Director of Writing and Publishing,
Centre for Stories
Dr. Robert Wood is interested in good stories, human rights, and community service. He is the Director of Writing and Publishing at the Centre for Stories, where he has worked since 2018. Prior to that, Robert was an Endeavour Fellow at Columbia University in New York City (2017-2018), Assistant Editor at Kochi-Muziris Biennale in South India (2016-2017), and a Research Consultant with Tarruru Indigenous Heritage in the Pilbara (2013-2016). The author of five books and three hundred journal publications, Robert holds a BA/BEcon from ANU as a National Undergraduate Scholar (2005), AM from University of Pennsylvania as a Benjamin Franklin Fellow (2008), and a PhD from UWA as an Australian Postgraduate Awardee (2016). His honours include a Gwen Brockman Humanitarian Award in 2000; Dean's List Citation in 2004; Mick Williams Medal for the Highest Honours Thesis in History in 2005; Pew Presidential Award in 2008; Copyright Agency Fellowship in 2016; Westpac Social Change Fellowship in 2021; a 40 Under 40 Asian Australian of the Year in 2021; Neilma Sidney Travel Grant in 2022; and a Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop Fellowship in 2024. As a volunteer, he has been involved with Tamil Feasts between 2014 and 2017; Chair of PEN International (Perth) from 2018-2021; and serves as Vice President of Highgate P and C since 2024. Robert was the graduation speaker at ANU in 2023, a Nancy Keesing Residency Judge for Creative Australia in 2024, and currently sits on the Fremantle Biennale Advisory Panel. He lives with his wife and two children in Perth, and likes to cook South Indian and Singaporean food, where his mother comes from.
Business
Josh Chye
Partner, HLB Mann Judd and Vice-President,
Australia Malaysia Business Council, Victoria
Josh Chye has proudly served as a Partner at HLB Mann Judd for over 9 years, leading the tax consulting division in Melbourne.
In this role, he has lead and cultivated a diverse and close knit high-performing team, collaborating alongside a diverse range of clients – from high-growth ventures to established industry leaders, including those featured in the AFR Top 200 list.
His focus is on providing seamless transitions into ongoing accounting, tax, and audit compliance through our comprehensive full-service firm.
A driving passion of Josh lies in empowering both emerging and established businesses, often operating in global markets, to nurture and safeguard their wealth. He achieves this through strategic tax planning, leveraging HLB’s extensive expertise, and tapping into our trusted network of advisors.
HLB Mann Judd, a full-service accounting firm within HLB International – a global network spanning 157 countries, with an annual revenue of over US$5 billion.
HLB international is the 8th largest global network of accounting firms.
Our dedication to excellence has been recognized through multiple wins of the Best Accounting Firm title (revenue up to $200m) in the AFR / Beaton Client Choice Awards – an honour bestowed by our valued clients in 2016 - 2018, 2020 - 2022 and 2024.
Josh is an active contributor to the professional community, frequently sharing insights through published articles, interviews, and technical presentations for bodies such as the Tax Institute, Australian Financial Review, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, Legalwise Seminars, Accountants Daily, TickerTv, and ImportExportTV.
Josh is vice-president and board member of the Australia Malaysia Business Council (Victorian Chapter) and board member and Treasurer for the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF).
Frances Goh
Head of Community and Growth,
One Roof
Committed to empowering women in business, entrepreneurship and leadership, Frances Goh is Co-Founder and Head of Community & Growth at One Roof. Frances oversaw One Roof's digital transformation in 2020 from bricks and mortar coworking to a fully digitised experience and has since onboarded over 1500 members across Australia and overseas. Frances is committed to elevating women in business and curates the One Roof member experience to ensure it is tailored to their unique needs. Frances is an innovation expert, startup coach and champion of women-led businesses. She is experienced in building businesses and startups, mentoring founders and is passionate about solving the problem of the gender gap in business and entrepreneurship. Frances Goh is the 2024 Ausmumpreneur Award Winner in the Building Online Communities category, recognised for her outstanding efforts in developing and expanding digital communities. She is also a 2024 finalist for the Asian-Australian Leadership Awards.
