What I’m bringing home from the Indigenous Women in Industry Summit
By Chelsea Brand, Chief Relationships & Experience Officer, Indigital
I recently returned from Vancouver, Canada, where I represented Indigital at the 2026 Indigenous Women in Industry Summit. It was a week of culture, connection and learning alongside Indigenous women from across the world, each leading, building and creating change in their own way.
I joined the From Tradition to Technology: Indigenous Women Innovating panel alongside Danielle Forward, Kaye-Maree Dunn and Shani Gwin, with Bobbie Racette guiding the conversation. It was a privilege to share the stage with them and explore how Indigenous people can actively shape the next wave of technology.
What stayed with me
What I’m carrying home most is the feeling of being both deeply connected and inspired by the women in that room.
Our countries, cultures and industries are different. Yet, I heard versions of familiar stories and questions throughout the summit. Our histories have stifled our people, but the room was proud, strong and energised. Which made our panel all that more important: how do we make sure we are not left behind again, that our people can thrive and be an active participant in thedigital revolution. For us the questions that therefore ruminated in that room were: who gets to build technology, whose knowledge informs it, who decides and who benefits?
Hearing those conversations across different contexts was grounding. There is so much we can learn from one another about innovation guided by culture, community and self-determination, while respecting the differences between our Nations and the responsibilities each of us carries.
It was also wonderful to be there alongside other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women from Australia, including IWI Australian Ambassadors Jahna Cedar OAM, Dr Michelle Deshong, Nyoka Morgan and Kristal Kinsela, as well as Jasmine Newman, Rosanna Angus, Jillian Harris and Amanda Healy.
The experience we brought to the conversation
The Australian experience I brought to the panel starts with Country: the relationships and responsibilities people hold, and the futures communities want to shape.
At Indigital, our role is to make technology options understandable and support communities to pursue what matters to them, while retaining authority over what they share and protect. In practice, that means beginning with community priorities and choosing tools that can serve them.
Our Caring for Country work in Western Cape York is one example of what this looks like. Traditional Owners determined the sites where the work would take place, and Elders, Rangers and young people worked with tools such as environmental DNA and mapping. Learning together on Country connected cultural knowledge with new digital skills, while strengthening relationships across generations.
The same starting point matters when we look beyond the tools themselves to the infrastructure behind them. AI relies on data centres, energy, water and minerals. This wider technology stack connects digital innovation with development on Country, raising questions about who can influence that development and what lasting value it creates.
Our work at Kemps Creek brought those questions into a different setting. Dharug knowledge holders shaped exterior artwork and landscape design for a data centre, and the partnership extended into leadership development and cultural and digital learning in schools. Alongside influence over the design of the place, there were opportunities to invest in people and their futures.
These are different projects, but both show why the conversation starts with Country and community. What does community want? Who has authority to decide? How will those decisions be respected?
What I’m carrying home
Coming home as we mark Indigenous Business Month, I’ve been reflecting on the women I met and the futures they are building through their businesses. Spending time with fellow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business women made me proud of the growing Indigenous business community here in Australia, and of Indigital’s place within it.
For me, the value of those relationships continues beyond the summit. They create opportunities to keep listening, exchange ideas and explore what we might build together.
My thanks to NACCA, Dawn Madahbee Leach, Rachel Petero, Shannin Metatawabin and everyone behind the summit for bringing us together. I am also grateful to my fellow panellists and the women who shared their perspectives so generously.
I came home with new relationships, new ideas and an even stronger belief in the work ahead.
