Co-Chair

Ange (she/her) has worked in the not-for-profit sector for 20 years. During this time Ange has worked in Out of Home Care, specifically foster care and residential care, and homelessness. She has also worked at a Program Manager level overseeing a number of programs including housing and homelessness, financial counselling, gamblers help and intake teams. Ange has also volunteered her time as a foster carer for a number of young people.

Ange has also had experience with helping her workplace become Rainbow Tick accredited and embedding inclusive practice throughout her workplace, and is committed to inclusion and diversity across her local community of Ballarat.

Co-Chair

Sarah Jane is a proud Narungga woman living on Wadawurrung Country. Having 28 years experience in community groups, business management, strategic planning and project management, they bring widespread knowledge to volunteer organisations, communities, businesses and the corporate world.

Sarah Jane is a Narungga artist, Aboriginal speaker, consultant and educator. As a skilled artist, she blends traditional cultural practices with modern art. They are passionate about their Indigenous culture and investing back into community. She has a heart for empowering individuals and is a strong advocate for mental health education.

She is currently co-chair of the Koorie Engagement Action Group for the City of Ballarat, community member on Continuous Voices and sit on various other committees. Sarah Jane and her wife Julie own Healthy Mind And Soul, a mental health and wellbeing business.

With a background in education, mental health and community engagement, Sarah Jane holds a strong commitment to promoting intersectional voices, fostering inclusive spaces, and advocating for positive change.

Deputy Chair

Luke (he/him) is a seasoned communications strategist with nearly two decades of experience leading impactful marketing initiatives, national media engagements, and global advertising campaigns across diverse sectors, including government, not-for-profit, and commercial. Currently, he serves as the Campaigns Lead at Respect Victoria, where he champions campaigns aimed at preventing family violence and violence against women, continuing a commitment to social change since the organisation’s inception in 2018. 

Deeply committed to the LGBTQIA+ community, Luke actively volunteers with Thorne Harbour Health and the Victorian Pride Centre, contributing his skills and passion to support initiatives that promote health, wellbeing, and inclusion. He believes in the power of community engagement and advocacy to drive meaningful change. 

With a rich background that includes collaborations with notable clients including the Office for Women (VIC), the Department of Premier and Cabinet (VIC), Castlemaine State Festival and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Luke thrives on crafting and executing innovative communication strategies. He takes pride in building and leading high-performing teams, fostering an environment where creativity and collaboration flourish. 

Secretary

Brooke (she/her) moved from Melbourne to Ballarat in 2016, with her husband, three children, three cats and dog, and has become as passionate about Ballarat and the community as any Ballarat-born local could be.

Brooke’s strong administrative experience has been developed in a variety of industries, from stockbroking firms to retail chains. She currently utilises her skills for a local not-for-profit, supporting the executive team and Board of Directors to support young people in the area, and has been at the forefront of assisting them with embracing the Rainbow community.

She identifies as bisexual, and enthusiastically shares this whenever she can, working to champion support for the bisexual community and the broader LGBTQIA+ tribe, with her husband and adult kids acting as her number one cheerleaders.

Brooke is not afraid to speak up in any setting to ensure all people are treated equally and respectfully, and that diversity and inclusion are always given top priority.

Treasurer

Laura (she/her) identifies as a woman and as a lesbian.

Despite knowing her gender was incongruent to her presentation at age 4, she only transitioned in her early 30s after becoming independent and working through the fear of potential career loss and family / friends / wife abandonment.

As part of transitioning in the workplace, she first had to work with HR to develop guidelines and policies prior to actually going through it herself. This was in addition to her normal job as an aeronautical engineer.

She is generally both outgoing and outspoken and not afraid to call out any injustice she sees, especially in terms of all aspects for diversity and inclusion. Since her transition, she has provided diversity and inclusion training to multiple engineering organisations.

Laura moved to the Ballarat area in June 2020 during the pandemic to fulfil a life long dream to live closer to nature as I previously only lived in Sydney. She still works as an aeronautical engineer.

For a decade she was involved with not for profit NSW association, SydBricks, raising money for children's charities. For the majority of that time, she was the treasurer of Sydbricks. She plans to leverage this experience to support and grow Tiny Pride with a focus on governance and responsible delivery of goals to the community.

Ordinary Board Member

Maria (she/her) is a parent to 3 wonderful human children and one fur baby, a greyhound named Bea.

She has been with her partner forever and a day. They moved to Ballarat 13 years ago and have been so lucky to make many beautiful connections.

Maria identifies as Pansexual, meaning that she is attracted to who a person is as a human rather than their gender, focusing on their values, terrible/humour, taste in music and willingness to support my unhealthy love of attending conferences.

Maria works as a clinical psychologist and naturopath. She loves learning about the mind body connection, neurology and trying to find sneaky ways to incorporate dance, movement and music into sessions.

She loves music and dance, the beach and the forest, spending time with family and friends, dress up parties and living room karaoke.

Ordinary Board Member

Ange (she/her) has worked in various community, sporting and not-for-profit organisations in Australia and the UK, and has experience in project management, community engagement, event management, fundraising and partnerships. 

Ange works in the gender equality and women's health sector and is passionate about challenging harmful social norms and stereotypes. 

She has previously studied a Bachelor of Arts/Education and Bachelor of Social Sciences and has recently completed a Master of Arts (Sociology).

Ordinary Board Member

Rachel’s work examines how design thinking can facilitate self-determination and thrivability, particularly in communities subject to structural inequity.

Rachel earned their PhD in Social Work from Federation University Australia in 2022 where they investigated the role of community support to enable parents receiving a family support service to thrive. Since then, Rachel has been employed as an academic at RMIT University.

Ordinary Board Member

Dallas (they/them) is a queer, non- binary, disabled therapist who grew up on Bunurong land and has benefited from significant time spent on Lenape land. As a white settler on stolen lands Dallas offers their deep respect and gratitude to traditional owners of the lands that sustain them and traditional owners globally.

Dallas values collaboration, connection and community. They are energised by being a part of social change that promotes connection, joy, equity and sustainability. These values extend into their creative endeavors which most recently have included sewing clothes, knitting dogs and making paper.

Ordinary Board Member

Sam (he/him) has been an active volunteer in his local community since the age of 13, first with the Country Fire Authority before joining St John Ambulance Victoria and various other community organisations. A Ballarat resident since 2013, Sam has worked in the not-for-profit and community services sectors, and is currently employed in the public sector.

Sam brings lived experience of mental illness and neurodiversity, which informs his empathetic and inclusive approach to both life and leadership. He is deeply passionate about supporting small communities and believes in the transformative power of mutual aid to empower individuals.
A staunch unionist, Sam is committed to advocating for the rights of all people and fostering equity in his community.

In his spare time, Sam enjoys exploring his creativity through photography—both digital and film—riding his bike around Ballarat, and discovering new films.

Chief Executive Officer

Ange has worked in the private sector as a project manager and innovation consultant and in the public service as a vocational education and workforce development policy practitioner. She also has extensive experience in governance and whole of government stakeholder engagement, working for Ministers and senior executives in the South Australian and Victorian public service.

She has had an extensive career as an inclusion and diversity specialist working on gender equity, women’s health, disability, LGBTIQA+ inclusion and reconciliation action planning and has a passion for community-based innovation, mobilisation and empowerment.