Dr Shamaruh Mirza
Founder

Shamaruh is a Bangladeshi-Australian Scientist. She completed her PhD and Post Doctoral research in Medical Science and Biophysics, respectively, from the Australian National University.
Sathi’s suicide shocked Shamaruh. She wondered why somebody didn’t do something to prevent it. Then she realized, she was also somebody. This incident motivated her to find a structured way to make a lasting difference in her community and beyond. Shamaruh truly believes that confidence is essential in the life of any woman as it relates to education, creativity, social awareness, and self-esteem and it needs to be built early. SiTara’s Story is a project of this passion, she calls it this way. 

Dr Kowsar Khan
President

Kowsar is a health professional. She has worked with women and children in Bangladesh and have experienced their plight firsthand. It is her desire to alleviate some of their disadvantages in her own small way. SiTara’s Story is a journey towards that.

Sunita Kumar
Vice President

Sunita Kumar, a distinguished Canberra chef and hospitality entrepreneur, embarked on her culinary journey after completing her chef training at a premier institution in India. Armed with a master’s degree in business administration, she initially ventured into the hospitality industry before achieving remarkable success in a corporate career spanning two decades. Sunita honed her skills in service excellence, quality management, and team training across diverse sectors such as banking, FMCG, consulting, and telecom.

In 2012, Sunita and her family relocated to Canberra, where she initially contributed to the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. Eight years ago, driven by their passion for cooking and generosity, Sunita and her husband founded Daana, aiming to showcase the Indian culinary history in Australia by introducing lesser-known South Indian and regional cuisines.

Under Sunita’s audacious leadership, Daana evolved from a 40ft shipping container in 2015 to Australia’s Best Indian Restaurant in 2022, besides being recognised as Canberra’s Best Indian restaurant consecutively from 2017 till 2023. Sunita’s other Notable accolades include the 2020 Chamberlains Businesswoman of the Year and the 2021 Paul Harris Fellowship for her outstanding community contributions. Currently, Sunita is engaged in a leadership role at the Tech Policy Design Centre at ANU, establishing a world-class research and education centre.

Beyond her professional pursuits, Sunita is a practitioner of energy healing, meditation, and life coaching, launching Sattva Wellness. Residing in Canberra with her husband, Sanjay, and children, Yash and Kuvira, Sunita enjoys escaping into nature with her family and pets during her spare time.

Samira Rahman
Co-founder, Secretary

Samira Rahman is an Accountant by profession, currently serving the Australian Federal Government. In her little span of life she has seen the world and many people, and she knows it very well, women need to take care of themselves. None would look after them if they don’t do it themselves. Samira cares for others and she thinks “SiTara’s Story” is the path to care for adolescent girls who will turn to women soon and to encourage them to look after themselves.

Medha Malik
Treasurer

Medha Malik is an experienced professional in the field of workforce and organisational transformation. Medha moved to Canberra from India in 2014 to pursue Masters of Business at ANU, fell in love with the city and decided to make it home. Her journey from a student to a seasoned professional has been driven by the passion for fostering inclusive and thriving workplace environments. She co-founded the ANU CBE Canberra Alumni Network to give a platform to the alumni and students, especially international students to connect- opening doors to opportunities, knowledge, and growth.

She is also driven by a profound passion for supporting women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. As a part of the SiTara’s Story family, she is committed to promoting inclusivity, empowerment and breaking generational gaps through advocacy, mentorship, and community engagement.

Nazia Khan
Member

Nazia is a Canberra based banker by profession, but born and brought up in Bangladesh – a third world country where women are deprived in many ways. When Nazia left Bangladesh she thought she was safe but femininity inside her always wanted to do something to facilitate Bangladeshi women.
Nazia is a naturally gifted motivator and a goal oriented person. Creativity is her passion combination of these three qualities encouraged her to go extra mile hence she decided to utilise these her daughter gets treated as human not as a WOMEN. Gender bias is still a deep embedded issue all over the world, women in the society struggling to prove them self, silently crying for appreciation, every day facing unacceptable discrimination. Joining Sitara’s Story is her small contribution towards a beautiful new society where everyone will get equal opportunity to prove them self. Her initial aim is to aware women to acknowledge their own contribution to the society, and stand up for their own rights.

