If you’re a Goulburn Valley local, Neha Samar’s face is probably one you’ll recognise.
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There aren’t many causes she doesn’t care about and she’s on several boards and committees to prove it.
The Shepparton mother-of-two — a seven-year-old and four-year-old — has just stepped in to fill another pair of hard-working boots, taking up a non-executive role on the board of directors for the Victorian Women’s Trust.
The VWT is a proudly independent feminist organisation that supports women, girls and gender-diverse people to thrive.
The not-for-profit organisation, established in 1985, researches issues, campaigns for change, runs events and provides grants to grassroots projects affecting its communities, focusing on economic security, health and safety, and equal representation, to achieve gender equality.
As Lucille Ball (and others) famously said: “If you want something done, ask a busy person.”
Mrs Samar is the epitome of whom that quote refers to.
Not only is she a mum to young, still-very-dependent children, she works full-time as an education specialist in the youth mental health space, is on the board of Greater Shepparton Foundation, is deputy chair of Goulburn Murray Local Learning and Employment Network, and a committee member for the Victorian Multicultural Commission (Hume region).
Mrs Samar even runs her own not-for-profit organisation that she founded, The Flamingo Project; a mentorship program dedicated to investing in women in business.
But there’s still more.
“The biggest one, which takes the most of my time, is I’m the deputy president for my child’s school on the parents and friends committee,” Mrs Samar said.
“That one is one that I will never give up. I love the committee and it’s just brought me so much closer to my child’s school and just getting to know how the school operates in a way, being a part of it.”
If it isn’t already obvious, Mrs Samar likes being involved.
“Growing up, my family was very much about doing a lot of community work, and that comes very naturally,” she said.
“I feel like I’m not a person who can just have a nine-to-five job, I need to be doing something outside of that that fills my cup.”
Mrs Samar has been following the VWT’s work for a couple of years and got involved at a Rural Women Online digital skills event it held in Shepparton last year.
She had already met the VWT chair Alana Johnson earlier when was a finalist for 2023 Victorian AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award for The Flamingo Project.
Mrs Samar’s nomination created a chain reaction that led her to her new board position.
As a finalist, she received a scholarship to complete the Australian Institute of Company Directors course.
“That really helped me to get this board position; I think it was a series of things that happened,” Mrs Samar said.
“A couple of months ago I saw that there was a board position coming up, so I applied for it.”
After an interview process, Mrs Samar was offered the non-executive board director position, to become one of four new VWT board members.
She hasn’t yet chosen a sub-committee, but said she would have a better idea of what she’d like to focus on with the organisation after her first board meeting.
“I really like strategy, so maybe strategy. Or risk and governance could be another one,” Mrs Samar said.
“I will either pick something on the strategic side or on the ground, fundraising and events.”
Some board meetings will be conducted online, others she’ll have to travel to Melbourne for, adding to a need for concise co-ordination of her commitment calendar.
With her mechanical engineer husband, Samar Patel, also on several boards and committees, synchronicity is a must.
But rather than finding the juggling act with their work, voluntary roles and family lives difficult, Mrs Samar thrives on the challenge.
“I drag my kids along to everything that I do,” she said, vowing she doesn’t want to be defined by her situation, rather recognised for the skills she brings to these tables.
“If I didn’t have kids, I don’t know if I would be that involved. That’s so much of my drive to make changes and be involved with things, you know, because at the end of the day they’re going to look at their parents and pick up a thing or two.”
The example the Mumbai-born mum is setting for her sons extends further than a good work ethic and valuable community involvement.
“I always want to see women of colour, people of colour, in the mainstream organisations in positions that make an impact, not just in a multicultural space all the time, not to stay in your lane all the time,” Mrs Samar said.
“That’s how everyone will realise we can actually do this together; there’s so much divisiveness happening lately for so many things, you know, it gets me to a point where I am angry, so then I’m like ‘how do I convert this anger into something more meaningful?’
“In the back of my mind, it’s always my children.
“My kids were born here, they’re Australians. They don’t know anything else. I do try and teach them about my culture, but my youngest will say, ‘Mum, I’m Australian.’
“What if he is segregated on the basis of his skin colour? So how do we, how do I, as a mother, change that for them?”
“I want to be seen in places that my kids know that they belong there.”
After leaving India to study and work in Malaysia and travelling extensively in her early 20s, now 35-year-old Mrs Samar and Mr Patel got married and moved to Australia.
They lived in Queensland before settling in Shepparton 10 years ago.
“This is it now, this is my home now, I know if in the middle of the night I need someone, I know I can call five people,” Mrs Samar said.
“We are somewhere now where we’d like to spend the rest of our lives.
“Shepparton is growing every day. I’d love to see more people putting their hand up and getting involved in causes.”
Mrs Samar aims to be more than a role model to her children.
She hopes the work she’s done and this new appointment to the board of the VWT will inspire other women to step outside their comfort zones and see what they too can achieve.
“I say this from a very privileged position where I have very strong support in my house, and I can’t just say to women just step out and do it because everyone’s position is different,” Mrs Samar said.
“They might not have the support or the time or they may have different priorities, but I think I’d just like to say that it’s okay to do something that makes you uncomfortable.
“I think sometimes we get too caught up thinking we can’t do things, but if we don’t try we don’t know, so go for it, do things that you think you might not be able to do because you might just be able to do them and it might just be for you.
“And if it’s not, just say no.”
Mrs Samar will attend her first board meeting next month.
She can’t wait to get started.
Senior journalist