The room at Knox Civic Centre hummed with a gentle energy on Wednesday night. It was the soft sound of connection: the clink of cutlery, the murmur of conversation, the occasional laugh. This was the setting for Women of Knox – Celebrating Culture and Leadership.
The evening opened with a welcome from Knox Multicultural Advisory Committee members Ruchi Sharma and Madhulika, who set a tone focused on connection and gratitude. “It’s such a privilege and an honour to be here tonight,” Madhulika said, highlighting that Knox is home to people from more than 130 countries.
Sharma, a recipient of the 2025 Knox Outstanding Service Award and the Victorian Premier’s Community Award, expanded on the evening’s purpose. “This evening is about gratitude for all the multicultural women here who share their culture, traditions, leadership, knowledge and strength.” It was a sentiment that echoed through the speeches, shared meal, and panel discussion.
Mayor Councillor Paige Kennett welcomed guests and acknowledged the community leaders who helped bring the event together. “Tonight is an opportunity for celebration and gratitude – recognising the tireless efforts of multicultural women who lead, inspire and strengthen our city,” she said.
The heart of the evening was a panel discussion featuring three women from very different backgrounds, skilfully guided by Elena Charalambous, Knox Multicultural Partnerships Officer, and Roshika Kumar, Gender Equity and Health Promotion Officer at Knox.
Dr Felicia Kor, a local GP who moved from Malaysia as a ten-year-old, spoke about the dual pressures of building a medical career while navigating life as a migrant. “You don’t get any special treatment for being a woman,” she recalled, sharing memories of working on hospital wards while pregnant.
Yet her story was also about the power of small gestures. During COVID lockdowns, Kor placed a teddy bear display outside her home. It grew into a Facebook group that now connects more than 200 families. “Be faithful in small things,” she told the audience. “You never know how something small can flourish into something beautiful.”
Dr Mitra Zarrati, an Iranian academic and dietitian who arrived in Australia four years ago, spoke about the challenge of having her qualifications recognised in a new country. “It was very stressful because the system was new and very different,” she said. “But I kept reminding myself that I needed to keep going.”
Today she works in community health, helping people navigate nutrition through what she calls “cultural safety”. “If I tell someone to stop eating the food they grew up with, they will not follow my advice. But if we respect culture and work within it, people feel understood.”
The third panellist, Tanvi Mor, a South Asian migrant and community advocate, offered a different take on leadership. “Like many people, I used to think leadership meant climbing the ladder and holding titles,” she said. “But my life experience has changed that view.”
For Mor, leadership includes the free job-readiness workshops she ran for migrants, her work as a Justice of the Peace, and founding Removing Blindfolds, a homelessness awareness project. “Sometimes leadership is simply about bringing people together so solutions can emerge. You should not have to hide your accent or your culture to fit into a system.”
The theme of respect ran quietly throughout the evening. A short video from Respect Victoria reminded the audience that “all violence against women begins with disrespect,” grounding the celebration in a broader call for gender equality. Later, guests wrote what respect meant to them on cards and pinned them to a board, creating a mosaic of reflections.
As the formal program ended, attention turned to a small detail on each table: a brown envelope containing seeds. “The idea is that seeds grow and spread – just like the message we want to share tonight,” Sharma said. “As you leave, we hope you will take that message with you: the message of diversity, multiculturalism, empowering women and respect.”
In a room full of leaders — from the speakers to the women sharing stories across tables — it was a fitting end to an evening about community, culture and the quiet strength of women shaping Knox.
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