Katerina Gaita
Membership Development Manager at Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network (AEGN)- Claim this Profile
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Spanish Limited working proficiency
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French Elementary proficiency
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German Limited working proficiency
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Bio
Sarah Kane Lawson
In my 25 years working in organisations I have never met any one as capable as Katerina in coordinating such a large group of people and on so many fronts. Her ability to do this was staggering. She was very capable at keeping her eye on the big picture whilst keeping all tasks moving ahead and simultaneously diving into the detail to get us all up and running as quickly as possible on each new challenging task. Katerina was equally able to recognise when we could be left alone to work autonomously and was open to receiving input on how best to approach each task. A natural leader, very supportive and compassionate when needed – it was a tough campaign, and I felt very supported! Thanks Katerina!
Henri Pryde
Kat and I began met and began working together through our founding involvement in the Voices of Goldstein, which then what morphed into the winning Zoe Daniel campaign for Goldstein. Throughout this time I watched Kat employ her amazing skillset to help start, drive and support what became a winning campaign. In the early days, we worked together on whatever needed to be done to get Voices of Goldstein off the ground, including community engagement, workshop facilitation and team enablement (much of this strategy and general work being driven by Kat). After this time, when Zoe was selected as the candidate, I worked as a *Hub Coordinator* under Kat’s guidance as she took on the massive role of *Volunteer Coordinator* for the whole campaign. I would say without a word of a lie or exaggeration that this campaign would not have been successful without Kat’s early involvement In the early stages, the Voices of Goldstein was a wide assortment of individuals of highly varying age and background. While this group has some valuable skillsets, it was screaming out for some form of leadership in an area that no one had much experience. Enter Kat, who, through a highly collaborative approach, laid out a vision for how VoG could engage a community of people hungry for a change in our democracy. Kat effortlessly stepped into a de facto leadership role in the group and guided, enabled and empowered the group to a position where we were able to convince candidates that, if they ran, there would be a robust support structure around them. After successfully identifying a candidate, we all moved over into what became a more formal campaign for the federal seat of Goldstein. My role was to engage and coordinate as many young volunteers as possible to volunteer for and vote for Zoe Daniel and Kat was our leader and connective tissue in the campaign. In this role, Kat empowered us to think broadly about how we could engage youth by setting up spaces (both online and offline) for ideation, collaboration, 360 degree feedback and trust. Kat empowered the 20 member volunteer coordination team to build a highly organised army of 1400 volunteers that, knocked on 10’s of thousands of doors, had hundreds of thousands of conversations and ultimately won us the campaign. Kat is one of the most highly competent leaders and organisers I’ve met in both a professional and volunteer capacity and I couldn’t recommend her more.
Sarah Kane Lawson
In my 25 years working in organisations I have never met any one as capable as Katerina in coordinating such a large group of people and on so many fronts. Her ability to do this was staggering. She was very capable at keeping her eye on the big picture whilst keeping all tasks moving ahead and simultaneously diving into the detail to get us all up and running as quickly as possible on each new challenging task. Katerina was equally able to recognise when we could be left alone to work autonomously and was open to receiving input on how best to approach each task. A natural leader, very supportive and compassionate when needed – it was a tough campaign, and I felt very supported! Thanks Katerina!
Henri Pryde
Kat and I began met and began working together through our founding involvement in the Voices of Goldstein, which then what morphed into the winning Zoe Daniel campaign for Goldstein. Throughout this time I watched Kat employ her amazing skillset to help start, drive and support what became a winning campaign. In the early days, we worked together on whatever needed to be done to get Voices of Goldstein off the ground, including community engagement, workshop facilitation and team enablement (much of this strategy and general work being driven by Kat). After this time, when Zoe was selected as the candidate, I worked as a *Hub Coordinator* under Kat’s guidance as she took on the massive role of *Volunteer Coordinator* for the whole campaign. I would say without a word of a lie or exaggeration that this campaign would not have been successful without Kat’s early involvement In the early stages, the Voices of Goldstein was a wide assortment of individuals of highly varying age and background. While this group has some valuable skillsets, it was screaming out for some form of leadership in an area that no one had much experience. Enter Kat, who, through a highly collaborative approach, laid out a vision for how VoG could engage a community of people hungry for a change in our democracy. Kat effortlessly stepped into a de facto leadership role in the group and guided, enabled and empowered the group to a position where we were able to convince candidates that, if they ran, there would be a robust support structure around them. After successfully identifying a candidate, we all moved over into what became a more formal campaign for the federal seat of Goldstein. My role was to engage and coordinate as many young volunteers as possible to volunteer for and vote for Zoe Daniel and Kat was our leader and connective tissue in the campaign. In this role, Kat empowered us to think broadly about how we could engage youth by setting up spaces (both online and offline) for ideation, collaboration, 360 degree feedback and trust. Kat empowered the 20 member volunteer coordination team to build a highly organised army of 1400 volunteers that, knocked on 10’s of thousands of doors, had hundreds of thousands of conversations and ultimately won us the campaign. Kat is one of the most highly competent leaders and organisers I’ve met in both a professional and volunteer capacity and I couldn’t recommend her more.
