Our Team
is made up of the Board of Know Your Roots Incorporated and volunteers who are passionate about our communities, advocacy and the future of our growing future generations. Meet our team who we call FAMILY!
KYR Inc. Board
established in 2018, after the need in the community grew for advocacy to be prominent in the Pacific Island community and was extended to all communities of colour and culture in regional Victoria, early 2019. It is one of very few boards in Victoria that is 100% seated by women of colour – of which we are proud of.
Mellisa V. Silaga
Co-Founder - Board Chair Director
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New Zealand born and Australian raised, Mellisa is of Samoan heritage – passionate about Culture, Community, Youth, Communication and Rugby.
She has worked in various areas stemming from being an entertainer at the Polynesian Cultural Centre in Hawaii, fruit picker, retail and hospitality to teaching in the islands of Samoa as a Year 11 English Teacher.
Mellisa has worked as a frontline staff at GV Health and in Health Promotion where she led the Hospital Tours for GV Health and she developed and implemented the My Health in Shepparton – A guide to health services throughout Greater Shepparton. She currently works for Primary Care Connect as an Media and Communications Coordinator as well as at Ethnic Council Shepparton & District as a Social Cohesion Project Coordinator.
Mellisa is the Founder of Know Your Roots Inc and is also the Co-Founder of the Point of Difference Studio located on Yorta Yorta and Bangarang Country in the town of Mooroopna, Victoria.
Mellisa is passionate and active in helping youth in the Pacific Island community reconnect with their cultures, in order to better live, respect and embrace their new home and community, through her Know Your Roots program, developed and running in schools since 2014. Her passion of culture and supporting youth extends beyond her Pasifika community and over the years has worked with a range of young people and their families from all communities.
Mellisa was part of re-establishing the Shepparton Rugby Union Club in 2013 and has been part of the Shepparton Rugby Union Club as a Former President, Secretary and currently as a Club Facilitator, Public Relations & Media and Communications Officer.
Mellisa attended Brigham Young University – Hawaii and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Intercultural Communication Studies, holds a Diploma of Community Services as well as a Graduate Certificate in Management and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA). She is also a graduate of the Fairley Leadership Program – Class of 2017.
She is forever grateful to Mooroopna Secondary College for challenges as it has given her the drive she needed to go abroad and learn. She attributes her work ethics to her parents and the Orchards of Varapodio in Ardmona and Kaso’s in Coomboona that taught her that dust and sweat provides abundance if you put in honest time and give it your all. When she is not busy with work and Community, she smoothers her son and husband with all the baking and love they can manage and practices her faith in order to keep her grounded.
Dr. Zubaidah Mohamed Shaburdin
Co- Founder Board Director
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Dr. Zubaidah Mohamed Shaburdin is a Malay settler who has been living on Yorta Yorta country for the past seven years. Zubaidah works closely with community groups and utilises her skills to support local grassroots activism. Additionally, she is a researcher at the Department of Rural Health, The University of Melbourne, focusing on areas such as anti-racism, health justice, and access to healthcare. Zubaidah has collaborated with health professionals, service providers, and community organisations to provide culturally sensitive and appropriate support to clients from diverse backgrounds, both in rural and urban areas. Committed to fighting for and upholding principles of human rights and social justice, Zubaidah applies these values to all aspects of her work and contributions to communities.
Aby Simaika
Board Director
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Gaga Abycaile Simaika, more commonly known as Aby, is a Samoan-born, Australian raised, proud woman of the Pasifika.
She is passionate about serving the community that birthed her, and paying homage to her ancestors that came before her. Aby has worked in an array of different sectors ranging from farm work alongside her father, a proud orchardist. She has also worked as a student Pasifika mentor for young Maori and Pasifika students as part of the PATHE program within the Western Sydney University where she currently attends and is completing her Bachelor of Social Science with a Major in Child and Community, and a sub-major in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Whilst completing her degree, Aby has been fortunate enough to have been able to have worked in an array of spaces that have built her capacity to work in the space that she is the most passionate about; helping our young Maori and Pasifika exceed in all aspects of their life and to live their lives without the fear of violence.
Aby has worked with the University of Melbourne’s Department of Rural Health as a Co-Researcher, worked for ermha365 as a support person for people’s with complex mental health needs and is now currently working at the Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District as a Family Violence Prevention project officer.
In all these roles Aby attributes her success to her community who have supported her, but most of all her parents who instilled in her the values of a ‘Teine Samoa’ and of her faith, that have kept her grounded and have allowed for her to exceed in this space.
Point of Difference Studio
family is made up of active volunteers from KYR Inc Board right down into our communities. As a small not-for-profit organisation, our Board and POD team are one in the same – managing and serving our community when they need us; that’s our point of difference!
Betul Tuna
Co-Founder | Director - Executive Officer
Betul Tuna is currently a Senior Project Officer at the Ethnic Council of Shepparton & District working in the space of Family Violence Prevention. Betul is one of the co-founders of the Point of Difference Studio and also works with Berry St as a Youth Development Worker.
Betul is the youngest child of Mazhar and Mukerrem Tuna who migrated to Australia in 1970. Betul is 1st generation Turkish Muslim Australian citizen born, raised and currently living on Yorta Yorta and Bangerang Country.
Betul has been exposed to grassroots work since birth as her father was the association leader of the Goulburn Valley Turkish Islamic Cultural Centre for over 20 years and Betul took her first steps on the foundation of the Mosque built by the Turkish community in 1985.
Being born and raised on Yorta Yorta and Bangerang Country Betul is the proud daughter of her hardworking parents and grew up exposed to the hardworking migrants on farms and labour industries. Raised in a diverse neighbourhood with children from first nations and other ethnicities, always listening to the stories of her elders and Indigenous elders, opened her world to social injustice, socio-economic inequality, division and unity. Listening to her uncles and aunties of all backgrounds identifying issues and finding solutions with their own resources and initiatives has been the foundation of Betul’s passion to change systems.
After finishing high school Betul began her journey into exploring her cultural identity and returned to Turkey for 3 years. Travelling through Turkey and spending extensive time in Eastern Turkey, Betul was able to work with Kurdish women experiencing social injustice which eventually led Betul to her passion for Gender equality and ending gender-based violence.
Upon returning to Australia Betul started her own family and is now the proud mother of 3 teenagers. With the support of her family and community Betul was able to return to education, obtain a diploma of Community Services, and begin her role at the Ethnic Council of Shepparton in 2016. Over the years Betul has worked in various projects and initiatives that tackle gender-based violence in regional Victoria.
In 2017, Betul participated in Fairley Leadership Program which gave her the opportunity to understand systems from a different perspective and currently is enrolled in a double degree with La Trobe University.
Ofeira Satele
Director | KYR Program Coordinator & Events Coordinator
Lasi Simaika
Director | Project, Media & Communications Coordinator
Mercan Kaskicsi
Administration Support
