Celebrating diversity and belonging

With over three decades of experience working with diverse communities, Dr Sonja Hood has committed the last 15 years to advocating for social cohesion in Australia. Hood is CEO of the Scanlon Foundation, president of the North Melbourne Football Club and is involved in numerous community focused initiatives.

Growing up in multicultural Melbourne, Hood first encountered diversity in high school when she was exposed to students from diferent backgrounds, particularly Vietnamese and Chinese students. This exposure to cultural diversity was profoundly impactful, eventually inspiring her to build her career around helping migrant communities.

“I love the diversity of Australia. I love the fact that we are a multi-

faith, multi-ethnic country. I’m hugely interested in our history, both the positives and negatives of that … Some people feel like there’s a mainstream and then there are people who are different. But actually we’re all different,” Hood told The AJN.

Hood will be moderating a panel titled “Diversity & Exclusion” as part of the National Council of Jewish Women Australia (NCJWA) national conference in Sydney this weekend. For Hood, the panel is a chance to explore how people’s diverse cultures, backgrounds and experiences can help to build better interactions and communities.