Sarah Kane Lawson
In my 25 years working in organisations I have never met any one as capable as Katerina in coordinating such a large group of people and on so many fronts. Her ability to do this was staggering. She was very capable at keeping her eye on the big picture whilst keeping all tasks moving ahead and simultaneously diving into the detail to get us all up and running as quickly as possible on each new challenging task. Katerina was equally able to recognise when we could be left alone to work autonomously and was open to receiving input on how best to approach each task. A natural leader, very supportive and compassionate when needed – it was a tough campaign, and I felt very supported! Thanks Katerina!
Henri Pryde
Kat and I began met and began working together through our founding involvement in the Voices of Goldstein, which then what morphed into the winning Zoe Daniel campaign for Goldstein. Throughout this time I watched Kat employ her amazing skillset to help start, drive and support what became a winning campaign. In the early days, we worked together on whatever needed to be done to get Voices of Goldstein off the ground, including community engagement, workshop facilitation and team enablement (much of this strategy and general work being driven by Kat). After this time, when Zoe was selected as the candidate, I worked as a *Hub Coordinator* under Kat’s guidance as she took on the massive role of *Volunteer Coordinator* for the whole campaign. I would say without a word of a lie or exaggeration that this campaign would not have been successful without Kat’s early involvement In the early stages, the Voices of Goldstein was a wide assortment of individuals of highly varying age and background. While this group has some valuable skillsets, it was screaming out for some form of leadership in an area that no one had much experience. Enter Kat, who, through a highly collaborative approach, laid out a vision for how VoG could engage a community of people hungry for a change in our democracy. Kat effortlessly stepped into a de facto leadership role in the group and guided, enabled and empowered the group to a position where we were able to convince candidates that, if they ran, there would be a robust support structure around them. After successfully identifying a candidate, we all moved over into what became a more formal campaign for the federal seat of Goldstein. My role was to engage and coordinate as many young volunteers as possible to volunteer for and vote for Zoe Daniel and Kat was our leader and connective tissue in the campaign. In this role, Kat empowered us to think broadly about how we could engage youth by setting up spaces (both online and offline) for ideation, collaboration, 360 degree feedback and trust. Kat empowered the 20 member volunteer coordination team to build a highly organised army of 1400 volunteers that, knocked on 10’s of thousands of doors, had hundreds of thousands of conversations and ultimately won us the campaign. Kat is one of the most highly competent leaders and organisers I’ve met in both a professional and volunteer capacity and I couldn’t recommend her more.
Sarah Kane Lawson
In my 25 years working in organisations I have never met any one as capable as Katerina in coordinating such a large group of people and on so many fronts. Her ability to do this was staggering. She was very capable at keeping her eye on the big picture whilst keeping all tasks moving ahead and simultaneously diving into the detail to get us all up and running as quickly as possible on each new challenging task. Katerina was equally able to recognise when we could be left alone to work autonomously and was open to receiving input on how best to approach each task. A natural leader, very supportive and compassionate when needed – it was a tough campaign, and I felt very supported! Thanks Katerina!
