DIRECTOR & SECRETARY

Kamala Rose and her husband raised their two children on their organic farm in the Northern Rivers inspired to live more sustainably and develop a sense of community.

Kamala is the Board Secretary of COREM (Community Owned Renewable Energy Mullumbimby) Her recent involvement with community work has been helping Resilient Byron to train CCR’s (Community Care Responders) across 6 shires in the Northern Rivers. This work aims to increase awareness and preparedness of disasters and build community cohesion.

Kamala has been an advocate for supporting families, especially mothers in her work as an in-home carer with Northern Rivers Family Day care, volunteer work with support for new mums, work as a respite foster carer for CASPA and her ongoing work running girls coming of age circles to empowerment for girls and teens. She is trained as a crisis support worker with Lifeline as well as a volunteer with the Red Cross. Her training in holistic health, permaculture, organic farming have been guiding principles in her life.

TREASURER

Seasoned executive with experience in both the public, private and not for profit sectors. Strong strategic planning, financial management and communication skills. Extensive experience with start ups and working with cross cultural teams. In depth Not for Profit and Asia Pacific experience.

Currently running my own Accounting and Tax practice and volunteering as Treasurer for the Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre.

Registered Tax Agent, ASIC Agent and Justice of the Peace.

DIRECTOR

Ann has over 30 years’ experience in the information and communications technology industry, working with and being a significant shareholder together with her late husband, in a systems integration firm that grew from 6 to over 600 people during the 1980’s and 90’s. Following the sale of the firm to a USA based private company, Ann invested her energies in a portfolio of directorships and advisory positions for community based as well as private organisations including Brisbane North TAFE, teQstart Pty Ltd, 31Digital and others. As a founding member of Women in Technology in 1997 and its Lifesciences Chapter in 2005, Ann's goal has been to empower women to reach their full potential.

Women and their families need the basic certainty of a secure home in order to organise the rest of their lives to achieve their best outcomes. I feel privileged to join the Board and community of Women's Village Collective to do whatever I can to progress that aim for the women in Northern Rivers and beyond.

ADMINISTRATION & ACCOUNTS

Alana is apart of Woman’s Village Collective to share her knowledge of the Accounts/Bookkeeping side of the organisation.

Alana has been a qualified bookkeeper since 2012 in which have utilised her knowledge in many industries and organisations similar the Woman’s Village Collective.

Alana looks forward to grow, expand and implement as much as she can with the help of the fellow team members.

Alana live in Queensland and regularly visit northern NSW which is where all my family live in the beautiful town of Iluka.

She is super passionate in making a difference in people’s life in any which way she can assist.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Sama is the Founder of the Women’s Village Collective( WVC). She ran the IPAN International Performing Arts Network as Artistic Director, Theatre Director, Venue and Events Manager, leading shows, festivals, workshops and forums across Australia, The UK, The USA, France and Italy.

She was a Senior HR Consultant and advised various Government organisations on Human Resource processes. Clients included, ASIC, Department of Home Affairs, Australian Customs Service Anand recruitment and Screen Australia.

In 2021 Sama was elected to the Byron Shire Council. In her role as Councillor, she is Chairperson of the Housing Affordability Committee, is on the Finance & Biodiversity Committees and a Board Member of Arts Northern Rivers.

With two decades experience in the creative industries, Sama brings out of the box thinking to her work. Since founding WVC, Sama has been involved in running roundtables, forums, advocacy and harnessing the grassroots knowledge of over six thousand women to create the lasting solutions to the housing crisis. The solutions exist, now it’s time to implement them.

Cr Sarah Ndiaye is the current Deputy Mayor of the Byron Shire Council

Sarah is a long-time resident of the Byron Shire and currently works as a High School teacher, she has a background in arts and communications.

Cr Michael Lyon is the Mayor of Byron Shire. He has been a Councillor for five years, including 2 years as Deputy Mayor. He is committed to delivering housing solutions to the community. He has a background in legal studies and financial management.

Yuri has over 20 years of multi-disciplinary experience in finance, law, international relations and migration, working with clients across 5 continents. Yuri has advised on a wide range of matters including the current domestic housing crisis, as well as multi-million dollar cross border investment projects.

Dionne’s first taste of ethical property development came in 2017 / 2018, when she project-managed a 14 townhouse project. This development delivered affordable rental and owner occupied homes in an area well known for its high level of housing unaffordability.

Dionne specialises in raising capital for organisations that create ethical property developments in Australia and the USA. Dionne is a speaker, author and property coach and Founder and CEO of High Impact Property Investments. She is the author of the #1 best selling book E.T.H.I.C.A.L Property Investing regularly writes articles on ethical property investing.

Dionne has a PhD in Natural Products Chemistry, has project managed a number of property developments around Byron Bay (NSW, Australia) These property projects range from small one into two subdivisions up to larger co-living projects.

