National Ambassadors
Emma Donovan
Emma is an ARIA-nominated, award winning Indigenous singer and songwriter best known for her work with soul band, The Putbacks and being a founding member of The Black Arm Band project. Emma has toured and recorded with the best in the Australian music scene including Paul Kelly, The Teskey Brothers, Yothu Yindi, Kee’ahn, The Meltdown, Paul Grabowsky, Jen Cloher, Spinifex Gum and the late Uncle Archie Roach and Aunty Ruby Hunter. Emma is part of the famed Donovan family of singers of the Gumbaynggirr people. On her Father’s side, Emma is of the Yamatji people.
Dan Bourchier
Dan is a multi-award-winning journalist with the ABC. He presents Breakfast on ABC Radio Canberra, and anchors ABC Canberra’s 7pm news. Dan grew up in the outback Northern Territory mining town of Tennant Creek and began reporting for the local newspaper when he was 14, going on to work for the NT News. His younger years in Tennant Creek, together with his coastal Victorian Aboriginal heritage, have instilled in him a deep interest in the culture, history and social justice issues of Australia's First Nation people.
Sean Choolburra
Sean is one of Australia’s funniest and most enduring Aboriginal comedians. He is a proud Girramay, Kalkadoon, Pitta Pitta and Gugu Yalanji man and a dancer who found his feet in stand-up comedy with a long 25+ year career in the entertainment industry. Weaving his inimitable blend of traditional dance, didgeridoo, story, knowledge and humour, he never fails to captivate his audiences. He has recently hosted his own TV series, Express Yourself on NITV, and special guest roles on ABC's Playschool, Bluey and Black Comedy.
Rachael Hocking
Rachael Hocking is a Warlpiri woman from Lajamanu, currently living on Gadigal land in Sydney. She is a journalist, curator and presenter who is passionate about sharing First Nations stories. Her work can be found across Black media, from the national Indigenous newspaper Koori Mail to NITV. She is a director on the board for the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma in the Asia Pacific, and Common Ground.
Professional Ambassadors
Dr Janine Mohamed
Janine a proud Narrunga Kaurna woman from South Australia. Over the past 20 years, Janine has worked in nursing, management, project management, research, workforce and health policy in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector. In 2021, Janine was awarded a Doctorate of Nursing honoris causa by Edith Cowan University in January 2020 and a Distinguished Fellowship by The George Institute for Global Health Australia. Janine is the CEO of the Lowitja Institute – Australia’s National Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research.
Prof Roianne West
Professor West was born and raised in Kalkadoon on her grandmother’s ancestral lands with connections to the Djunke/Djaku-nde peoples. Her journey began as an Aboriginal Health Worker under the mentorship of her mother. She was Australia’s first Nursing Director in a tertiary hospital with a dedicated portfolio of Indigenous Health, and Australia’s first Professor of Indigenous Health, Foundation Chair, Director and the inaugural Dean of First Peoples Health at Griffith University. Roianne is the CEO of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM).
Janet Stajic
Janet is a Yidinji Jirrbal woman of Far North Queensland who grew up in Brisbane. She is an Aboriginal Health Worker currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Queensland. Janet has also worked in program management, policy, and health and medical research and her current research on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker and Practitioner workforce aims to bring better understanding and greater recognition of this workforce.
Hayley Longbottom
Hayley Longbottom is a Jerrinja Cullunghutti Wandi Wandandian woman, located on the South Coast of NSW, with song lines to Kamilliroi. She is the Executive Manager of Health and Wellbeing at Waminda South Coast Women's Health and Welfare Aboriginal Corporation and has worked as an Aboriginal Health Worker. She is passionate about the wellness of her community and standing side by side our women and their families on their journey to healing, nourishing and thriving.