Who we are

BACKING YOUNG PEOPLE

We employ and train young people to solve the most pressing problems facing this generation by supporting organisations with their youth engagement and design challenges.

Our history

IMAGINED FOR IMPACT

YLab was created by the Foundation for Young Australians in 2016 to offer high-quality entry-level opportunities to young people facing employment barriers. Fast-forward eight years, we’re an independent social impact organisation with deep expertise, networks and communities of diverse young people.

Our values

WE DO IT WITH HEART

We foster deep and meaningful relationships with our clients, partners and backers.

Connection

Authenticity

We are genuine and transparent, supported by robust governance and impact measurement practices.

We pioneer new methodologies in co-design and lived experience design work, ensuring fresh and relevant outcomes.

Innovation

Justice

We address inequality and champion accessibility within our organisation and in our work.

Our people

MEET THE TEAM

CEO (she/her)
Brig is currently on parental leave returning in 2026.
Brig leads the YLab team and has the privilege of spending her days working out how YLab can shape better systems and services with young people.
Brig has spent over a decade working in the for-purpose sector as a social enterprise leader, strategy consultant and creative producer and is obsessed with the intersection between social impact and sustainable business models.
She loves cooking up a big feed, attempting to parent her turbo three year old and swimming in salt water.

Acting CEO (he/him)
Ernez is one of Australia's most experienced strategic leaders, boasting over 15 years of expertise in delivering digital transformation initiatives for government, commercial, not-for-profit, and social enterprise organisations—from local to international —across the social, education, health, and mental health sectors.
He has committed his career to understanding how individuals, organisations, and systems can work together for the common good. Ernez specialises in projects that focus on social impact and prioritise the inclusion of lived experiences.
As the Acting YLab CEO, Ernez guides executive teams and their organisations in designing better services, policies, and products in collaboration with young people.

Manager (she/her)
Kelsey Dole is a manager at YLab and member of YLab First Nations team. Her role includes project management and delivery, workshop facilitation, training and coaching of young people.
With a degree in Aboriginal Professional Practice from the University of Newcastle, Kelsey is dedicated to fostering critical thinking and empowering young people to champion community-driven solutions for better systems that are fit-for-pupose. From co-designing electoral participation strategies to crafting mental health initiatives, Kelsey's work reflects her commitment to impactful change grounded in critical theory and hands-on collaboration.

Director, Business and Operations (he/him)
Damon oversees the day-to-day systems, tools and operations at YLab to support the delivery of its impactful projects with young people. Process-driven, he is always looking at ways to tinker with workflows to make them more efficient and accessible for all.
Before joining YLab, Damon employed this systems thinking to manage large-scale website development projects. In the past, he has also led a team of young creatives to produce Mantra Magazine - a publication aiming to celebrate Western Sydney communities through shared experiences of classism, diaspora and lack of financial resources.

Senior Manager (she/her)
Lorraine brings 9 years of experience working with young people ensuring they have key involvement in systems change, specificially in education, employment and health systems. At YLab she manages complex projects, engages diverse stakeholders and clients and coaches and trains young people in co-design.
Prior to YLab Lorraine founded a business called Useful Link (2016-2020), that looked at equipping young people with the skills they needed to thrive in the world of work. She is a lover of people, food and nature. "

Manager (she/her)
Lien has an insatiable curiosity for people and operations that extends her understanding of the blueprint that embraces our world. As a manager at YLab, Lien enjoys combining her visionary nature and open-mindedness to identity opportunities to turn ideas into reality.
She thrives in environments where she can disrupt outdated systems to implement effective, and creative solutions that have a sustained and greater impact on the community. She adores the experience of facilitating social cohesion and empowering the next generation of global citizens to create conversations in a collaborate and participant-led environment.

Studio Manager (she/her)
Ruby is a multidisciplinary designer based in Naarm/Melbourne. As Studio Manager at YLab she leads a team of emerging practitioners to produce creative outcomes through the lens of co-design.
With a background in graphic design, she has a particular interest in artist books and self-publishing.
Ruby has a curiosity about collective practice which informs her collaborative, human-centred design approach.
You’ll usually find her at Idle Time, a shared artist studio space in Brunswick East that she co-founded and manages.

