Renee Phillips is a Saibai, Kerema and Daru woman from Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait) and Papua New Guinea.
She is a trained Science and Maths high school teacher and a co-founding member of the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (NIYEC). Renee's teaching experience has been at an independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school in Gimuy - Yidinji (Cairns), as well as at a state high school on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country.
She has also worked as a Primary Educator and Community Development Officer at Children's Ground on Arrernte country. She now works as the Program and Learning Director at NIYEC.
Rona is a proud Kaytetye woman from Central Australia who works with high impact organisations to create systems that centre First Nations people, knowledge and solutions.
Rona is the founder of Common Ground and brings 7 years
of professional experience working across First Nations organisations and not for profits. Rona was previously the Director of First Nations at YLab, a social enterprise that puts young people with diverse lived experiences at the centre of designing and developing innovative and impactful solutions
to complex social issues. Over her career, Rona has worked in policy at the Central Land Council, the Research Unit for Indigenous Languages at the University of Melbourne, Reconciliation Victoria, and the Foundation for Young Australians.In 2020, Rona was a finalist for the Victorian Young Achiever awards, was awarded a Westpac Social Change Fellowship. In 2019 Rona won a Diana Award and was named a 'Woman of the Future' by Women's Weekly.Through her work with First Nations communities across Australia, Rona aims to create future systems that centre First Nations people, knowledge and cultures.Rona currently resides in Mpartnwe on Arrernte Country.