On Thursday evening, four First Nations women spoke to Today entertainment reporter and proud Gamilaroi Gomeroi woman, Brooke Boney, about intersectional feminism and how we can all be more inclusive on International Women’s Day.

The women who sat on the panel were each nominated by another notable First Nations woman. They were chosen because of the important work they are doing to lift up Indigenous people and improve the lives of those around them.

Brooke Boney is Today’s Entertainment Reporter and a proud Gamilaroi Gomeroi woman. With a background in political journalism, having previously worked for National Indigenous Television (NITV), SBS and the ABC, she was most recently Triple J’s weekday morning news presenter. Towards the end of her newsreading stint on Triple J, Boney garnered a lot of interest after opening her bulletins by saying ‘Yaama’ – the word for “hello” in Gamilaroi, the Indigenous language of Northern NSW. Growing up in Muswellbrook in the NSW Hunter Region with her mum and five younger brothers and sisters, Boney has been at the forefront of youth culture since she began working in media in 2010, and has written a lot about what it’s like to be an Aboriginal person in Australia.

On Thursday night, as the host for the evening, Boney said: “I often think about the people who are more privileged than me, but more often than that, I try to think about the women whose lives are a lot harder than mine. So women in communities, women who are suffering in violent relationships, women who have disabilities, women who weren’t born as women, and quite often the statistics around their lives… they’re much worse for them. If that’s one takeaway from the discussion, I would urge all of you to consider how we include women who aren’t like us.”

Gamilaroi woman, Amy Thunig, is an academic in the School of Educational Studies at Macquarie University, PhD candidate writing her thesis on why sovereign women choose academia, and an occasional freelance writer. She founded and hosts the podcast ‘Blacademia: a podcast of yarns with First Nations academics’, while also being a mother and partner. If that wasn’t enough of a juggle, she has also done a powerful TED Talk.

Marlee Silva is a 24-year-old Gamilaroi and Dunghutti storyteller. She is the Co-Founder of the Indigenous Female Empowerment Movement @tiddas4tiddas, which exists as an Instagram page and podcast of the same name. Marlee is also an author, with her debut book ‘My Tidda, My Sister’ set to be released in September 2020. 

Shannan Dodson is a Yawuru woman born in Katherine in the Northern Territory and currently lives in Sydney, NSW. Shannan has worked in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs for 15 years and is a strategic communications and engagement specialist. She is currently a consultant and before that was the Communications Manager for the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Leadership and Engagement) Office at the University of Technology Sydney.

Leilani Bin-Juda was recently appointed as the first female CEO of the Torres Strait Regional Authority. Her extensive career in the Australian Public Service spans 24 years and in 2019, she was awarded a Public Service Medal for her work on promoting the inclusion of Indigenous heritage in Australia’s cultural and foreign policies Leilani is deeply committed to empowering women, especially regarding financial freedom and career development pathways.