Greg is a local journalist and owner of Edunity, a social issues publishing company. For over a decade he edited the Council’s Divercity magazine. He now produces TWiSK, a popular weekly newsletter about the arts, music and community in St Kilda and surrounds. He has been a regular participant at the ESNLC since 2004.

Juhee has a Bachelor of Commerce and is a qualified Chartered Accountant, and brings a balanced and focused view of financial matters to ESNLC. She combines her skills in financial analysis and forecasting with her long-time love of volunteering in her community to help the ESNLC members and its community thrive.

Juhee has more than a decade of experience in financial statements audit and compliance, strategic investment and corporate finance. She now leverages her experience to advise organisations on investment and governance matters.

Lynne has been actively involved in a variety of community activities for a number of years. She sees the importance of the local community being the focus point for many people to establish relationships and networks that help to enhance our society.

She was involved with Neighbourhood Houses when they were first being established as part of her Welfare Studies within the local rural community. Lynne had always intended to become more involved again. Her changing work situation has now enabled her to do this at ESNLC.

Lynne moved to Elwood over ten years ago and has also been involved with the establishment of a community garden, called “Poets’ Garden”, that has enabled her to combine her interests in gardening and networking into the wider local community.

Sue has lived continuously in Elwood and St Kilda since 1980 and has conducted a business in St Kilda since 1991. Sue is a Solicitor and is self-employed in a business which is currently conducted from Argyle Street. When Sue’s daughter was younger, she attended a local Kindergarten (now closed) and St Kilda Park Primary School for her primary education. She has lived and worked in Elwood/St Kilda for many years and has a close connection with the community and area.

Conny has lived in Elwood since migrating from Germany in 2001 (minus two years living in Elsternwick). She has worked at The Alfred since 2002 in various roles and is now working as the Clinical Informatics Specialist for Alfred Mental and Addiction Health.

Conny has been a member of Poets Garden since 2022 and has attended multiple sewing classes at ESNLC.

Conny loves the community connections the garden and neighbourhood house provide to Elwood and St Kilda and strongly believes in giving back to the community by donating her time and skills.

Catherine has lived in Elwood for almost 28 years with her husband Greg and son Sebastian.

When she retired from full time employment at the end of 2012, she had over 20 years’ experience as a senior project manager in the Victorian Department of Health (including its predecessors) in planning, design and delivery of hospital, primary health, aged care, palliative care, community health, mental health, allied health, rehabilitation and dental health service facilities. She found it was wonderful, hard, fulfilling work.

After that, she did similar work as a health facility planning consultant with architects for 18 months; Qualified as a Commonwealth Registered Marriage Celebrant; Provided guardianship and care management for two elderly family members in different states for 6 years; Travelled to Europe when possible; Commenced work as a volunteer with ESNLC (to help establish the Kitchen Library) and also at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Footscray – now finished.

Catherine’s interests include: Gastronomy. Cooking. Food markets. Art. History. Politics. Literature. Film. Architecture. Science. Travel to Europe. Melbourne. Community Development.

Omnia practiced as a Clinical Psychologist for a number of years before founding her company in 1997, which applied psychological models and theories to the business and marketing world. She has written multiple articles on the psychology of buyer behaviour and presented at International Conferences.

Since retirement, she moved permanently to the bayside area and is an active racing crew member on a 47.7 foot Beneteau which races competitively out of Sandringham Yacht Club. When not racing, Omnia is a volunteer at Sandringham Hospital.

Omnia’s interests include public speaking in the psychological arena, sailing and travel whilst she waits to become a grandmama.

Peter moved to Elwood with his partner Adam and their dog Susie in 2021. He sees the great value that the neighbourhood houses bring to its community. With experience in projects spanning Indonesia, Malawi, and Australia, Peter has collaborated with diverse stakeholders to enhance public health outcomes through strategic planning and policy development. His commitment to community well-being aligns with the role of Committee of Management at ESNLC, where he can contribute his expertise to oversee strategic initiatives that benefit Elwood residents.

Karen joined us as Executive Director in 2022. An accomplished marketer and Founder of Elwood Kitchen Library, Karen brings a wealth of experience in business strategy and marketing from senior positions across retail and FMCG. Holding an MBA and Bachelor of Science with Honours, Karen has successfully applied her leadership skills across multiple industries and is excited to be working in the Not for Profit sector. A long term resident in the City of Port Phillip, Karen has lived in Elwood for over 20 years and loves our fabulous leafy suburb and neighbouring communities.

Joey joined the ESNLC team as bookkeeper in Feb 2023. In the prior decade, he had a strong association with the centre through the Elwood Toy Library – serving as its Treasurer and casual coordinator for a number of years. He has been a bookkeeper for over 5 years, mainly in the community childcare and arts sectors. Beyond spreadsheet optimisation, Joey’s other enduring passion is for dance and movement.

