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Speaker 1: Good morning everyone, and welcome back to Sugar Mama's Fireplay,

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Speaker 1: the podcast that ignites your financial journey with inspiring stories

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Speaker 1: and innovative strategies. I am your host, financial planner, Hannah Campbell. Now,

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Speaker 1: as you know, Sugarmum's Fireplay is really about giving you

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Speaker 1: the confidence, the education, the tools, the inspiration and the

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Speaker 1: strategies to start building financial freedom for yourself. But today

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Speaker 1: I want to turn the tables, and turn the tables

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Speaker 1: towards ourselves and our community and talk about something that

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Speaker 1: I myself and I'm embarrassed and a shamed to admit

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Speaker 1: this wasn't even aware of, and that is the forgotten

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Speaker 1: unseen people within our community, migrants, youth, women, long term

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Speaker 1: unemployed people, and most importantly refugees.

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Speaker 2: And what I hope today with.

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Speaker 1: Our special guest Andrina Graham from the Dragonfly Network, is

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Speaker 1: that we can actually turn this idea of financial wellbeing

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Speaker 1: for ourselves, but actually spread this amongst our community so

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Speaker 1: that we are actually not just helping ourselves, but helping

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Speaker 1: each other maximize all of these incredible opportunities around us

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Speaker 1: to create financial freedom for each other with the benefit

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Speaker 1: flowing on far and why Andrena thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for coming in today. Can you tell me a little

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Speaker 1: bit about the Dragonfly Network and who is part of

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Speaker 1: this forgotten an unseen community.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, thank you so much for having me Canna. This

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Speaker 3: is great and a fantastic platform to be able to

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Speaker 3: talk about this today. The Dragonfly Network was born out

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Speaker 3: of I think originally working for Harris Farm four years

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Speaker 3: ago and I don't know if you remember, but unemployment

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Speaker 3: rate was so low at that time, it was three

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Speaker 3: point eight percent. It was just after lockdown, and I

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Speaker 3: was the head of recruitment trying to find staff and

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Speaker 3: it was near impossible. So sort of thought outside the

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Speaker 3: box and went out to various NGOs and not for

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Speaker 3: profits and job active places to find people, yeah, people

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Speaker 3: that were overlooked or unseen, and created a flow on

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Speaker 3: of bringing people on site to Harris Farm to interview

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Speaker 3: with the managers and help them find work, which took

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Speaker 3: out a huge amount of stress for a lot of

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Speaker 3: people who have been looking for work for a really

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Speaker 3: long time and who have been rejected due to to

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Speaker 3: AI tools disqualifying them. So hundreds of refugees and asylum

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Speaker 3: seekers who were applied online via the various platforms automatically

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Speaker 3: being disqualified. So removing all that stress out of their

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Speaker 3: lives to interview them on the day hire them straight

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Speaker 3: away was.

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Speaker 2: Just wonderful.

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Speaker 1: I've actually got goosebumps and tears in my eyes to

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Speaker 1: think someone who has fought to get out of their

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Speaker 1: country and find safety gets here and then a computer

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Speaker 1: says no.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And when you're denying someone a job at ability to work,

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Speaker 1: you take away their rights, you take away their opportunity,

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Speaker 1: you take away their purpose and their identity and human rights.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's just insane. So you've basically taken unlike

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Speaker 1: the computer, and gone human to human to say, tell

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Speaker 1: me your story, what can you do where your skill sets?

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Speaker 1: How can we get you into a full time employment?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, and that is such a massive goal. And you know,

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Speaker 3: financial freedom and having a purpose is just so important

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Speaker 3: for them. You know, I heard a fantastic quote the

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Speaker 3: other day saying a refugee is no longer a refugee

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Speaker 3: once they've found employment. And it is huge because they

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Speaker 3: assimilate into society. They can pay their own rent, they

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Speaker 3: can leave them not for profit housing, they can buy

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Speaker 3: a present for their child, they.

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Speaker 1: Can afford education. Education, and education is one of the

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Speaker 1: catalyst of breaking poverty.

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Speaker 3: Oh exactly. There are so many things that you can

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Speaker 3: go down a rabbit hole with if you don't have

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Speaker 3: your own financial freedom, and a lot of it is

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Speaker 3: around mental health, domestic violence, drugs and alcohol, all the

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Speaker 3: things that are so huge at the moment, and such

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Speaker 3: a talking point is exactly the same for these refugees.

