Isabelle Reinecke

Executive Director and Founder

Isabelle is a prominent leader successfully driving system change on the critical issues of our time, helping build a fairer, safer and more inclusive Australia. 

In 2017, Isabelle founded Grata Fund, a leading not-profit based at the University of NSW that acts as a campaigner, litigation incubator and funder for people and communities challenging systemic gridlocks across three key areas: human rights, climate injustice and democratic freedoms. 

As Executive Director of Grata, she leads the strategy and collaboration with some of the nation’s top legal minds, civil society organisations and community advocates to support and design cases to advance and protect rights and freedoms. Grata has incubated numerous landmark cases that have set significant precedents and shifted the dial on important subjects, from challenging climate change injustice, to exposing abuse in offshore refugee detention centres, and establishing new rights to humane housing in remote First Nations communities. She has helped facilitate almost $2M in philanthropic case funding from passionate supporters. Prior, Isabelle had more than 10 years’ experience as a director and lawyer at organisations including Getup, Immigration Advice and Rights Centre, and as a solicitor at Clayton Utz, where she acted for First Nations clients seeking stolen wages reparations in remote East Kimberley.

Isabelle is the author of Courting Power: Law Democracy and the Public Interest in Australia and an expert in the intersection of the law, politics and power. As Australian communities evolve, Isabelle helps government, law makers and decision makers understand key societal shifts in values and expectations and speed up change to avoid the civil unrest and inequalities that impact other countries. She is known globally for influencing the way the law, civil society and social movements work together to create a fairer world. 

Isabelle was named the 2022 Emerging NFP Leader in Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards, is a Churchill Fellow, and the 2021 Women's Leadership Institute of Australia Fellow, awarded to women "who are leaders in their respective fields, women who have innovative approaches and the courage, conviction and capacity to create real change". 

A mum of one, she is also part of the big conversations about providing more support for working mothers and female leaders.

Maria Nawaz

General Counsel

Maria Nawaz is a human rights lawyer with expertise in human rights, discrimination law and women’s rights.

Maria is an experienced public interest advocate, having advocated for stronger human rights protections with individual clients and the community at the NSW, Commonwealth and international levels.

Maria was previously a Lecturer at UNSW Law, where she co-taught the UNSW Human Rights Clinic. She was the Law Reform and Policy Solicitor at Kingsford Legal Centre, where she led the centre’s law reform work on human rights, discrimination law, women’s rights, employment rights, as well as UN advocacy. She has also worked at Legal Aid NSW and the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department.

Maria was the Deputy Chair of the Law Society of NSW’s Human Rights Committee, an Executive Councillor of NSW Young Lawyers, and Chair of the NSW Young Lawyers Human Rights Committee.

Belinda Lowe

Director of Campaigns and Communications

Belinda is a human rights specialist with over 10 years experience building and winning human rights campaigns. She has worked across a variety of human rights issues including Indigenous justice, LGBTQI rights, death penalty, people seeking asylum, freedom of association and assembly and workers rights.

Before joining the Grata Fund, Belinda worked at Amnesty International Australia as an Indigenous Rights Campaigner, Media Adviser and activism and mobilisation specialist. During this time she led a campaign to reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in Australian prisons with a particular focus on alternatives to prison, conditions of detention raising the age of criminal responsibility. This work included human rights investigations that exposed abuses against children in the Western Australia Banksia Hill prison which garnered national attention and led to changes in prison and departmental practices.

Belinda has also worked on the campaign to prevent the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in Indonesia, the 2017 marriage equality postal vote and the campaign to prevent the lashing of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi.

Belinda initiated Amnesty International Australia’s Human Rights Observer program, built an online rapid response network, led the development of the global nonviolent direct action guide and pioneered direct networking between human rights activists in the Asia Pacific.

Prior to her work at Amnesty, Belinda worked in the union movement for the Community and Public Sector Union and a range of other human rights, environmental and public health campaigns.

Belinda holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies. She is currently studying for a Graduate Certificate in Political Economy.

Hannah Foster

Head of Philanthropy

Hannah is a former lawyer with over a decade of experience working in philanthropy. She has experience in leading teams, operations, and securing and stewarding multi-million dollar partnerships for for-purpose organisations in both Australia and the UK. In 2020, Hannah completed McKinsey & Co’s Executive Leadership Program thanks to a scholarship from ACOSS.