Molina Asthana
Founder,
Multicultural Women in Sport
Molina is the Founder of Multicultural Women in Sport. She was the Chair of Gymnastics Victoria and also serves on the boards of AMES Australia, Law Institute of Victoria, Graduate House of the University of Melbourne, Good Shepherd ANZ, AFL South East Commission, Table Tennis Victoria and Australasian Centre for Human Rights and Health. She is also the co-founder of the Asian Australian Alliance and the founder of the organisation Multicultural Women in Sport. She is a Change Her Game Ambassador for the State of Victoria and the National Chair for Sport, Art and Culture of the Australia India Business Council.
Molina is an experienced commercial lawyer having practiced at top-tier Australian law firms the Victorian Government Solicitor's Office and the Supreme Court of India. She is also the Immediate past National President of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association.
Whilst practicing in India she was involved in a number of Public Interest Litigations that were reported in the national newspapers.
Molina is a member of the Australian Sports Commission Sport Volunteer Coalition and also on ASC’s Play Well Leadership Group. She is a member of the Football Federation of Victoria Tribunal and the Victorian Amateur Football League Tribunal.
She is also the founder of the Australia India Women in Sport Connect which is an initiative to bring together Australian and Indian women in sport and to enable cooperation, collaboration, learnings and diplomacy for an enhanced relationship between both the nations.
She has received multiple awards for her work including the Victorian Multicultural Award for Excellence twice.
Research and Education
Jennifer Hsu
Assistant Manager, Department of Industry Science and Resources and Senior Visiting Fellow, UNSW
Dr. Jennifer Hsu currently works in the Critical Minerals Office (CMO) in the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. In this role she focuses on rare earths policy and works with rare earth proponents and provides support to them to develop mining, processing and manufacturing projects around Australia. She leads the engagement on Indo Pacific Economic Framework Critical Minerals Dialogue for the CMO. She is also a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Social Policy and Research Centre at the University of New South Wales and most recently, Research Fellow and Project Director of the Multiculturalism, Identity and Influence Project at the Lowy Institute. She is the author of the Lowy Institute’s Being Chinese in Australia: Public Opinion in Chinese Communities. After completing her PhD at the University of Cambridge in Development Studies, she researched and taught in development studies, political science and sociology in universities in North America and the UK. Her research expertise broadly covers China’s state-society relations, state-NGO relations, civil society, the internationalisation of Chinese NGOs, Australia-China relations and diaspora studies and she has published widely in these areas. She made regular contributions to Australian and international media outlets.
Ren Yi
Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), University of Southern Queensland and International Education Association of Australia (Incoming President)
Professor Yi is the Pro Vice-Chancellor International at the University of Southern Queensland. He has been working in the higher education sector for over 15 years and is an expert on international education. He also has extensive industry management experience. An award-winning researcher, Professor Yi is a past President of the Australasian Research Management Society. He is currently a reviewer for the Academy of International Business and Australian Research Council.
Aruna Venkatachalam
International Consultant,
Young Change Agents
Aruna is the founder of her own consultancy, whose aim is to enable underrepresented founders, including women and People of Colour, to grow their impact. Aruna's clients include several award-winning social enterprises and not-for-profits in Australia and India.
Aruna has worked internationally and locally, across community development, humanitarian response, commercial leadership development and social enterprise, for 15+ years. Aruna focusses on partnering with Governments, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, STEM experts, youth and corporates on a) leadership, design thinking and best-practice community initiatives; and b) developing and delivering collective impact models.
Aruna is a leading voice in advocating culturally-proud communities of excellence. She actively works to strengthen the presence of underrepresented voices within Australia’s startup and social impact sectors, particularly with Women of Colour and with individuals with intersecting identities. Aruna believes it is her responsibility to strengthen the communities of which she is a part.
There are many, but some highlights of Aruna’s career include:
1) Developing a world-first partnership between India (AVENUES Meghalaya) and Australia (Young Change Agents) in social entrepreneurship education, specifically focussed on First Nations youth and organisations across both countries.
2) Over four years, and together with Australian First Nations leaders and youth, collectively building a self-determined, culturally proud entrepreneurship program, Lighting the Spark, that is led by First Nations communities across urban and remote Australia. This has reached 1000+ youth and adults to-date and was tabled in Parliament as a best-practice example.
3) Co-founding a startup in India, to track pollution levels in urban cities. This provided local environmental groups with valuable data to advocate to Indian authorities for better air quality levels.
