Rnita arrived in Australia in 2015 as a humanitarian entrant after fleeing the war in Syria. Before fleeing Syria to Lebanon, Rnita was a teacher and preparing to do her master in teaching, as well as participating in church youth group and community mentoring programs. Upon arrival in Lebanon, Rnita placed her studies on hold to work to support her family as they awaited resettlement to a third ‘safe’ country. On her arrival to Australia, Rnita worked as a volunteer in community organizations such as Auburn Diversity Service and Sydney Alliance to help and support refugees, like herself transition to life in Australia using her fluency in Arabic, Assyrian and Kurdish to help ‘newly arrived’ young people and their families engage with their local community. Rnita worked as Youth Transition Support worker to support young refugees to continue their study and work here in Australia. She is currently studying Business studies in Swinburne University and works for the Refugee Council of Australia. As evidenced by both her studies and work Rnita is dedicated to sharing her knowledge and experience as a refugee with ‘newly arrived’ young people and their families to realize their full potential including access to education and employment opportunities.

Rnita will be moderating the session ' Ways of Working' on Thursday 13 February