In Conversation with Sonia Di Mezza – CEO, Migrant and Refugee Resettlement Services (MARRS) ACT – Support and Welcome - Migrant Health and Well-being.

Áine chats with Sonia who was interim CEO of MARRS for 8 months before being confirmed in her role as CEO on the 1st July 2024.  We talk about the work of MARRS and the well-being needs of people from migrant and refugee backgrounds seeking to make Australia and Canberra home.  Sonia was born in Australia to Italian migrants.  Growing up in Australia she is keenly aware of the challenges faced by migrant children who navigate a life between two cultures – that of the old country of their parents and family, and that of the new country, Australia.  She and her family experienced racism at times, which later impassioned her to study law and work in the field of human rights.  She is a solicitor and human rights lawyer and has a Masters in International Law majoring in human rights law.  Through her career she has set up and managed human rights programs in Pakistan and Sudan, worked on child labour rights in India; as a refugee lawyer in Australian immigration detention centres; and worked as a resettlement consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.  Sonia has held numerous leadership roles including three years as the CEO of Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services in regional Victoria during the height of the Covid Pandemic; and was a former deputy chief executive of the ACT Disability, Aged and Carers Advocacy Service (ADACAS), in the ACT.