4) Partnering with highly diverse youth, women and underestimated community groups in the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, so they could self-determine a better future.
Gen A Emerging Leader
Nathan Lee
Co-founder,
Stint
Nathan is the co-founder of Stint, an online job platform and community dedicated to improving international student outcomes in Australia. Since its launch in 2022, Stint has supported over 4,000 international students through its community, gained over 10,000 social media followers, and impacted over 1,500 students through free employability workshops. In 2023, Nathan was awarded the Spirit Super Create Change Award at the 7 News Young Achiever Awards Victoria in recognition of his impact.
Jenny Tran
Operations Manager,
100 Story Building
Jenny is a passionate advocate for education and inclusivity, currently serving as the Operations Manager at 100 Story Building - a not-for-profit dedicated to supporting all children and young people’s creativity, literacy, confidence, and community connections.
At the heart of Jenny's work is a deep commitment to supporting young people from diverse backgrounds. With lived experience as a Chinese-Vietnamese immigrant and international student in Australia, she strives to understand the challenges faced by young people, particularly those who are from socially, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, when engaging with social services and works diligently to bridge gaps between schools, families, and communities. Her approach is characterised by empathy, cultural sensitivity, and a genuine desire to create long-lasting positive change.
Jenny has been instrumental in advocating for woman of colour in leadership and leading conversations that increase interbeing awareness related to culture, race and reconciliation.
In 2013, Jenny became the inaugural international student representative on McKinnon Secondary College’s student council. In 2019, Jenny was the President of the Vietnamese Students Association and became the first international student to be elected as an Office Bearer of the Monash University’s student union. Most recently, she served as the Steering Committee Chair of the Australia Vietnam Leadership Dialogue where she helped establish strategic partnerships and secured significant funding for programs nurturing young leaders of Australia and Vietnam.
Her leadership extends to her previous roles as People and Culture Director at Oaktree, Australia’s largest youth-run international development organisation, a Board Member of Equal Ed, an education social enterprise, and an advisor to Fashion Revolution Vietnam. Jenny has also worked with organisations including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Victorian Government, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, and Dairy Australia, to create a better future for all through community building, partnership and communications.
She has facilitated workshops to help organisations better understand their unconscious biases and improve their intercultural capability when working with culturally and linguistically diverse communities across Australia and Asia.
Jenny holds degrees in Marketing and International Studies from Monash University and is currently pursuing a Master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jenny was a delegate to the Australian National University's Asia Pacific Week, AASYP Young Leaders Forum, and Australia-China Emerging Leaders Summit. She speaks Mandarin and French in addition to being bilingual in Vietnamese and English.
Ziyan Tejani
Vice President (External),
Young Diplomats Society and New Colombo Plan Alumni Ambassador
Ziyan Tejani is an award-winning undergraduate student, policy advocate and community volunteer who is passionate about strengthening Australia’s engagement with Asia. Recognised as an Honouree on the Asian Australian List 2023 in the Politics and Community categories, Ziyan’s work has spanned research, education, and youth empowerment.
As a New Colombo Plan (NCP) Alumni Ambassador, Ziyan champions the key government initiative and promotes Indo-Pacific study and work opportunities to students. As a 2022 NCP Scholar, he studied Political Science and International Relations at the National University of Singapore, completed an intensive Mandarin course, and undertook internships and mentorships centred on Southeast and West Asian diplomacy.
Ziyan’s professional background is in research and operations at think tanks and research institutions across Australia and Asia including the Menzies Research Centre, Middle East Institute, and Macquarie University. In 2024, he is working remotely as a Research Assistant at the Adam Smith Center, co-writing a book analysing Singapore’s governance.
Ziyan is the Vice-President (External) of the Young Diplomats Society, a non-profit which empowers young people to engage in global affairs through publishing, mentoring, and events. Ziyan oversees collaborations and campus outreach, driving significant growth in 2024. He is also Vice-President of the Macquarie University Model UN Society.
Passionate about driving social change, Ziyan has led local human rights, political and mental health initiatives. For his impact, he has received awards including the North Western Sydney Young Volunteer of the Year Award, Mental Health Youth of the Year Award (NSW), and Macquarie University’s Leadership Excellence Award.
Related Event
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Special EventFriday 8 Nov 2024
6:30 - 10:30 p.m.