Meet the 21/22 Youth Congress

The 2022 Victorian Youth Congress is made up of a diverse group of young people from across the state. They are an incredible and inspiring group, passionate about creating change and advocating for their peers. Meet the Congress:

Abol Akol, 12 (she/her)
 New member

Abol is a young South Sudanese woman who grew up in the North Richmond Public Housing Estate on Wurundjeri Land. Abol has been an active member of her community, engaging in youth leadership and advocacy from a young age. She is particularly passionate about tackling racism, drawing from her lived experience and about ensuring Indigenous experiences are at the centre of conversations. Abol is excited to be a voice for marginalised young people as a member of the Victorian Youth Congress. When not engaging in community work and activism, Abol enjoys writing, reading and basketball.

Ambra Soci, 24 (she/her)
New member

Ambra is a final year arts/law and Spanish student at Monash University and identifies as cis queer woman. Ambra is a passionate social justice advocate. She has a particular interest in gender-based and family violence, human rights, and elevating the voices of marginalised people through intersectional representation. She looks forward to assisting in the development of her community with her fellow Victorian Youth Congress members in 2022.

Amelia Leach-Unmeopa, 17 (she/her)
New member

Amelia grew up in rural north east Victoria before moving to Bendigo in 2019. She is currently studying Year 11. She developed an interest in politics at an early age and is focused on studying this in university. She is passionate about advocating positive change for young people and encouraging her peers to speak up, be heard and be accepting of others. Amelia enjoys learning about and discussing various topics and hearing other people’s perspectives. Amelia developed leadership and teamwork skills through her time with the Australian Air Force Cadets where she achieved the rank of Cadet Sergeant.

Andeli Zuzic, 21 (they/them)
New member

Andeli is passionate about a wide range of issues and is an advocate for climate justice, accessibility rights, mental health services and abuse survivors. Alongside their passion for politics and activism, they are also a young musician, having started their Bachelor of Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. They are currently a volunteer for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition where they work to advocate for climate justice and the intersections between health and our climate. They have previously worked for the Mental Health Foundation of Australia where they engaged the community in improving their mental health through advocacy, awareness, education, and program implementation. Having lived experience with mental illness, and as a disabled young person growing up in financial hardship, seeing the substantial impact these issues have on young people, they are keen to advocate for a more equitable and safe future for young people across Victoria.

Arya Banerjee, 15 (he/him)
New member

A passionate advocate for youth and social impact, Arya loves all things literature, language and change making. From leading entrepreneurship projects including FutureHack, to working with various youth initiatives including Oaktree, Future Minds Network and Letters Against ISO, he hopes to assist in cultivating the leaders of tomorrow. A frequent volunteer in his local cultural group, Arya enjoys embracing his Bengali-Australian identity, working to bridge the gap between culturally and linguistically diverse students and their communities. Outside his work, Arya is an avid reader, drawing on various literary pieces to produce his own poetry and prose.

Benjamin Campbell, 18 (he/him)
New member

Ben is an outgoing person with a bubbly personality who is always down for a good chat or going out every now and then. Over the past few years, Ben has lived in many different areas of Victoria and met a wide range new people with diverse backgrounds and views. Ben is passionate about issues concerning youth, especially around mental health and has been an advocate for Headspace this year as a Youth Reference Group member. He has also been involved with the United Nations Youth as a delegate and aims to advocate for equality. Outside of work and study, Ben loves travel, fitness and getting involved within the community. 

Jessica Bennett, 23 (she/her)
Continuing member

Jessica is a proud Ngunnawal woman who grew up on Wiradjuri country in Albury, New South Wales. She is a final year arts/law student at Monash University majoring in human rights and Indigenous cultures and histories. Jessica is a program coordinator at the Korin Gamadji Institute and is passionate about empowering young Indigenous people, social justice, education and sport. She is determined to have a career where she can make the quality of life for other people better.

Keeden Graham, 22 (he/him)
Continuing member

Keeden is a proud Yorta-Yorta, Wiradjuri and Dja Dja Wurrung man who grew up on Wadawurrung land in Torquay. Keeden is working full time as deputy executive officer for Strong Brother, Strong Sister. He wants to stop barriers in place for young mobs and future leaders, such as systemic racism, intergenerational trauma and over representation of Indigenous youth in the justice system and out-of-home care. Keeden is an active board member of the Ngarrimili Charity. Keeden will be starting his psychology degree next year and loves to be outside playing football, basketball and enjoys surfing.

Marindi Jarrett, 23 (she/her)
Continuing member

Marindi is a proud Gumbaynggirr, Larrakia, Iwadja, Kalkadoon, Kaanju woman. She was born on Darumbal Country (Rockhampton, QLD) and grew up in the northern suburbs of Narrm (Melbourne). She’s worked in state government, Aboriginal community lead organisations, performing arts and currently works in decolonisation at ABSTARR Consulting. Marindi is very passionate about Aboriginal economic development and hopes to improve overall efficiency through systems for Indigenous business owners nationally. She envisions an improved Australia with true story tellers and successful First Nations entrepreneurs doing this through their products.

