Brooke Massender: Yalari Supporter

"I believe strongly in the transformative power of education and the innate talent and unrealised potential of First Nations peoples. Yalari brings both of these together with a spirit of positivity and fun."

While attending a Freehills Foundation pro bono lunch event in 2006, Brooke was introduced to Waverley and the Yalari story.

A lawyer for international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, Brooke was instantly struck by Waverley's vision, passion and sense of fun. But despite feeling an immediate connection to the cause, Brooke also felt a little reluctant.

"I was slightly hesitant about the idea of taking young people away from their home communities," she explains.

"But rather than back-off, I chose to lean in, learn more, and closely follow Yalari's organisational growth and impact on the students."

In just a few short years, Herbert Smith Freehills and Yalari had developed a holistic relationship involving pro bono legal support, strategic guidance, business orientation days at HSF offices, tutoring programs, financial support and more.

Brooke, who grew up in the northeast of England in a small agricultural town with a low socio-economic profile, described herself as a "megageek" who couldn't wait to get away to a bigger city for more study at university.

"I'd worked so hard to get there and was the first generation in our family to access a tertiary education. To begin with, I couldn't understand why the other students were partying all the time. They seemed to take the opportunity to study for granted. However, I quickly learned how to balance the two!"

Following university, Brooke was offered a position in a major commercial law firm in London, but explains feeling like 'a fish out of water.' "I thought that I was too working class and too 'northern' — that I stuck out like a sore thumb," she says.

It was then, Brooke decided to pack up and head to Australia to volunteer at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. She ended up working as a paralegal at Freehills (as HSF was known back then).

"Before I knew it I had engaging work, and colleagues who genuinely seemed to judge me on my merit not my background. The rest is history," she says.

Being the first in her family to finish high school, attend university, travel away from home and work in a corporate environment, gives Brooke a deep connection to the Yalari mission.

"I have experienced the feeling of being unseen or unheard because of your background rather than your abilities. I am extremely aware of how

educational opportunities broaden horizons and open the mind to what you are truly capable of."

"I am also acutely conscious of my own white privilege and feel a responsibility to First Nations communities to do whatever I can within the sphere of my own influence and privilege to distribute opportunities more evenly and recognise talent and potential more readily," Brooke reveals.

About a year ago, Brooke sat down with her husband and son to discuss which organisations and causes they wanted to support as a family. Brooke knew this would be a very different decision-making process to the decisions made every day in her pro bono legal role. It was less about objective criteria and more about values and personal connection.

"We discussed a range of options and Yalari was the only organisation that we agreed on unanimously," Brooke explains.

As a lawyer, Brooke has seen the difficult choices that non-profit organisations have to make about how to apply their time and resources. The more time they spend fundraising the less time they have for service delivery, in this case student focus.

"I was drawn to the idea of Yalari's Mary Boydell Endowment Fund as a long-term strategy for generating funds and sustainability to ensure opportunities for future generations under an increasingly studentcentric service delivery model."

When asked what type of legacy she would like to leave, Brooke simply says "as a loyal and long-term supporter who walked alongside Yalari as a trusted adviser, through thick and thin."

As a passionate Yalari advocate, Brooke would encourage those seeking to make a positive difference for Indigenous children and their communities, to learn more about Yalari.

"I would challenge anybody to attend the Yalari Gala dinner yearon-year and not feel inspired and motivated to support successive cohorts of young people with talent, vision, tenacity and creativity. All they need is a chance to thrive. I believe passionately in the real potential for intergenerational change and a different narrative and trajectory in Australia for First Nations peoples."