by Jade McGarry
- Julie-Ann Lambourne speaks of her brave mistakes at the Woodford Folk Festival photo by Dylan Crawford @seewhatdsees
Adversities have not defeated Julie-Ann Lambourne, they have created her.
Sharing her story of overcoming and defeating the social struggles of her youth, Lambourne joined the ‘Brave Failures’ speech to shed light on the ‘real world’ (F*#UPS) of big business and her career.
CEO of indigenous-owned and operated employment and education organisation ‘enVizion,’ Julie-Ann Lambourne is a Torres Strait Island leader of Mabuiag and Darnley descent.
During her speech at the Woodford Folk Festival she reflected on her cultural heritage with a raw honesty that made it difficult to not be enthralled.
Lambourne shared her journey and the frustrations of being an Indigenous woman in business, developing an organisation, born solely from her desire to achieve her aspirations.
“Business is a great way of creating an economy, for both myself and for my people,” Lambourne said.
“Business is all an interpretive dance.”
“But it is very important that you do not lose who you are during the dance.”
Lambourne is determined to create a social environment that encourages diversity and respect, assisted by digital learning, to break down the unemployment cycle in Australia, particularly for Indigenous people.
Since its inception in 2013, enVizion has helped more than 9500 people, working with disadvantaged youth, digital illiteracy and mental health to create a platform where people are able to learn through technology.
EnVizion is now journeying around Australia with its new virtual reality technology communicating and sharing its message of social injustice.
Lambourne explains that her “frustrations stem from a social lack of understanding” and “really bad stuff happening to really good people.”
Developing a Virtual Reality technology to assist in the ‘telling of stories,’ Lambourne’s desire is to emotionally engage audiences from across the country.
“When you are immersed (with the virtual reality technology) it is more difficult to escape, people may find it easier to understand if they are able to gain a first-hand understanding of what it is like to be inside the situation,” she said.
“There is always a solution, there is only no solution when you are dead.”
The ethos behind enVizion is to find a solution for unemployment and isolation and overcome adversities in order to break the cycle and challenge social injustices.