Hannah is a member of the Advisory Board of The EastWeb Fund, a grant-making sub-fund of Australian Communities Foundation. Hannah has previously volunteered with Reprieve, supporting indigent defendants on death row in the USA. While working as a solicitor at King & Wood Mallesons, Hannah also volunteered with the National Children's and Youth Law Centre and the Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic (now Justice Connect). Hannah is a passionate writer with her non fiction being published in a range of publications including Delicious, Australian Traveller and Gippsland Country Life magazine and her fiction being longlisted for The Richell Prize in 2020. Hannah lives with her partner and daughter in Melbourne’s inner north.

Courtney Law

Senior Solicitor (Strategic Litigation) 

Ruby Mitchell

Senior Campaigner

Ruby Mitchell is a filmmaker, graphic designer and communications professional.

Ruby grew up in Moruya, on Brinja-Yuin and Walbunja Country on the far south coast of NSW and first picked up a camera at the age of 8 to secretly film her Mother’s tupperware party. Since then Ruby has always been fascinated by people and helping them tell their stories. She has now grown her services and specialises in documentary filmmaking, digital content creation and communications strategy. After completing a Bachelor of Communications at UTS and Cert IV in Graphic Design, Ruby went onto work as a Journalist at the ABC creating content for radio, television and print.

In 2020, Ruby established a small business dedicated to providing affordable and ethical videography, training and media services to community organisations and NGOs. She has also worked as a Communications Manager for a First Nations non-for-profit and has ample experience working alongside young people and vulnerable communities. Her most recent project include a feature-length documentary following young people in a bushfire recovery program in regional NSW.

Madeleine Burkitt

Senior Campaigner

Madeleine Burkitt is a campaigner and digital communications specialist with more than six years' experience across economic justice, climate and environmental justice, democracy, and human rights issue areas.

She has worked at GetUp, where she led campaigns to reform Australia’s punitive welfare system, advocating to raise the rate of income support and abolish privatised employment services, and during the 2022 Federal Election. Prior to this, Madeleine worked at Greenpeace, where she worked across climate justice, renewables, and ocean protection campaigns. Madeleine began her career at SCARF Refugee Support as a Communications Officer, a community organisation that still has her heart. She has recently joined Equity Evolution — a collaborative network aimed at reducing systemic inequities within workplaces and in the wider community — as a founding co-creator. 

Madeleine lives and works on Gadigal land in Sydney, where she enjoys illustrating and dreaming about one day having a veggie patch.

Sabah Quddus

Operations Manager

Sabah brings over a decade of experience in strategic leadership, operational excellence, and advocacy within mission-driven national and international organisations. As a seasoned leader, she has successfully navigated complex environments, overseeing multi-million-dollar budgets, and driving organizational growth.

With a deep commitment to social justice, Sabah has worked alongside First Nations communities and culturally diverse groups, leading transformative initiatives in advocacy, governance, and program delivery. Her collaborative leadership style fosters high-performing teams and ensures alignment with organisational goals.

A proud advocate for equity and empowerment, Sabah is passionate about creating inclusive and supportive work environments. She leverages her lived experience as a Muslim woman to champion human rights and advance systemic change.

Sabah holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences, a Diploma in Risk Management, and is completing her Master of Public Policy. She enjoys exploring innovative solutions to complex challenges and is dedicated to amplifying marginalized voices to achieve lasting impact. Outside of work, Sabah enjoys spending time with her family, attending live music events, and contributing to her local community.

Elena McNiece

Junior Campaigner

Elena is a campaigner, gardener and climate activist.

Before joining Grata Fund, Elena worked at Marrickville Legal Centre and at the Community Empowerment Fund. Prior to her work at community legal centres, Elena was an intern to the executive vice president of Duke to design policies to help achieve carbon neutrality by 2024. She was also a vocal youth advocate in instituting recycling processes for public schools in Alachua County.

Elena lives and works on Gadigal land where she enjoys birdwatching, going for long walks and swimming in the sea. 

Aakriti Shoree

Executive Assistant

Aakriti has recently graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Law (first class honours) and Arts (specialising in politics and international relations) at the University of New South Wales. She has also attained a Certificate in Transnational Law from the University of Geneva. 

Aakriti was Issue Editor of the University of New South Wales Law Journal in 2022, and President of the UNSW United Nations Society in 2021. She has worked as a legal researcher to prominent Senior and Junior Counsel, and clerked at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Prior to this, she was a client intake officer at Marrickville Community Legal Centre. 

She lives on Dharug Country. In her spare time she enjoys reading, playing the saxophone or immersing herself in her newest hobby.

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