Hello all, my name is Joyce Das and I am the Co-Founder of Crafting My Story and the Executive Director and Founder of Go Equal, a gender equity consulting firm that has proudly initiated and is now piloting this social enterprise. I am a passionate Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Specialist and a strong advocate for women’s rights and leadership. Envisioning the idea of a social enterprise for women crafters and entrepreneurs living in Australia and elsewhere from diverse cultural backgrounds and then founding Crafting My Story towards this aim is a manifestation of my passion of working towards gender equity and women’s empowerment. Through this initiative, I facilitate bringing together diverse women under one platform to increase their entrepreneurial capability and collective power.   

​

I am an intergenerational leader and I believe in the transformational leadership of women. My vision is that by enabling women’s leadership, they are empowered to transform their worldview and gain a better understanding of the self and their surroundings and challenge/change the unequal power structure in relation to their gender, age, and other factors of discrimination.

​

Currently, I am working at the Australian Public Service. Previously, I have worked in senior executive positions in international women’s organisations and movements in Bangladesh for a decade before arriving in Australia in 2012 for my doctoral research at the Australian National University (ANU). In my various roles, I have worked on gender issues in several regions including South and West Asia, Africa, Australasia, and the Pacific Islands. My doctoral research focused on gender and religious minority women in postcolonial Bangladesh. I bring rich experience working in the community sector in Bangladesh. I headed one of the largest women's movements, the YWCA of Bangladesh, as the National General Secretary during 2006-2011.