Henri Pryde
Kat and I began met and began working together through our founding involvement in the Voices of Goldstein, which then what morphed into the winning Zoe Daniel campaign for Goldstein. Throughout this time I watched Kat employ her amazing skillset to help start, drive and support what became a winning campaign. In the early days, we worked together on whatever needed to be done to get Voices of Goldstein off the ground, including community engagement, workshop facilitation and team enablement (much of this strategy and general work being driven by Kat). After this time, when Zoe was selected as the candidate, I worked as a *Hub Coordinator* under Kat’s guidance as she took on the massive role of *Volunteer Coordinator* for the whole campaign. I would say without a word of a lie or exaggeration that this campaign would not have been successful without Kat’s early involvement In the early stages, the Voices of Goldstein was a wide assortment of individuals of highly varying age and background. While this group has some valuable skillsets, it was screaming out for some form of leadership in an area that no one had much experience. Enter Kat, who, through a highly collaborative approach, laid out a vision for how VoG could engage a community of people hungry for a change in our democracy. Kat effortlessly stepped into a de facto leadership role in the group and guided, enabled and empowered the group to a position where we were able to convince candidates that, if they ran, there would be a robust support structure around them. After successfully identifying a candidate, we all moved over into what became a more formal campaign for the federal seat of Goldstein. My role was to engage and coordinate as many young volunteers as possible to volunteer for and vote for Zoe Daniel and Kat was our leader and connective tissue in the campaign. In this role, Kat empowered us to think broadly about how we could engage youth by setting up spaces (both online and offline) for ideation, collaboration, 360 degree feedback and trust. Kat empowered the 20 member volunteer coordination team to build a highly organised army of 1400 volunteers that, knocked on 10’s of thousands of doors, had hundreds of thousands of conversations and ultimately won us the campaign. Kat is one of the most highly competent leaders and organisers I’ve met in both a professional and volunteer capacity and I couldn’t recommend her more.
Experience
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Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network (AEGN)
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Australia
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Philanthropic Fundraising Services
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1 - 100 Employee
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Membership Development Manager
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Sep 2022 - Present
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Independent Consultant
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Apr 2021 - Sep 2022
Developing and delivering training Facilitating staff strategy and team building days Mentoring Community Organising Clients include: Australian Conservation Foundation, the Community Organising Fellowship, Jesuit Social Services, Lighter Footrpints, Voices of Goldstein Developing and delivering training Facilitating staff strategy and team building days Mentoring Community Organising Clients include: Australian Conservation Foundation, the Community Organising Fellowship, Jesuit Social Services, Lighter Footrpints, Voices of Goldstein
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Field Organiser and Volunteer Coordinator
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Oct 2021 - May 2022
I recruited, motivated and supported 1400 volunteers, most of whom had never engaged in politics before, to campaign for Zoe Daniel within the electorate of Goldstein. This require managing a core team of 30 volunteers to coordinate and deliver doorknocking (on 44,000 doors over ten weeks); leafletting at shopping stations and train stations; letterboxing; democracy dog walks and bike rides, weekly volunteer events at multiple locations across the electorate; decorating polling booths; handing out how to vote cards, scrutineering and more.
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Community Organiser
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Apr 2021 - Oct 2021
In September 2020 I joined Voices of Goldstein as a founding volunteer. In April 2021 I was engaged to build their database and their active volunteer base and to coordinate their campaign to find an independent candidate that VoG could endorse and campaign for at the upcoming federal election. Over six months - most of which was in lockdown - I worked with a small team, whom I managed, to grow VoG's database to over 1000 local supporters and 400 volunteers. This included a social media, email and letterboxing campaign, media releases, weekly democracy walks and monthly events with special guests including John Hewson, Cathy McGowan, Zali Steggall, Jo Stanley, Craig Reucassel, Sally Cockburn, Angela Pippos and Nicole Livingstone. In this role I was also responsible for setting up VoG's including the website, CRM and mailing list was also on the VoG Governance Committee and oversaw the candidate recruitment process including recruiting and supporting the Candidate Selection Committee, writing the Candidate
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Advisory Board Member
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Nov 2017 - Mar 2021
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CEO
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Aug 2014 - Mar 2021
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Project Manager
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Feb 2012 - Aug 2014
Managed and delivered sustainable living programs that worked with low income families and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds Recruited participants Designed and developed content and materials Facilitated workshops and training Fundraising and grant acquittals Managed budget Stakeholder engagement - Recruited and worked with community project partners to expand reach and impact of projects within local communities Recruited and managed volunteers Organised and ran events including, day trips and 3 day camps and bi-annual multicultural sustainability expo,
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Founding committee member
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Jun 2009 - Dec 2011