Guiding our purpose

OUR BOARD

We’ve brought together an intergenerational Board embedding the representation of young and diverse voices across core leadership roles to help guide our vision.

Co-Chair (she/her) - QLD
Leilani is a proud Nunukul Quandamooka woman, and the Owner and Founder of First Nations Co, a community-led Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consulting business.
She is well known for her leadership in suicide prevention and mental health, and has extensive experience with co-design and lived experience consulting.
In addition to our board, Leilani is the current Chair of 13YARN, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Centre with Black Dog Institute, and a Director on the boards of Mind Australia and One Door.
Co-Chair (she/her) - VIC
Shailja is a young Australian of Fiji-Indian descent who is passionate about engaging young people on an intersectional level to create accessible and equitable systems.
She works at the intersection of health and economic development in public policy. She has previously acted in youth advisory roles at the Victorian Electoral Commission and the Centre for Multicultural Youth.
Young Board Member/Secretary (he/him) - NSW
James has a passion for building inclusive, fair and self-determining communities and working within research, policy and law reform.
James is currently working as a Senior Advisor at ACOSS, has previously worked as a Strategy Associate at the Paul Ramsay Foundation and founded a pro-bono research service that co-designed and delivered over 50+ research papers within its first two years.
Treasurer (he/him) - VIC
Lloyd is determined to grow the net-benefit of the world and brings over 14-years of experience within finance and governance roles, eight of which are within youth-focused organisations and not-for-profits.
He is the current Finance Manager at Orygen and has previously worked as an Accountant for KPMG and Teletrac Navman, as well as the CFO of Oaktree.
In addition to our board, Lloyd has also acted as a Director at Oaktree and Useful Inc.
Young Board Member (she/her) - VIC
Ikram is a young Somali-Australian working within the not-for-profit, media, and youth engagement spaces.
She currently works as a Project Officer at the Centre for Multicultural Youth to facilitate workshops and training sessions, Youth Development and Support Officer at Melton City Council and acts as a Subcommittee member for The Y.
Ikram is a Founder of The Beginning Project, a resource bank for young people by young people, and has previously been a Producer for the ABC.
Board Member (she/her) - VIC
Telaine is a proud First Nations woman who specialises in engaging the most hard-to-reach communities and adult learning environments, and creating impact through engaging in vulnerable conversations.
Telaine is a Senior Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Engagement Advisor to the CEO of The Fred Hollows Foundation, and has spent 13+ years across various leadership roles at the REACH Foundation across community engagement, workshop facilitation, strategy, learning and development, and wellbeing support.
Board Member (he/him) - VIC
Kevin specialises in driving positive outcomes for diverse young people by marrying evidence-based research with lived experiences.
He is currently the Health Promotion Systems Lead at VicHealth where he focuses on building the capacity of youth-centric initiatives and the role of arts and sport in building better health outcomes in communities.
Kevin is also an Advisor at the Centre for Multicultural Youth's Youth-led Unit, the Chair of IPAA Victoria's African Australian Community of Practice and a Board Director at The Y Victoria.
Board Member (she/her) - ACT
Elanor is a technology-forward executive with over 15+ years of leadership experience creating strategic, operational and business plans to deliver impact across government, academia, industry and the community.
She is currently an Executive Director at the CSIRO where she leads the enterprise-wide research and development of their digital capability, was previously the Dean and a Professor at the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science and created Australia's first academic Indigenous engineering design studio.
Elanor brings a wealth of governance expertise, having been a foundation Director at Significant Ventures and other for-purpose boards.

See our work

Our funding

BACKED FOR IMPACT

Our administration costs are covered in part by philanthropic backers who believe in our mission, freeing up project revenue to employ and further the development of young people.

Driving social impact work for Macquarie Group the Foundation supports individuals, businesses, and communities to build a better future. They aim to leverage both financial and non-financial resources to achieve the greatest social impact possible.

Macquarie Group Foundation

Brian M. Davis Foundation

The Brian M. Davis Foundation enables grant partners to effectively and sustainably advance solutions that drive meaningful change, deliver lasting progress and improve the lives of young Australians experiencing disadvantage.

Support us