Leadership legacy, race conversation and privilege with Yvonne Weldon

Yvonne Weldon discusses her unique perspective on leadership and conversations about race!

Yvonne Weldon

Councillor for City of Sydney Council

Yvonne is a proud Wiradjuri woman born and raised in the inner city of Sydney but maintains strong ties to her homelands of Cowra and the Riverina areas of New South Wales.

From a young age Yvonne developed a strong passion and commitment to bringing about positive change for Aboriginal people and communities. A life-long activist, Yvonne has 30 plus years’ experience working in key government and Aboriginal organisations driving positive reform in land rights, justice, health, education, and child protection. Yvonne holds an Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Health Promotion.

She was awarded the 2022 NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year and in 2019 NSW Volunteer of the Year Adult Volunteer for the South Sydney Region. Yvonne was awarded a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia, for significant service to the Indigenous community of New South Wales in the 2022 Queens Birthday Honours List.

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In this episode of Humanity Works, Yvonne discusses the challenges and gifts she experienced as an Aboriginal growing up in Australia, how she approaches difficult conversations about race and privilege, and her unique perspective on leadership.

Yvonne Weldon made history becoming the first Aboriginal elected to the City of Sydney Council.

Yvonne Weldon made history by becoming the first Aboriginal person in 180 years elected to the City of Sydney Council in 2021.

Yvonne is a proud Wiradjuri woman. From a young age, she has strived to bring about positive change for Aboriginal people and communities. Through her work in key First Nations and government organisations across the country, to her work with youth in detention centres - Yvonne has inspired many, many people along her path, including us!

In this episode of Humanity Works, Yvonne discusses the challenges and gifts she experienced as an Aboriginal growing up in Australia, how she approaches difficult conversations about race and privilege, and her unique perspective on leadership.

Listen to this episode now to discover:

Making history becoming the first Aboriginal in 180 years to be an elected councillor
Yvonne shares her parents surprising reaction when she told them the news of being elected, and how she allayed their fears
Racism is still alive today: Yvonne shares some emotional and heartbreaking stories from her upbringing in Australia
Discover Yvonne’s unique and effective approach to difficult conversations about race
Yvonne shares about her reluctance to ‘get in the tent’ when invited to participate in an Australia Day event (and the advice she received that changed her mind)
Yvonne unpacks her work with youth and why she’s passionate about helping everyone to feel valued, no matter where they’ve come from in life
Allyship: What does that term really mean and why is it important?
The problem with privilege - Yvonne discusses why most people who have privilege don’t realise they have it
Why we need to get more comfortable talking about racism now
The big questions Yvonne is asking right now, and what she hopes her legacy will be
Plus so much more!