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Speaker 1: I read the other day that only six percent of

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Speaker 1: refugees at your to secure employment within six months and

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Speaker 1: only twenty three percent secure full time employment within two years.

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Speaker 1: That's heartbreaking, isn't it?

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Speaker 3: And it just shows that there are so many people

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Speaker 3: out there, refugees asylum seekers who would be fantastic for

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Speaker 3: entry level positions where you've got companies and employees screaming

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Speaker 3: out for reliable staff and staff that can work full time.

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Speaker 3: You know, there are so many gaps that can be filled,

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Speaker 3: which in turn, as we know, they will then become

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Speaker 3: part of the social economy.

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Speaker 1: So what can we do, Like, obviously, creating awareness is

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Speaker 1: the first thing, but how can we be a part

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Speaker 1: of this change so that these numbers change? Because I

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Speaker 1: know that the work that you're doing is having incredible

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Speaker 1: results and getting people into you know, into safe environments

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Speaker 1: where they're not just working with their on a great

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Speaker 1: career path and they're feeling fulfilled and they're going from

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Speaker 1: strength to strength and adding value to those businesses and

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Speaker 1: getting some great corporates on board. What can we do

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Speaker 1: and how can we help make this happen faster?

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Speaker 3: You know what? All it takes is a conversation, one

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Speaker 3: conversation to have with me. Reach out to me on

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Speaker 3: the Dragonfly Network Andrena Graham on LinkedIn. Have a conversation

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Speaker 3: with me. You know, you might be head of your

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Speaker 3: corporate right now, CEO NHR. An employee who just wants

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Speaker 3: to do good and feels like their company's corporate ESG

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Speaker 3: can do better, and you know what, just wanting to

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Speaker 3: be a good human. Reach out to me. Let's have

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Speaker 3: a conversation. You know, I am very happy to partner

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Speaker 3: with anyone who just wants to have a conversation and

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Speaker 3: you know help. The feedback I've been getting from the

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Speaker 3: people I've placed is quite amazing. I've had Andrena, I

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Speaker 3: promise I won't let you down. My kids don't even

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Speaker 3: say that to me, and I not alive. I know,

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Speaker 3: so I'm getting these you know this has been the

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Speaker 3: best week of Australia, of my life working. I mean,

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Speaker 3: it is just amazing the feel good you feel when

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Speaker 3: you employ someone that really wants to work and will

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Speaker 3: be a hard worker and changing their trajectory of what

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Speaker 3: it could be, you know, from poverty to pathways to employment.

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Speaker 3: It just is I can't even tell you. It does

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Speaker 3: give you tingles and it might sound a bit cliche,

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Speaker 3: but it is true. Yeah, it is wonderful.

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Speaker 1: It's just that opportunity, the only is just one opportunity

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Speaker 1: and the results of what you've been able to do,

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Speaker 1: like you know, with this awareness and actually talking to

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Speaker 1: corporates and getting them on board and actually looking at

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Speaker 1: their internal policies about going human to human and obviously

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Speaker 1: seeing this community that is literally forgot about an unseen

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Speaker 1: is you know, I think you said eighty nine percent

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Speaker 1: of people are employed within twelve months and ninety three

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Speaker 1: percent or within six months, and you're being able to

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Speaker 1: double their income by more than fifty one percent, which

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Speaker 1: is incredible.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it's great. And you know, there are so

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Speaker 3: many great not for profits doing an NGO is doing

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Speaker 3: what they can do, but a lot of people are volunteers,

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Speaker 3: a lot of their case loads are full, and so

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Speaker 3: it really takes you know, someone like me as well.

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Speaker 3: That's you know, that is all I'm focusing on. I'm

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Speaker 3: not focusing on settlement or I'm not focusing on the

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Speaker 3: case management and the mental health. But I'm focusing on

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Speaker 3: the employment part. And I think that is where we

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Speaker 3: can really make some serious change in this space.

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Speaker 1: So we need to be talking about making each other

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Speaker 1: aware and the importance of giving people a crack a

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Speaker 1: bit an opportunity and talking to our employers and saying,

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Speaker 1: all right, what policies do we have in house, how

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Speaker 1: can we improve them? You know, getting people in front

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Speaker 1: of you to actually talk about how you can add

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Speaker 1: help them with their internal policies as well, so that

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Speaker 1: more and more people have given this opportunity as a refugee,

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Speaker 1: as a migrant, as a long term unemployed person, as

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Speaker 1: a a young unemployed person.

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Speaker 2: As a woman.

