We’re super excited for our inaugural Feminartsy Ideas Fest 2017, a day of feminism and creativity being held on Saturday 20 May at Gorman Arts Centre. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be catching up with our Ideas Fest speakers so you can get to know them a bit better. Today, meet Caterina Giorgi…

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m Caterina, a self-confessed policy and politics nerd who thinks that we can all play a part in creating a more equitable, safe, inclusive and sustainable community.  I’m the Founder of For Purpose, a professional community, providing networking opportunities, professional development and consulting for people working in not-for-profit and for purpose organisations.

Do you identify as a feminist? Why?

Definitely. I think that we should do what we can to address the inequality that we see and the inequality that continues to exist for women is an example of this. Over recent years my reason for identifying as a feminist hasn’t changed, but my motivation has. I now have a daughter and I can’t stand to think that things will be harder for her because of her gender. I don’t want us talking about the 20 per cent gender pay gap, which has been the same for past two decades in another 20 years time.

How do you think creativity can influence or support our advocacy and activism?

Advocacy and activism is all about creativity. To cut through the barrage of information that people receive, we need to be constantly trying new approaches and tactics. To develop these, we need to be creative. Our approach to advocacy can be as diverse and varied as our imagination allows us.

What is one impact you’d like to have on the world?

Through For Purpose, we’re creating a professional community of people working for purpose. I’d like to work collaboratively with change makers from across the country to build this community into a network of humans who are collaborating, sharing ideas and working towards a better world.

What are you looking forward to about Feminartsy Ideas Fest?

I’m looking forward to meeting amazing humans, from varied backgrounds and hearing about their amazing work.

You’re passionate about supporting the advocacy work of for purpose organisaions. What drives you to do this work, and why is it important that we are all advocates?

A person’s life outcomes are largely dependent on the circumstances in which they were born. This makes life extremely difficult for people who are born into disadvantage. We can be doing more to ensure that equity underpins decisions we make about laws, policies and programs to make things better for all people, regardless of where they were born.

People don’t need to commit every waking hour to advocacy, but we can all take small actions to contribute a more equitable community. Social change is a long game in which we all have a role to play. If we can share a common vision of the world we want to see, we can all work together to create that world.

Caterina Giorgi will be sharing her key tips on being an effective advocate at the Feminartsy Ideas Fest. Find out more, and book your ticket here!