Evana Rahman
Member

Evana feels that many passions are instilled within a person from the time they are born and that some passions develop over time through circumstances. Her passion is always to work with the children and eventually it turned into helping disadvantaged children. Another passion is to work with children with special needs. During the last few years Evana worked with aboriginal children and families and later on with refugee children and families.
Women in Bangladesh still in a disadvantaged situation and are facing difficulties because of discrimination on the basis of gender and that often starts at the early stages of their lives. Evana feels privileged to work with adolescent girls, when the opportunity has knocked at her door. It will be her absolute pleasure if she can bring a little difference in their life.

Dipika Nand
Member

Dipika Nand, a proud 5th generation Fijian-Indian, was born and raised in the Fiji Islands before making Australia her home in 2014. With nearly a decade in higher education, she now guides students from diverse backgrounds as a Career Consultant at the Australian National University. Dipika is an aspiring Counsellor/Coach with a mission to empower individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. She is dedicated to helping people navigate through the complexities of new beginnings and challenging life circumstances.

Dipika’s personal journey sparks her passion for women’s empowerment, recognising the important role that mental, physical, and financial wellbeing play in shaping the path for women towards self-discovery. She strongly believes that self-love and respect are foundational steps for women to build their identities which has a positive impact on their families, friends and broader community. She is a free-hand henna artist who draws inspiration from nature and spiritual practice, a passionate traveler, and a seeker in life.

Rejwana Farha
Advisor

A former development practitioner, Rejwana is in public service based in Canberra. In her 15-year career, Rejwana worked in promoting governance and democratic practices, social cohesion and public sector reforms across several countries including Bangladesh. Trained as an economist, Rejwana currently works the Australian Capital Territory Government in Economic Development with a special focus on Business and Innovation and workforce development.

Nigar Reza
Advisor

Nigar Reza is an Architect-Planner by profession with a passion to bring social good. She has been working for the Australian Government over last 15 years. She was born and brought up in Bangladesh.
SiTara’s Story is her inspiration and gives her opportunity to empower disadvantaged adolescent girls to make a difference in their lives. It started with a little programme in Bangladesh but it does have a big dream to commence a movement to ensure better lives for all disadvantaged girls across the globe while complementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Hasnat Jahan
Advisor

Hasnat has been exposed to people including children in vulnerable situations through refugees, asylum seekers, and those in detention centres throughout her career. She understands the importance of mental and physical well-being, especially for vulnerable women in third-world countries, and hopes to make a significant difference in the lives of others through SiTara’s Story.

Shafeen Mustaq
Advisor

Shafeen is a management consultant by profession and a writer by passion, the two coalesce and feed her need to make the world a better place starting with the girls of today who will be the leaders of tomorrow. Shafeen’s passion for women and children’s empowerment stems from Professor Yunus inspirational work with Grameen and from the strong, intelligent and influential women throughout history such as Khadija wife of Prophet Muhammed and Zainab – his granddaughter.

Dr Nira Rahman
Advisor

As an academic in Arts Teaching Innovation at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Arts, Dr Nira Rahman is working towards a more inclusive, applicable, transformative and internationalised Arts and Humanities Education. Her passion for her work in education, music and community inspires her to find ways to start and continue the robust discussion around the various diverse and intersectional identities present within our community.

Jean Du
Advisor

Jean Du is global health and gender researcher with a specialisation in women’s health and bodily autonomy. Her passions include shining a spotlight of those most marginalised in society and helping young women and girls embrace positivity and fight any and all stigma associated with sexual health, reproduction and menstruation. She currently is based in Canberra with her ever growing family of plants.

Rozana Hassan
Brisbane chapter coordinator

Rozana is the second daughter of renowned musicologist Azad Rahaman and singer Selina Azad. She is a singer-songwriter and a gifted musician with crazy musical ideas. Rozana lives in Queensland and is working at the University of Southern Queensland.