The UTS Multicultural Women’s Network (MWN) is a staff-led initiative that fosters a supportive and empowering environment for multicultural women at UTS.

Our purpose is to enable multicultural women to realise their full potential and advocate for equity and justice in the workplace.

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About the Multicultural Women's Network

The UTS Multicultural Women’s Network is a staff-led initiative committed to fostering a supportive and empowering environment for multicultural women at UTS.

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Events and community connection

The Multicultural Women's Network hosts a range of events, coffee catchups and networking opportunities for members.

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Membership

Join the Multicultural Women's Network to showcase your work and contributions, connect with like-minded women, and share your experiences in a safe...

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The importance of International Women of Colour Day

The 1st of March marks International Women of Colour Day, a day dedicated to recognising and honouring the unique challenges and accomplishments of Women of Colour (WoC) across the globe.

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Acknowledging Country in our Mother Languages

Acknowledging Country in our Mother Languages is a project led by Dr Elaine Laforteza through the Multicultural Women’s Network.

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Say My Name

Say My Name is an initiative to decolonise the ways in which we understand and recognise names deemed as ‘tricky’, ‘unfamiliar’ and ‘foreign’ within...

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Women smiling at camera with her name on screen – Sotheary Thach

Watch our Say My Name documentary

The UTS community share their experiences in navigating their names in Australia. 

Watch our Say My Name documentary transcript

INTERVIEWER/RUBEN:  Hi! 

INTERVIEWER: Have people mispronounced your name?

SOTHEARY: Oh my god, hundreds of thousands of times, I can't count how many times that this has happened.

AMANDA: Usually the "Mailei", uh, gets...

ELAINE: ...mispronounced, not even just sometimes, but probably 90% of the time that I introduce myself or people see it…

RUBEN: …written down and before they even ask how to pronounce it, they'll say, "Oh, where's that from?" and they immediately try and...

SOPHIA: ...say, like, "Nikifordis", or they'll just say "Niki..." and then like, trail off and not bother to finish it. 

EMELIA:  It's pretty common, as well as misspelling?

SOTHEARY:  "Uh, I'm just gonna call you Cece!" Diss, whatever. It's okay.

JASON: And so I'd get called "Bendy-Dick" or something like that.

JIMENA: Mostly "Jemimah", "Ji-mean-na", "Gemini". [LAUGHS]

O’NEIL: It sounds like Japanese, so they'll be like, "Teriyaki", whatever, "orangutan" or something, so it's...

NOUR: It's something I have gotten used to, but it's something that is annoying. It's very annoying. I– Like, I don't like it.

INTERVIEWER: What does your name mean to you?

AMANDA: Me, I guess it's, you know, it's about...

SOTHEARY: .... my connection to my culture. I don't think I would have such, a strong relation to my Cambodian heritage if I had a different name.

AMANDA: Um, it's about my ancestors, and my family.

O’NEIL: I was named after my grandfather, because he was nicknamed that because he was the chief of the island.

JIMENA: What my name means, is...

SOTHEARY: "Pure-hearted."

SOPHIA: "Wisdom."

JIMENA: "Listener."

NOUR: "Light."

KUMUDIKA: "Delicate white flowers."

HA-RAM: So, "하느님의 사람" (ha-neu-nim-e sa-ram), 하람 (ha-ram) [means] "man of God."

JESSICA: "Bear", like the animal.

INTERVIEWER: What is your name?

RUBEN: My name is Ruben Savariego.

SOPHIA: Sophia Anna Nikiforidis.

HA-RAM: Ha-ram Woo.

O’NEIL: O'Neil Tearemaki Rangiuira.

NOUR: My name is Moh'd Nour Eddeen Al Hammouri.

AMANDA: Amanda Moors Mailei.

ELAINE: My name is Elaine Marie Carbonell Laforteza.

KUMUDIKA: Kumudika De Silva.

SOTHEARY: Sotheary Thach. Both of which always get mispronounced but–!