Sarah joined us in 2024, bringing with her a background in education and seven years of experience teaching in secondary schools. She specializes in curriculum design and community engagement and is committed to creating inclusive spaces where adults can learn and connect. Since moving to Elwood, Sarah has grown fond of the area’s peaceful community and its warm, welcoming residents.

Vivien is an experienced teacher who has taught literacy to adults with an intellectual disability and English as an Additional Language. With more than ten years’ experience in this area, Vivien has embraced the opportunity to be abreast of the industry by taking a Cert. IV in TAE. Vivien has been teaching since 2006 at our centre and is passionate about training adults from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Her aim is to create a friendly learning environment in which her students can develop not only language abilities but also confidence to communicate in a conversational or written manner. Vivien is currently teaching pre-accredited training.

Victoriya is an experienced Computer Teacher for adults with EAL. She has an extensive teaching experience in delivering Information Technology and related courses to university students in Europe. She is a Ph.D. in Information Technology. She has an excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities, good communication and team-working skills. She always shows her enthusiasm at helping students to do their digital journey. Victoria is an acknowledged Computer teacher for a Russian-speaking Community in Melbourne.

Penny has been teaching Gita Style Hatha Yoga at ESNLC for over 30 years at ESNLC. Penny graduated as a Gita Yoga teacher in 1989, she originally did the course because she just loved the yoga practice taught at Gita Yoga and simply wanted to do more yoga. Throughout her career as a yoga teacher the Progressive Yoga Relaxation, the Hatha style of Gita Yoga combined with the Esoteric and philosophy classes became a constant in her life. Participants love her gentle form of teaching and she has many loyal followers.

Monica has been doing yoga off and on since she was little and she has had some great teachers along the way and one at CAE said, “My job is to make you love yoga so much you want to do it in your own home”. Monica’s formal training was at Gita which used to be in Abbotsford and was one of the first yoga schools in Melbourne. Along the way, she’s done yoga retreats and taken classes and workshops from others to continue to learn and grow. Her aim is to have an inclusive class so that if you’re just starting out you can come along and if you’ve been practising a long time you can be challenged as well. A quote which sums up Monica’s thinking right now is “Our mistake is that we think we have so much time.” Come along and find some further balance, strength and peace on Tuesdays with Monica.

Francisca is an immigrant woman and landscape architect with a passion for sustainable living. She believes in creating spaces that promote well-being and equitable living as communities grow together!
As our Gardening 101 tutor, Francisca shares her knowledge, transforming learning into a journey that reconnects people with nature through the art of gardening.

Scott Welsh is now an accomplished academic lecturer and writer however his point of entry into this was his creative writing, which he practised on the street, in boarding houses, small theatres – pretty much anywhere, with anyone.
Whilst experiencing homelessness, every morning he woke and sold his poems to passers-by in the Australian streets of Geelong, Melbourne and Sydney, and he soon become known as ‘the Outcaste Weakly Poet’.
He is very excited about the prospect of working with you all as he loves fostering people’s passion for life and for writing.

Damian has been an Art as Therapy tutor at ESNLC for over 12 years. He has a dedicated class of all abilities students who attend every Friday to create art using different mediums. Damian himself has a background in sculpture of native birds using wood and also specialises in water colour.

Silvana has over thirty years of experience as an educator in Croatia, New Zealand, and Australia. She holds a master’s degree in arts and education (Teaching) and brings extensive knowledge from 19 years of experience in library services. Silvana enjoys working in a multicultural environment and possesses strong skills in problem-solving, people management, and motivation. Always excited about continuing to make a positive impact on education, Silvana loves teaching and enjoys sharing knowledge and learning from others at the same time!

Francisca is an immigrant woman and landscape architect with a passion for sustainable living. As the Kitchen Garden Lead at ESNLC, she volunteers her time to coordinate and manage all the exciting planting planning and tasks in the garden.
She believes in creating spaces that promote well-being and equitable living as communities grow together!

Karen established Elwood Kitchen Library after completing the City of Port Phillip Environmental Leaders course in 2021. Wanting to launch a business that benefitted both the community and the environment, Kaz partnered with us to launch a library that follows the principles of a circular economy. She has spent many hours creating our amazing Kitchen Library which provides members with access to kitchen appliances, cookware, bakeware plus fabulous zero waste party & entertaining packs. Karen is an accomplished marketer and is passionate about sustainability and empowering the community to live more sustainably.

Jo has a background in promotion and loves all things food and cooking related. She enjoys volunteering at the Kitchen Library and assists with design and managing the Kitchen Library’s social media accounts.