“You can’t be what you can’t see. How do women and non-binary leaders in your community inspire you to make change?”

Hi, my name is Lucy Mander and for the past 10 years, I have had the privilege of growing up in Nhulunbuy, a remote community in Northeast Arnhem Land. This upbringing has given me a great opportunity to be educated by traditional owners, custodians and leaders around me, which has allowed me to learn about Aboriginal culture as a lived experience. However, I didn’t always feel proud to live here, at times living in such a remote place made me feel like my dreams were out of reach. The secluded environment made me feel like there were no opportunities. Having this closed-off mindset sheltered me from being able to reach out for my dreams, as the saying goes “You can’t be what you can’t see”.

In Nhulunbuy there are many women and non-binary leaders who inspire me. In particular, the model Magnolia Maymuru, who grew up in Nhulunbuy and despite her remote heritage, has seen great success within the entertainment and modelling industry in Australia. Magnolia has achieved much; including her most recent accomplishment as an actress in The Nightingale film. She is also a new-generation supermodel, famously featured in Vogue’s “New Beginnings” magazine with her newborn baby on the cover, highlighting her success in the industry. The beautiful imagery produced from this shoot is not only an inspiration to remote living females such as myself but also to mothers who feel limited in their life potential once they have a baby, Magnolia demonstrated you can balance the roles of being a model and a mother. However, the biggest inspiration I have drawn from Magnolia’s story is that she was first introduced to the modelling industry in 2014 by chance. Whilst shopping with her family in Yirrkala (20 km from the township of Nhulunbuy), she was scouted by a Darwin-based modelling agency. This made me excited to hear because you never would think that such an amazing opportunity would arise in Nhulunbuy, it’s just about being able to see what things you can involve yourself in.

Since I can remember, all I ever wanted to be was an actor. Until reality hit me that I live in such a remote place and thought those opportunities could only open up for those in big cities like Melbourne and Sydney. Seeing how far Magnolia came inspired me to not give up on my childhood dreams because I felt like they were out of reach. Instead, I’ll strive to keep going until I reach them. She has since inspired me to join the School Representative Council (SRC), run for school captain next year, and apply to the Country of Canberra, as I believe it would be an amazing experience to broaden my skills and have my voice heard. I would love to be like Magnolia Maymuru, and hopefully inspire others to make changes in themselves, branch out of their comfort zone and try new things.