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Speaker 3: You know who has young kids who can only do

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Speaker 3: your ten to two shifts. I mean it is women

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Speaker 3: generally suffer the most. So you know, looking at how

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Speaker 3: you can change your schedules around, how you can change

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Speaker 3: you know, what has been done in the past to

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Speaker 3: really make a difference. And you will see that it

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Speaker 3: will benefit the organization as well, making that simple change.

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Speaker 1: I think when you've got someone who wants to work,

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Speaker 1: they will work so goddamn high just to prove their worth,

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Speaker 1: and they're so incredibly grateful that they're the people you

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Speaker 1: want in your team, in your community, in your stratosphere,

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Speaker 1: you know, working together and you know, with common passions,

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Speaker 1: you know, great work ethics, that dedication, that commitment, and

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Speaker 1: that sense of gratitude as well, like which we take

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Speaker 1: for granted so easily.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and it really does add to the diversity in

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Speaker 3: your organization. It adds so much color.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, people have.

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Speaker 3: So much value to add and their different stories and

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Speaker 3: listening to them just makes you realize how lucky we

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Speaker 3: are and they want to have that same luck.

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Speaker 1: What made you to start this? I mean, I know

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Speaker 1: you said you were at Harris Farm and you realize

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Speaker 1: you needed stuff, Like you haven't just dipped your toe

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Speaker 1: and you've completely jumped in head first and like taken

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Speaker 1: this project on like with you know, like open arms,

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Speaker 1: Like how has this changed your life?

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Speaker 3: Very good question. I probably haven't had enough time, you.

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Speaker 1: Know, I've been very busy with this.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it for me, it was a no brainer. It's

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Speaker 3: just doing the right thing. I know that this is

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Speaker 3: doing the right thing, and you know, I wanted to

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Speaker 3: be the advocate, and I think it can't just be me,

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Speaker 3: but this is what keeps me going, which is knowing

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Speaker 3: that they need us. And you know, I want to

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Speaker 3: make sure that not only my kids get educated or

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Speaker 3: lucky enough to have a career, but everyone who comes

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Speaker 3: to Australia and is on the working visa gets the

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Speaker 3: opportunities that any ordinarily ordinary Australian should get.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, can you, just as we wrap up today's episode,

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Speaker 1: can you share with me some of the goals behind

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Speaker 1: the Dragonfly Network and what you really want to hear

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Speaker 1: from people and what you want to see from people,

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Speaker 1: and how we can help you beyond those conversations and

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Speaker 1: the awareness.

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Speaker 3: Right. Yeah, I suppose the goal of my business is

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Speaker 3: to you know, place one asylum, seek a refugee, you know,

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Speaker 3: placing one person at a time, which that one person

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Speaker 3: leads to ten people, leads to twenty people, having organizations

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Speaker 3: come on board and partnering with me who actually want

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Speaker 3: to do the same thing in their organizations. It could

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Speaker 3: be corporate, it could be entry level position, but just

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Speaker 3: making sure that we all have the right policy, which

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Speaker 3: is to ensure that we're giving these cohort an opportunity

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Speaker 3: to get a job and a pathway to employment and careers.

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Speaker 1: You know, life can be so cruel and it can

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Speaker 1: be so unfair. This is our opportunity to help make

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Speaker 1: the world fairer, help make sure that these opportunities exist

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Speaker 1: and that they continue on blossoming, and that everybody has

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Speaker 1: an opportunity and equality in our world. But we also

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Speaker 1: do this together, helping each other, supporting each other with

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Speaker 1: those with awareness, but also with compassion and kindness all

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Speaker 1: the way through exactly Andrena, thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: coming in today and to all the listeners right now.

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Speaker 1: Please reach out to Dreams through the Dragonfly Network through LinkedIn.

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Speaker 1: I will make sure I put all of her contact

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Speaker 1: details in the podcast notes. This is our opportunity to

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Speaker 1: speak to our work colleagues about this. This is our

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Speaker 1: opportunity to speak to your internal HR team, Ask them

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Speaker 1: what are they doing about this? Are they aware? How

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Speaker 1: can we improve it? And of course put them in

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Speaker 1: direct contact with Andrena, because this is where we can

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Speaker 1: make some really powerful shifts and breakthroughs in breaking poverty

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Speaker 1: and changing the direction of people's lives forever, and being

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Speaker 1: part of a very important follow on effect where everyone

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Speaker 1: benefits from this. So thank you so much for thank

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Speaker 1: you for having me.

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Speaker 2: Really, that's the episode.

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Speaker 3: Did everything