Fair@Square 2010
Co-ordinators

Anna Smyrk
Fair Entertainment Co-ordinator
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Anna Smyrk's interest in Fair Trade began with her travels in South East Asia in 2009. Witnessing first-hand the success of Fair Trade projects in raising the living standards of some of the world's poorest people, she was compelled to assist on her return to Melbourne. She coordinated the "Fair Indulgence" section of Fair@Square in 2009, but this year hopes to use her passion for music to contribute to the festival by coordinating the line-up of local musicians who will play on the day.
Anna is currently studying Anthropology and Political Science at the University of Melbourne.


Sean Read
Fair Entertainment Co-ordinator
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I am an engineering student from RMIT university in melbourne. my interest in fair trade and sustainable activities is something that has been with me for as long as I can remember. I have over the past few months been working for the student union at RMIT and I hope to use the skills I have gained from this to help where I can with making this event as successful as possible, specifically in the area of entertainment.

Fabia Pryor
Fair Fashion Co-ordinator
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Fabia’s study and career focus is sustainability and ethical practice within the fashion and textiles sector. She is currently completing a Masters in Fashion and Textiles at RMIT, having previously studied undergraduate Arts (development studies and international relations) and Science (sustainability studies and geography) at the Australian National University. Her interest in the fashion and textiles industry was sparked when she realised the suite of innovative opportunities that exist to tackle entrenched social and environmental problems in this sector and the potential flow on effects that could result. She has worked in this field with communities in Peru, the Solomon Islands and Australia.


Leeyong Soo
Fair Fashion Co-ordinator
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Leeyong Soo was born in Melbourne and lived there until 1998, when she decided to test her university-level Japanese on a working holiday in Tokyo. After a year working at a free English magazine for foreigners she landed a job at Japanese Vogue as assistant to the fashion director. During her eight years at Japanese Vogue, Leeyong was in charge of a variety of regular columns and reported on fashion weeks around the world, while also launching her label of dresses handmade from vintage kimono and obi, Fourth Daughter. Since returning to Melbourne, Leeyong has continued to work in print media, as well as advocating for sustainable fashion through participation in various projects such as Fair Trade Fortnight's fashion show Fashion Fights Fair, a workshop at Fair@Square festival and writing for Peppermint magazine. She has recently discovered the joys of blogging at http://stylewilderness.blogspot.com/ and is also working on launching the Fourth Daughter website.


Ben Thomas
Fair Talk Co-ordinator
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Ben has always been interested in social justice and sustainability. Travelling around South East Asia during the summer holidays exposed him in vivid detail to the full spectrum of how people live and the impact that we all have on the global climate. Returning home ignited with a strong sense of responsibility Ben felt the need to live mindfully, sustainably and ethically more strongly than ever before. This year Ben has being involved in various soup kitchens, helping organise and cook for a weekly DIY soup kitchen with donated and “rescued” food left over from grocers and supermarkets. Studying his second year of ‘sound art’ at RMIT, some of Ben’s other highlights for the year have being discovering the enormous population of worms in his compost bin and making his own cottage cheese and soy milk (though the success of the soy milk is still debated amongst Ben’s housemates).


Kavita Balasubramaniam
Volunteer Co-ordinator
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My background is infused with Arts (Communications & Media Studies), Banking & Finance and Business Law from Monash University. Although I am currently working fulltime as an Interpreter Booking Coordinator, I try to segregate my time to be actively involved in social works. I started off just trying to lend a hand and today volunteering is a passion to me. I got involved in not-for-profit organizations during my tertiary studies because I was heavily exposed to the world’s most powerful paradox: Globalization and of course its contagious outcomes. On a personal level, volunteering provides me personal satisfaction in believing that my presence in life makes a difference to somebody out there, even if it is not on a big scale. I believe that self-realization and will power are the two most powerful weapons one can own to make a difference and I know I have it in me. On a longer scale, I would love to see us humans joining hands in making this world a better place for the current and the upcoming generation to live in.


Zoe Gaylard
Public relations & Media Co-ordinator
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Zoe is a passionate supporter of all things sustainable. For the past four years she has worked in marketing and communications in the sustainable development sector. Zoe has completed a Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Arts(Japanese) at Swinburne and a Graduate Diploma in Marketing Communication at The University of Canberra. She believes in social justice for all. Her interest in the fair-trade movement focuses on the empowerment and range of benefits the movement delivers to producers, workers and entire communities in developing countries. She is very excited about her role in bringing fair@square 2010 to life.


Sonal Rawat
Fair Living Co-ordinator
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Sonal was involved with fair play tent, program distribution and welcome booth volunteer in the Fair@Square fair-trade + ethical Festival 2009 event. He has experience for arranging for variety of events. He wants to use his passion for the handmade craft events and eagerness to provide chance to the new community for show casing their talents.

Olivia de Castres
Fair Living Co-ordinator
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After completing a Duel Diploma of Tourism; Event Management and Marketing, Olivia worked & volunteered in various events roles while still managing to fit in numerus trips around South East Asia and India. With her love of culture, backpacking off the beaten track and passion to help the poverty she saw from these trips lead her to set off on a year’s adventure around the world where she was mainly based in Nepal and India. Here she spent time volunteering in a Nepalese Orphanage and worked teaching English to disadvantaged Indian teenagers. Olivia’s strong passion for environmental issues grew when she spent her last few months in the south of India volunteering on an organic farm and then in a Vegan Eco Village working on their reforestation project. Now back in Australia she is again working in an events focussed role and is very excited about having the opportunity to work with the Moral Fairground team to promote Fair Trade and helps make the Fair@Square festival be the best it can.


Pauline Lapchine
Fair Play Co-ordinator
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Pauline first became interested in all things fair trade through her involvement with One Seed, an organisation which helps overcome poverty in a sustainable way. She participated in the 2009 Fair@Square fair-trade + ethical festival through volunteering at the One Seed stand. Pauline has a Bachelor of Commerce and has been involved in organising and participating in a range of events including corporate, social as well as fundraising and charity events. She looks forward making a ‘fun’ contribution as the Fair Play Co-ordinator at the 2010 Fair@Square fair-trade + ethical festival!

Ebonnie Lord
Fair Indulgence Co-ordinator
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Ebonnie has always had talent for indulging in food but her interest in ‘ethical food’ begun when she was working as a journalist in South Gippsland. She ran a series of stories on the need for better food labeling and the threat to the organic food market when the moratorium on genetically modified crops was lifted.
"Linking consumer power to social justice is an exciting idea," she said. "It seems while people are trolling though supermarket isles, they are fighting back, wanting to choose foods that meet their expectations for health and social responsibility." Ebonnie travelled to South East Asia and Africa last year where she indulged in some of the best food of her life. She studied journalism and writing at Monash Gippsland and is now working at the Latrobe Valley Express.