The South Asian Foundation of Australia (SAFA) was born from a deeply personal journey, a story of identity, sisterhood, and the power of showing up.

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In 2018, when Vithyaa Thavapalan began her own business journey, she quickly realised how isolating it could feel to be a South Asian woman navigating the Australian professional landscape. Few looked like her in the rooms she entered. Few understood the cultural expectations, the double pressures, and the quiet battles of balancing tradition with ambition.

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In response, she began reaching out and connecting with other South Asian women in business. What started as a simple attempt to find community soon became Brown Boss Babes, a small but powerful collective that offered support, solidarity, and a safe space for women to be seen, celebrated, and empowered. It grew quickly, and what began around a table expanded into a national network, linking South Asian women across Australia through storytelling, mentorship, and shared purpose.

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But SAFA’s story took on deeper meaning after the loss of a close friend, Pyrawy Sivarajah an inspiring South Asian woman who, despite facing bullying and exclusion from within her own community, continued to show up with strength, grace, and love. Her resilience and refusal to be silenced left a lasting imprint.

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In her honour and for her son and future generations, Vithyaa made a promise: to build something that would hold space for all South Asians. A place where we are not divided by our differences, faiths, languages, or histories, but united by shared values and collective belonging.

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Despite the past, present, and ongoing conflicts in the lands we call our ancestral homes, Vithyaa believed those divisions should not drive hate within the South Asian diaspora in Australia. Here, we have the opportunity to choose unity over division to come together as one community. Though we are minorities within our individual groups, together we are the second largest and fastest growing community in Australia. That is our strength.

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With the launch of the South Asian Women Business Awards in June 2025, we saw that vision come to life. For the first time, South Asian women across industries, cultures, and states came together to celebrate one another not just for what we’ve overcome, but for what we are achieving. It was a powerful reminder that while gender and cultural norms still constrain many South Asian women in other parts of the world, South Asian women in Australia are redefining leadership, success, and community on their own terms.

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And so, the South Asian Foundation of Australia was born, an evolution from Brown Boss Babes into a bold, inclusive movement for equity, representation, and healing. SAFA is a foundation built on lived experience, legacy, and the unwavering belief that we are stronger together.