Treasurer (2009), Secretary (2010), Events Co-Ordinator (2011) Helped build Permaculture Out West into a thriving community group with over 500 members Developed promotional materials and strategy, including membership package and processes Coordinated and facilitated events, including EmPOWering Community Drinks and Open Gardens Program Initiated and ran successful campaign to save the old Maidstone Community Hall from sale by Maribyrnong Council Treasurer (2009), Secretary (2010), Events Co-Ordinator (2011) Helped build Permaculture Out West into a thriving community group with over 500 members Developed promotional materials and strategy, including membership package and processes Coordinated and facilitated events, including EmPOWering Community Drinks and Open Gardens Program Initiated and ran successful campaign to save the old Maidstone Community Hall from sale by Maribyrnong Council
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CEO
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Feb 2006 - Nov 2010
EASLI’s aim was to make sustainable living easy and affordable by linking sustainability coaching to a regular green cleaning service. As founder and CEO I grew EASLI from conception to a company with over 30 workers and 200 clients within 3 years, performing all roles over that time, including: * strategic planning * stakeholder engagement and client relations * recruitment * training development and delivery * staff management and support * accounting and budget management * marketing and promotions
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Cultural Animator
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Oct 2009 - Dec 2009
Collected and distilled into 100 words stories of people living in Melbourne’s inner west for Memorybyrnong, Wave Your Flag Exhibition Collected and distilled into 100 words stories of people living in Melbourne’s inner west for Memorybyrnong, Wave Your Flag Exhibition
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Home Helper, Speakers Program Co-Ordinator
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Dec 2002 - Sep 2008
Visited a single mother with seven children weekly, helping with budgeting, children's homework, establishing a vegie garden, mentoring older children and other tasks as needed. Coordinated separate seminar series for Sudanese participants and Australian volunteers respectively around themes relevant to them ranging from nutrition to working with people who have suffered trauma Organised end of year concert for Sudanese community and Australian volunteers with Paul Kelly as special guest
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Researcher
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Mar 2002 - Dec 2005
* Authored journal articles, government reports and submissions to government on matters of IP law and policy * Maintained and updated International Developments page of IPRIA website * Wrote monthly International Developments Bulletin * Assisted with organization of International Trademarks Conference 2003, including developing promotional materials and participant resources * Coordinated internal monthly lunchtime seminar series * Authored journal articles, government reports and submissions to government on matters of IP law and policy * Maintained and updated International Developments page of IPRIA website * Wrote monthly International Developments Bulletin * Assisted with organization of International Trademarks Conference 2003, including developing promotional materials and participant resources * Coordinated internal monthly lunchtime seminar series
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Assistant to Amicus Curiae before the ICTY on the prosecution of Slobodan Milosevic
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Feb 2003 - 2004
Summarised court transcripts for information relevant to questions of international law in the case of Slobodan Milosevic to assist Amicus Curiae, Professor Tim McCormack with his advice to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Summarised court transcripts for information relevant to questions of international law in the case of Slobodan Milosevic to assist Amicus Curiae, Professor Tim McCormack with his advice to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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International Women's Development Agency (IWDA)
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Australia
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Non-profit Organizations
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1 - 100 Employee
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Volunteer
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2003 - 2004
Designed and delivered workshops for high schools around poverty and the impact on women Designed and delivered workshops for high schools around poverty and the impact on women
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Intern
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Jul 2001 - Dec 2001
Assistant to lawyers prosecuting former Presidents Lucas Garcia and Efrain Rios Montt for genocide and crimes against humanity. Collated evidence Summarised relevant case law Assistant to lawyers prosecuting former Presidents Lucas Garcia and Efrain Rios Montt for genocide and crimes against humanity. Collated evidence Summarised relevant case law
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English Teacher
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Feb 2001 - Jul 2001
Developed and taught a course on legal English, negotiation skills and cultural practices; developed promotional materials and sourced clients Developed and taught a course on legal English, negotiation skills and cultural practices; developed promotional materials and sourced clients
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Education
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2014 - 2014
Doug McKenzie Mohr
2 day Introduction to Community Based Social Marketing, Behaviour Change -
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Sunraysia Institute of Tafe
Certicate IV in Asset Management -
2010 - 2010
Centre for Sustainability Leadership
Fellowship -
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Victoria University
Certificate IV in Business (Small Business Management) -
1995 - 2002
University of Melbourne
Bachelor of Laws - LLB, Intellectual Property Law & International Human Rights Law -
1995 - 2002
University of Melbourne
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Laws (LLB), Environmental Studies, Intellectual Property, International Human Rights Law -
1995 - 1999
University of Melbourne
Bachelor of Arts - BA, Human Geography, Community Development, Philosophy -
1989 - 1994
Firbank Anglican School
VCE, 99.15 -
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Les Robinson
Changeology, Behaviour Change Program Design
Community
