From Southwest Sydney to the World Stage

From Southwest Sydney to the World Stage

Ed Krutsch
This weeks PBA Change Maker is Janice Rodrigues, Australia’s 2026 Youth Representative to the United Nations. She is a youth and community engagement practitioner, organiser, and racial and gender justice advocate from New South Wales. Drawing on her lived experience as a young woman from South West Sydney, she brings a deep understanding of how place, culture, and access shape opportunity, and is committed to centring the voices of those most often excluded from power and policy conversations.

Janice currently works as a Youth & Community Engagement Officer at Multicultural NSW, where she facilitates and manages the Multicultural Youth Network (MYN), leading youth engagement initiatives and supporting culturally responsive programs that strengthen leadership and participation among young people from multicultural communities. Prior to this, she spent three years as a Youth Program Coordinator at the Western Sydney Migrant Resource Centre, supporting newly arrived refugee and migrant young people through community-led and culturally responsive programs.

Janice brings governance experience as an Advisory Board Member for Multicultural NSW and Management Committee Member at CuriousWorks, a Western Sydney-based arts organisation. An experienced public speaker and media contributor, Janice has appeared on ABC and holds a Bachelor of Politics and International Relations from the University of Sydney.

As Youth Representative, she is committed to ensuring young people are treated as leaders and collaborators, and that youth perspectives meaningfully shape domestic policy and Australia’s global engagement.

Describe your career trajectory and how you got to your current position.

My career trajectory has been shaped by both lived experience and community-based work. Growing up in Southwest Sydney as the daughter of migrants, I was exposed early to the realities of inequality, but also to the strength and resilience of multicultural communities. That perspective guided me toward youth work, where I’ve spent the past three years supporting newly arrived refugee and migrant young people.
In that role, I’ve worked closely with young people navigating complex systems such as education, employment, and settlement, while also creating programs that centre their voices and experiences. Alongside this, I’ve been involved in advisory and advocacy spaces, contributing to policy discussions and representing youth perspectives at both local and state levels.

Over time, I found myself increasingly drawn to the intersection of grassroots experience and systemic change, particularly how lived realities can and should shape decision-making. Stepping into the role of Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations is a continuation of that work, bringing community voices into national and international conversations.
What drives you to do the work that you do?

What drives me is a strong belief in the legitimacy and power of young people’s lived experiences. In my work and in my own life, I’ve seen how young people navigate complex challenges, whether that’s systemic disadvantage, racism, or barriers to opportunity, while still showing leadership, care, and innovation within their communities.
At the same time, I’ve seen how often those perspectives are excluded from formal decision-making spaces. That disconnect motivates me. I’m driven by the responsibility to ensure that young people are not just consulted, but genuinely heard and reflected in the policies and systems that shape their lives.

If you could go back in time, what piece of advice would you give yourself as you first embarked on your career?

I would tell myself to back myself and trust my lived experience. Early on, I wasn’t sure if I was choosing the right pathway because I didn’t often see people like me in advocacy spaces, and I wasn’t always sure what that kind of impact or career even looked like in practice.
At times, I also felt like an impostor and questioned whether I belonged in those spaces. Looking back, I would remind myself that those doubts don’t define your value or your capacity to contribute meaningfully.

I would encourage myself to lean into what felt unfamiliar or unconventional, especially coming from a low socio-economic suburb where pathways into advocacy or policy spaces weren’t always visible. A lot of what drove me was genuine curiosity about why the world is the way it is and how change happens. I would tell myself that it’s important to keep following that curiosity, even when the path doesn’t feel linear or clearly defined, because that combination of lived experience and curiosity is a strength in itself.'
Any words you live by every day?

“You are exactly where you need to be.”
It’s something I come back to often, especially in moments of uncertainty or when things feel fast-paced. It reminds me to trust the process, stay present, and recognise that growth doesn’t always look linear. It keeps me grounded while still pushing me forward.

What are you currently watching / reading / listening to?

At the moment, I’m reading A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides by Gisèle Pelicot. It’s confronting, but incredibly powerful in how it speaks to justice, consent, and shifting shame away from survivors and onto perpetrators.

Outside of that, I try to keep a mix in my routine. I engage with content around social issues and youth advocacy, but I also make space to switch off through things like going to the gym, painting, running, and spending time with friends. I’ve especially been enjoying looking at the stars across the country while I’ve been travelling through this role.

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