Kirstie Parker is a Yuwallarai woman from north-western NSW. She has worked in media and communications, arts administration, leadership and capacity-building, community advocacy and representation, and policy development, within community, not-for-profit and government sectors. Kirstie is currently on secondment from her usual role of Director of Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet in South Australia to be Interim CEO of Tandanya – National Aboriginal Cultural Institute. She is also a member of the Executive Steering Committee for the Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre (AACC) at Lot Fourteen, and a director of Reconciliation Australia. Kirstie’s previous roles include Editor of the Koori Mail newspaper, elected co-chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, and CEO of the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence. She’s also a writer and won the 2018 Queensland Literary Awards’ David Unaipon Award for an unpublished manuscript by an Indigenous writer. Kirstie's book ‘The making of Ruby Champion’ (working title) will be published by University of Queensland Press (UQP).