Google Australia Celebrates How First Nations Women Help and Uplift Each Other

Google this week launched new work as part of its broader campaign to celebrate community helpfulness — in partnership with Campfire x, a First Nations Australian-led creative consultancy, and The Guardian. 

The campaign showcases a range of positive mentor and mentee stories to highlight the transformative, positive change that can be created when people decide to go out of their way to support and mentor others — empowering them to rise up and find a voice.

The campaign features eight inspiring First Nations women sharing their stories, and speaks to the importance of First Nations women to their people and communities, and each other. In highlighting these stories of connection Google hopes to demonstrate the real way that First Nations women support and uplift each other — and inspire all Australians to recognise how such acts of helpfulness can have a significant impact on the people and communities around them. 

The campaign consists of two scene setting articles from Campfire x and Google, and four multi-media articles (images, written content and videos) on each pair of women. 

Aisling Finch, senior director of marketing for Google Australia, said: “Google’s mission has always been about universal access to information. ‘Universal’ means for everyone, so inclusion needs to be a part of everything we do, from developing our products to the stories we tell. In Australia we’re privileged to share country with the world’s oldest continuous living culture, and we have the responsibility to grow our understanding and elevate the incredible stories of First Nations Australians. 

“We know these amazing First Nations women and their mentor and mentee stories will grow knowledge and inspire others into similar acts of community helpfulness. Collaborating with Campfire x has helped us to better understand the deep care and importance First Nations Australian communities place on sharing knowledge and investing this back into future generations.” 

Campfire x Peter Kirk points to the, “rich diversity in our communities that is not widely known. While First Nations athletes and music artists are unquestionably brilliant, there is more diversity than that in each and every community and it is important that Australia, and particularly the industries involved in advertising, storying and production of media, are aware of this and understand their responsibility beyond parity, beyond ticking a diversity box and beyond maintaining the same stories.”

“The Guardian, Campfire x and Google have collaborated to centre the stories of First Nations women who are doing incredible work in our communities. In everyday life, First Nations women are establishing mentor and mentee relationships that typify our cultural practice of guidance and ensure that all women can step into their matriarchal power.” 

Justine O'Donnell, head of commercial content for The Guardian, said: “It is projects like these that embody the core values of what The Guardian stands for. Guardian Labs (The Guardian’s commercial content studio) prides itself on having genuine, purpose-led values which underpin our entire approach to working with our commercial partners. Our preference is to work with clients who have a similar purposeful philosophy and who, in turn, want to partner with an authentic and respected publisher. Collaborating with the team at Campfire x has been a truly enriching experience for the Guardian Labs team, one that allowed these inspiring First Nations women’s stories to be told in an authentic way, with their voice at the heart.”