Meet Our Career Ambassadors

Having spent a decade in the public service (both APS and ACTPS), Angel made the move to the community sector in 2019. Finally feeling financially stable enough to pursue passions rather than pay cheques, this move reflected Angel’s desire to use their communication skills to create positive impacts in their community.

They began in a large not-for-profit doing advocacy, front-line service delivery, and education and training functions. This was a fantastic introduction to the wide variety of work in the sector, and they loved the much-reduced bureaucracy compared to public service!

Angel has since moved to a small peak body, which is an entirely different workplace. They have had to expand their skillset to encompass all the communication, strategic and operational requirements of the organisation. It’s extremely busy, but knowing the improvements their contributions make means it’s all worth it.

I’d say if you want to go into the community sector, the biggest thing for me is find something you’re passionate about. Find something that really aligns with your ethics because that way, it doesn’t feel as much like a job and you really get that glow at the end of the day knowing you’ve helped on a topic that’s really important to you.

Bianca combines community sector and academic experience to address social justice issues. After initially volunteering in mother support groups in Paris, France, she then contributed to the ACT community sector through board roles, including her role as president of the Brindabella Women’s Group. She also enjoyed coordinating community arts projects and exhibitions and was a regular host of a local multicultural women’s radio show. Through ACT community development and team leader roles, Bianca coordinated programs to support families and seniors. More recently, she worked as a Senior Policy Advisor (Sector Development, Health & Disability) at ACTCOSS. Her PhD research project (ANU) included coordinating a memory workshop/yarning circle with Kamilaroi women (from Moree, NSW) and mothers in the ACT region. Bianca’s current work, through Families Australia and ANU respectively, focuses on gender equality, family policy and community development/engagement and continues to be informed by over a decade of practical experience running community sector programs.

I am a passionate advocate of the ACT Community Sector because it offers so many different opportunities to contribute your skills and attributes in order to really make a difference – both to individual lives and the life of our diverse – and wonderful – local community.