MEET OUR CONCURRENT SESSION CHAIRS

Marina Luar de Souza is a Youth Support Project Officer with the STARTTS Youth Team, based at the Carramar office in Metropolitan Sydney. She supports young people through after-hours, school holidays, and school programs that promote social connection, mental health, and wellbeing. 

With an academic background in education and dance, Marina believes in a holistic approach to youth work, delivering activities such as sports, circle dances, and Capoeira Angola to empower young people through movement and expression.

Tuesday Chair: Yamamah Agha

Yamamah Agha is an executive leader, humanitarian and advocate dedicated to creating lasting, meaningful change for refugees and newcomers. Driven by respect and compassion, Yamamah has spent over 20 years supporting new arrivals to settle in Australia, with a particular focus on women’s rights and ensuring people with lived experience influence the services they receive. 

As General Manager, Newcomers, Settlement and Integration, Yamamah leads all settlement programs at Settlement Servies International (SSI), a national non-profit organisation that delivers human services to around 50,000 people a year, including 20,000 refugees. Yamamah has extensive frontline experience in settlement, including complex case support and case management, which – coupled with strong problem solving skills and strategic thinking – have led to a leadership career traversing migrant resource centres and program management, before moving into her current executive role with SSI. 

A former winner of Pro Bono Australia’s Impact 25 Awards, Yamamah brings a global perspective to local service delivery and has undertaken extensive international advocacy, including leading an Australia delegation at the 2018 Annual NGO Consultations, where she acted as Rapporteur. She holds a degree of Sociology from Lebanese University Institute of Social Sciences and a Diploma of Management.

As Head of Clients and Community Connections at SSI, Kenny oversees program initiatives and collaborative spaces across Settlement, Family & Early Years, and community services. Her work is focused on strengthening connection, health and wellbeing outcomes for children, young people and families, while building partnerships that enable communities to thrive. A passionate advocate for social change, Kenny has played a pivotal role in amplifying the voices of marginalised communities. She serves as Co-Chair on the Leadership Table for Logan Together and contributes to the Intergenerational Table for Queensland Kids Partnership, championing cross-sector collaboration to improve long-term outcomes for children and families.

Originally from El Salvador, Kenny’s lived experience as a young refugee profoundly shapes her leadership approach and deep commitment to cultural preservation, representation and community empowerment. She has been a strong advocate for multicultural youth policy, serving for the past five years as the Queensland representative on the Governance Committee of the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN) Australia, the national peak body for young people from diverse backgrounds. Kenny previously held an appointment on the Queensland Multicultural Minister’s Advisory Council, where she contributed to advancing policies that promote diversity, equity and social cohesion. Recognised for her commitment to driving systemic transformation, she continues to champion a more interconnected and inclusive society through strategic leadership and collaborative action.

Adama Kamara is the Co-CEO of the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), a role she has shared with Paul Power since February 2026. In this capacity, she leads the organisation’s community engagement and governance, ensuring RCOA’s advocacy remains deeply connected to the communities it serves. Previously RCOA’s Deputy CEO, Adama brings extensive leadership experience across local government, health, and the non-profit sector. Her tenure has been instrumental in managing internal risk, coordinating strategic planning, and leading national initiatives such as Refugee Week. Informed by her lived experience, Adama is a dedicated advocate for refugee-led solutions and a compassionate, evidence-based humanitarian system.

Gabrielle Hunt is a Team Lead Senior Solicitor at the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS), a nonprofit providing free, critical legal services and advocacy for refugees and people seeking asylum. She has been in the Immigration sector for over 12 years, assisting with not only humanitarian and refugee visas but also skilled migrant pathway and family reunion visas within the corporate sector.

Gabrielle is currently leading a team that assists those applicants appearing before the Administrative Review Tribunal and the Bridging Visa R cohort at risk of removal to Nauru. She is passionate about making sure those who seek protection feel safe and have their story heard.  

Neelofar Dastyar is a Direct Services Counsellor at STARTTS, where she has been working for the past three years supporting refugees and survivors of trauma. She brings over five years of experience in the mental health and community sector and holds qualifications in Counselling and Relationship Counselling, with an additional training in Naturopathy and Nutrition that informs her holistic approach to wellbeing.

Neelofar has experience working with both groups and individual clients providing supportive, trauma-informed care. She is particularly passionate about supporting refugee communities and is deeply committed to advocacy and work within the human rights sector.

Dr. Amber Elizabeth Lynn Gray  is an award winning dance movement therapist, human rights psychotherapist, and  longtime Continuum and yoga instructor.  She has worked for 28 years with survivors of human rights abuses, war, torture, oppression, collective and historical trauma, locally and globally. Equally artist, advocate, author, educator, mystic, poet and therapist, she, her clients and mentors co-created Survivor-& Spirit centered Polyvagal-informed approaches to Somatic & Dance/Movement Therapy for trauma that are holistic and emergent. A lover of all things wild, Amber regularly facilitates eco-somatic retreats for survivors and caregivers. She consults to organizations world-wide on staff care programming, and is a fierce advocate for self-care, self-compassion and self-respect.

Cathy Preston-Thomas has worked in the refugee sector since 1998, in community development, research, training, and settlement policy, but her passion is refugee health. Cathy is the Acting Director of the NSW Refugee Health Service, the statewide refugee specialist health service funded by NSW Health, and former chair of the Refugee Health Network of Australia (RHeaNA). Cathy has a life-long interest in disability rights, having started her career in in respite and group homes. The NSW Refugee Health Service’s Disability Support Team has been assisting newly arrived people from a refugee background navigate the complex disability service landscape since 2017. Cathy has a Master of International Law (USyd) and Master of International Social Development (UNSW).

Chair: B-Ann Echevarria