In this inspiring episode, Indigenous Midwife and Arrernte leader, Cherisse Buzzacott, shares her story of personal resilience and service to her community. She unpacks the ways systemic prejudice can compromise structures of care available to First Nations women and birthing people, and her determination not to accept what is broken, but to play a lead role in fixing it.

Cherisse is a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation’s Milparanga Leadership Program (2023). She has just returned from the first session of Course 31 of the Australian Rural Leadership Program, thanks to a scholarship from the National Indigenous Australian Agency. Cherisse acknowledges the huge role of leadership development experiences in shaping her path in life.

Sitting down with our host, Claire Delahunty, Cherisse talks about her fulfilling role with the National NAIDOC Committee. This year’s NAIDOC Week theme is Keep the Fire Burning, which perfectly captures the spirit of activism and progress that lives in everything Cherisse stands for.

Some highlights:

• Cherisse shares the remarkable progress of the Birthing on Country movement in Australia
• How her most vulnerable personal experience has forged her determination as an advocate for birthing women
• Reflections on the keys to healing her home community of Mparntwe, Alice Springs
• How mindfully sharing leadership responsibilities can ensure all are supported; and all have a chance to speak
• The ways leadership development programs have directly influenced some of her biggest life decisions
  

Our host:

Claire Delahunty, is a writer and journalist who has worked with the ARLF for more than ten years, interviewing leaders having a positive impact on rural and regional Australia.

Resources:

⁠⁠⁠ARLF podcast blog⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠ARLF website

National Indigenous Australians Agency

NAIDOC Week 2024

Birth Time Documentary

Rodanthe Lipsett Indigenous Midwifery Charitable Fund

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