Aruna Venkatachalam

Aruna Venkatachalam has been a proud Westie for many years. She is a changemaker and design thinker with 15+ years experience in social impact, entrepreneurship and leadership.

Aruna has lived and worked across Australia including First Nations Australia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and the Philippines (which brought out her love of karaoke!). In all these places, she led best-practice community initiatives and co-founded an environmental startup.

Local, strengths-based-approaches sit at the heart of Aruna’s work. She has co-designed world-leading entrepreneurial programs and facilitated, coached and supported hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs across Australia and internationally, including youth, leaders and community organisations.

Aruna was an Australian recipient of 2024’s Asia Society Game Changer Award in Education and has received recognition from the Rotary Foundation for her impactful work. In 2025, she was nominated by the India-Australia Business and Community Alliance for Community Excellence. Aruna has also served on the Board of CQUniversity.

Aruna is a proud fur mum. She loves nothing better than a good hike in the You Yangs and Great Ocean Road, and a food odyssey with her partner to try out the many incredible eating spots in the West!