John is one of the founding Directors of Women’s Village Collective. He has over 30 years of senior business management experience across a diverse range of industries and served on a number of boards as both Chairperson and Director.

John was the former Chair for the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA NSW - previously known as the NSW Federation of Housing Associations) and the Power Housing Australia Disability Housing Community of Practice.

Qualified in Business Management, he is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Managers and Leaders and is a member of CHIA NSW Audit & Risk Committee.

John is the former CEO of North Coast Community Housing (NCCH) based in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, stretching from Tweed Heads to Grafton. In conjunction with the NCCH’s Board of Directors, he was responsible for achieving the strategic objectives of NCCH while managing the day- to-day operations of a property portfolio of over 950 properties.

Rob has been instrumental to the planning outcomes of the Byron Shire region. In the early 1980's he was the Byron Shire Strategic Planner who introduced a range of innovative initiatives in strategic planning, civic infrastructure, environmental protection, and local economic advancement.

He was elected to Council in 1987 as part of a team of community independents who set the direction of the shire with a wide range of policies, actions, and achievements. During this period Rob also provided advice to the government on regional planning.

Shane Sylvanspring is a social activist, ecovillage educator, town planner and managing director of Planning Regenerative Communities Pty Ltd, with a passion for intentional communities, ecovillages and co-living solutions.

Shane has thirteen years’ experience in local government as a Strategic Planner and is always seeking ways to create regenerative communities within the current planning framework. As the public officer for the Global Ecovillage Network Australia, Shane believes intentional communities will not only solve the current housing crisis but also the climate and culture crisis we are now facing. Shane seeks to find planning and housing solutions for the current housing crisis in the region, which has left women in particular vulnerable. Shane's passion is for long term solutions for women to access secure housing and eventual ownership.

Shane currently resides with his partner and two daughters on Balaya Buyul, a Multiple Occupancy land-sharing community in Main Arm, that he co-founded and developed. Shane is acutely aware of the hardship many of the women in the community have, securing housing. He has a genuine desire to work toward a better quality of life for all and has the knowledge and experience to help create co-living village models.ption goes here

Kristina is passionate about empowering women to grow confident in understanding and managing money. She brings extensive knowledge from her 16 year career in finance & investment consulting. Kristina is a Master of Applied Finance graduate and has worked in Australia, Switzerland & Germany with some of the world’s largest financial institutions including CBA, MLC and Bank Julius Baer.

Kristina runs financial literacy workshops, online courses & coaches women who want to improve their relationship with money. She weaves together emotional support, key information, practical tools, and simplifies the complex world of finance to show women that it’s possible to achieve their dreams and financial goals

Margot started her career running Darwin Family Centres – a community run organization that

oversaw 5 child care centres, 3 family day car schemes, a mobile preschool and a social work unit.

After her MBA, Margot built what was, at the time, the biggest strategic organizational change and leadership organization in Australia – with reaches into Europe, America, and Asia.

Author of 5 books on leadership and rapid change, Margot has spent the last decade working mainly with entrepreneurs and those recovering from mental illness. Margot’s current interests include Impact Investment and working on two books, one on social changes and the other a memoir.

Cass Sheppard has a passionate drive to work with communities and organisations to create real alternative solutions to the risk of homelessness for women and children.

Cass has a background in communication, marketing and community development. She spearheaded community lead, grass-roots Community Development projects internationally.

Locally she worked for a renewable energy company in the Marketing department and now works for a repurposed Electric vehicle company, helping the company expand nationally.

Cass was instrumental in the Women’s Village Collective’s 2020 International Women’s day forum and in helping facilitate Community Development lead processes with women from the collective.

Cass has lived experience of insecure housing, has been temporarily homeless and is a single parent. Her interest is in harnessing and supporting grassroots participation and development in enabling women to accumulate ownership of housing solutions, generate equity and build wealth.

Klyne has worked in management in both the retail and hospitality industries inclusive of a 5 star hotel and a national Australian skin care company. Her work took her from the Northern Rivers area where she grew up, to the city lights of Melbourne, Sydney, London and finally New Zealand. She is a trained sommelier, has a nationally recognised qualification in Counselling from Australia, and recently received her qualification as an Innate Traditions Certified Practitioner from the US.

Emma has worked in the Health and Wellbeing Industry for 20 years and currently works in a local Steiner School. She has resided in the area for 15 years and being a single parent, has faced her own challenges with housing availability and affordability, giving her a lived understanding of the issues many women are currently facing. These experiences have made Emma passionate about the welfare of women and families and fuelled a desire to be a part of the solutions.

Mercedes Mambort is a community-minded NSW registered Architect, and Passive House Certified Designer, with a passion for positive social change and health promotion. Mercedes immigrated to Australia as a baby with her single mother and experienced first hand the challenges children face through housing instability. Mercedes' varied skill set, including project management, environmentally sustainable design, public interface curation, and technical proficiency enables WVC to develop and deliver its aims.