Our Board of Directors
Michaela Healey
Michaela is Chair of Free to Feed, Chair of Good Stuff Global, a founding director of The Man Cave Global, a member of faculty for the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, consultant and coach to boards and executives, a founder of the International Women’s Forum Australia and a member of Chief Executive Women.
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Prior to her retirement from her executive roles, Michaela was a member of the Group Executive leadership team at the National Australia Bank Group, responsible for people, leadership, culture, corporate responsibility, government affairs, communications, legal and governance.
Michaela is passionate about freedom of choice and supporting inclusion and social equality. She is an aspiring apiarist and enjoys growing food in her community garden allotment and time on the yoga mat.
Emily Booth
Emily is a senior commercial (media and technology) lawyer at Holding Redlich. She advises start-ups, large advertising companies, software developers and television producers on intellectual property, contracts, advertising and privacy. She also does pro bono work for clients including the Victorian Women’s Legal Service, No to Violence and several arts organisations.
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Her passions include food, sport and adventuring, like hiking Mont Blanc, through the Julien Alps in Slovenia, and in Nepal. Emily’s wish is that everyone feels welcome and included in our community, and gets equal opportunities to learn and contribute, and this (as well as the food!) was what attracted her to Free to Feed.
Manita Ray
Manita Ray is the Director and Founder of Capital Human and has over 22 years of experience across the private, public and NFP sectors. Currently, Manita is Gender Equality Expert / Consultant for the United Nations, the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) & SHE Investments in Cambodia. She has worked across South and South East Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands and Australia. Manita is Ygap’s immediate past CEO.
Joanne Pereira
Joanne is a marketing and communications specialist at Melbourne Convention Bureau (as part of Visit Victoria) which is Victoria's leading service agency in acquiring and delivering international and national business events. Working across the private and government sector, her experience includes driving and executing impact communication strategies, managing community programs, leading advertising campaigns and B2B digital marketing activities.
Kerry Lowe
Kerry Lowe is certified in Governance Practice and also a board member of Impetus Consulting. He is a senior executive with Homes Victoria which supports all Victorians to have access to safe, secure and affordable housing. With a significant career working for and with a range of organisations across government, not-for-profit (humanitarian and at-risk cohorts) and commercial sectors, Kerry brings significant insights and pragmatic advice across the range of governance, risk, operating models, and transformation and performance optimisation matters.
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Kerry is excited to be part of Free to Feed’s Board to help shape the organisation’s growth, increase its impact through supporting worthy participants with their own journeys, and raise awareness and empathy through the joy of sharing food and stories.
Loretta Bolotin (CEO)
Loretta has a Bachelor of International Development and a Master of International Human Security from the University of Sydney and has worked in the refugee sector for the last 12 years.
Before she founded Free to Feed, Loretta spent a decade working on the frontline in the humanitarian sector with big NGOS including the Australian Red Cross and a Womnen’s Initiatives for Gender Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. She’s criss-crossed the globe to research and support people seeking asylum and refugees and have come to understand, deeply, their lived experience and resettlement challenges.
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One of Loretta’s most influential career experiences was travelling to Christmas Island and working with people held in the Australian Immigration Detention systems and later, becoming a weekly visitor to unaccompanied minors who had fled to Australia by boat and were being held in a detention centre. In 2014 Loretta relocated to Cairo, to respond to the influx of Syrian refugees.
Loretta is connected to the story of migration through her parents migration to Australia from Southern Italy as a result of economic hardship. Growing up her family ran a small food business, a little neighbourhood deli and her earliest memories were of the ritual of cooking and coming together around the dinner table.
Rosanne Hyland
A former business and strategy consultant working with some of Australia's most reputable chefs on their operational and financial strategies, Rosanne Hyland brings a wealth of experience in hospitality and operations management to the Free to Feed Board. Prior to consulting, Ro was the General Manager of The Prince Hospitality Group.
Farida Malek
Farida is driven by a lifelong passion for working with people from different backgrounds. Working closely with community leaders and organisations, she supports efforts to engage and empower communities through events, research and communications activities. Farida is a firm advocate for people belonging to marginalised and disadvantaged communities. She harnesses her experience to analyse and determine the immediate needs of particular groups and effectively address them to create long-term change.
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Farida was president and member of the Noor Foundation Inc. Australia, where she facilitated projects to support and bring together newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers in Victoria. She is the board secretary of Same Skies in Australia, and is a member of the committee of management at the Afghan Australian Development Organisation. Farida has completed a bachelor of Arts/Global studies at Australian Catholic University.
Adriana Ridzwan
(Seat at the Table Board Observer 2023)
Adriana is a participant of the Seat at the Table program facilitated by Centre of Multicultural Youth, and currently sits as a board observer on the Free to Feed board.She is a public health professional working in mental health policy within the Victorian public service. With over 8 years of community development experience, she is the co-lead of Six Degrees, a Muslim youth-led organisation that aims to build mental health awareness in the Muslim community. She is also the co-founder of Muslim Public Health Professionals, a non-profit organisation that seeks to empower Muslim public health students and professionals.Through her professional career and community work, she seeks to make a difference in the lives of others.
Atefa Ibrahimi
(Seat at the Table Board Observer 2023)
Atefa is a participant of the Seat at the Table program facilitated by Centre of Multicultural Youth, and currently sits as a board observer on the Free to Feed board.She is currently studying her Master of International Relation concentration Peace and Conflict Resolution through Fulbright program at the American University, Washington DC.Previously, she was working with Department of Family Fairness and Housing of Victoria’s Multicultural Commission as Project Officer to support the multi-cultural community, refugee and migrants and advocate when needed. In the past she has worked with political missions and local NGOs in Afghanistan to support human rights, peace-building, democracy and women’s rights.