Milagros Vargas, 16 (she/her)
Continuing member

Mila believes in the need for an equal representation of young people's views and values in government policy. She enjoys debating and public speaking and is always seeking new opportunities to contribute to the community. Mila is passionate about putting an end to discrimination in Australia, particularly as it affects Indigenous Australians. This year Mila hopes that she will be able to amplify the voices of her fellow young people to not only be heard by but reflected in the actions of the Victorian Youth Congress.

Nafisa Anvar, 23 (she/her)
New member

Nafisa was born in India and migrated to Australia at the age of 7. She is currently in her final semester of a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Melbourne and lives in the southeast of Melbourne. She has a deep interest in global health and working with disadvantaged communities to alleviate health inequities. As a Victorian Youth Congress member, she hopes to contribute her diverse personal, educational and professional experiences and is particularly passionate about improving health and wellbeing for young people in Victoria.

Natasha Swingler, 22 (she/her)
Continuing member

Natasha (Tash) is a law and psychological science student who grew up in Essendon. She works within the public mental health system as a lived experience consultant, advising on the development of systemic reforms that better meet the needs of service users by prioritising their lived experiences as mechanisms for change and better futures for all. In her spare time, you can find her wrapped up in yet another book on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), critiquing more systems that need reform, or cramming for that forgotten assessment at university. Tash looks forward to working with the Victorian Youth Congress to better represent the needs and experiences of those with complex and severe mental illness.

Nathaniel Diong, 20 (he/him)
New member

Nour Maqsodi, 18 (she/her)
New member

Nour is a full time law (Honours) and biomedicine student at La Trobe University. Nour was born in Syria and lived in Afghanistan before migrating to Australia. By sharing her own experience and knowledge, she works to address the challenges that migrants and refugees face in the Australian community. She is a Youth Advocate with the Brotherhood of St Laurence and a member of the Youth Justice Advisory Group with Red Cross. She aspires to give as much as possible back to her community to make a difference, regardless of the size of the impact. Nour hopes to use her skills to enrich the Victorian Youth Congress from a culturally diverse perspective.

Que Anh (Briana) Ngo, 19 (she/her, they/them)
Continuing member

Briana grew up in Vietnam before moving to Melbourne in late 2017 and is a second-year biomedical science student at Monash University. She is passionate about advocating for the rights of the LGBTQI+ community, helping immigrants to settle in Australia, and the prevention of family violence. Over the years, Briana has volunteered with a number of local and international not-for-profit organisations including Nu Yeu Nu Association (Vietnam), Minus18 (Australia), SOS Children’s Village (Vietnam), and Learning for Employment (Australia). She is hoping to join the RAAF as a medical officer upon completion of her education.

Samyuktaa Ramkumar Padmapriya, 15 (she/her)
New member

Sam is a year 9 student, who was born in India and moved to Australia in 2016. She is passionate about environmental issues, the mental health of young people as well as the importance of young people being involved in policy development. She firmly believes in equal representation and cares about the community and wants to ensure that young people are given equal opportunities in life. Always seeking new opportunities, Sam hopes to use her debating skills to help young people express their opinions through the Victorian Youth Congress.

Syazwani Saifudin, 15 (she/her)
New member

Syazwani is a Year 9 student who migrated to Wyndham with her family when she was four. She is passionate about educational equity, food security and positive body image. Syazwani loves learning, working with diverse groups of people and expressing herself through creative writing. As a student leader at her school, a 2021 UN Youth Wellbeings Program Delegate and a One Wyndham Young Person of the Month recipient, she strongly believes in the importance of the youth voice. Syazwani is extremely excited to contribute to the 2022 Victorian Youth Congress.

Tom Saxton, 20 (he/him)
Continuing member

Tom Saxton is from Shepparton and is currently studying a Bachelor of International Studies at Deakin University. In 2021 he worked at the Goulburn Murray Local Learning Employment Network (GMLLEN) as a Project Research Officer, where he assisted in the development of youth led research reports into the priorities for young people in the Goulburn Murray and a report on employment opportunities for young people in the Goulburn Murray region. Tom is the youngest graduate of the Fairley Leadership Project. In 2020, Tom was named Shepparton’s Young Citizen of the year and in 2021 he was the recipient of Greater Shepparton’s Young Volunteer of the Year award. Tom is passionate about achieving better outcomes for youth in Victoria.

Yusuf Renard, 12 (he/him)
New member

Yusuf is a Year 6 student with a diverse cultural background incorporating Sri Lankan-Muslim and French heritage. Born in Paris, he moved with his family to Melbourne when he was a three-month-old and he currently lives in the city. Yusuf is interested in social justice issues and is passionate about the arts being made more accessible to youth across Victoria. He also has a passion for ensuring equipment in parks is maintained and continually upgraded based on needs to help keep young people interested and active. Yusuf is very social, enjoys soccer, and has loads of ideas.

Zoe Hunt, 19 (she/her)
New member