Anna Ludvik | Founder and Board Director
Anna is the founder and former CEO and Executive Director of Lucy’s Project. Anna has a long history of campaigning on animal advocacy causes, which started when she formed her first animal focused group with school friends at nine years old.
Anna has worked in the disability sector and trained as a lawyer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts with majors in gender studies and art history as well as Graduate Law and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. Anna has lived and worked around the world and brings a deep understanding of the value of diversity and inclusion to her practice.
For Anna, understanding the human animal bond and helping others to understand how important animals are for human well-being is a passion that combines her love of all living things. She is a mother, a partner, and the carer of three beloved horses. She loves rural life, taking every chance to advocate for those living outside metropolitan areas.
Anna named Lucy’s project after her stillborn first child, Lucy, and is dedicated to making the world a kinder and safer place, in memory of her daughter. Anna is a passionate advocate who relishes every opportunity to speak in public and to the media about the cause.
Kristin Diemer | Chair
Associate Professor Kristin Diemer is a sociologist at the University of Melbourne. She specialises in measuring violence against women and family violence. She has also researched extensively on the barriers to women leaving violence, the role animals play in the lives of victim /survivors, and tactics of control by men who use violence in the home.
Kristin is the co-author of several major Australian studies, including Australians’ Attitudes to Violence Against Women and The Victorian Family Violence Database. Recent projects include measuring prevalence, attitudes toward violence and reporting rates. Kristin holds a Bachelor of Arts and a PhD in sociology.
Kristin has appeared in the media through publications in The Conversation, The ABC, Sydney Morning Herald, and on ABC’s The Drum.
Kristin is a talented artist and spends much of her time outside of her academic role working on her photography projects. Her work has been featured in exhibitions across the country. She has always lived with animals and grew up in a family business boarding pets. She currently lives with a 2-year-old Standard Poodle named after the Ancient Persian city of Susa.
Youna Kim | Secretary
With over 25-year professional experience base focused on leadership, strategy and innovation in social work and corporate business, Youna Kim demonstrates an enduring commitment to sustainable outcomes whilst upholding values of social justice, cultural sensitivity, gender equality and equity.
She firmly believes everyone has a role to play in stopping and preventing family violence. It is so alarmingly prevalent as police attend a family violence incident every six minutes in Victoria yet still hidden and ignored.
Pets are often the easiest and forgotten targets in family violence therefore bringing vets, family violence practitioners and policymakers together is an important step towards streamlining responses that safeguard the victims with pets.
Youna received 2020 Alumni of the Year Award in International Contribution at Australian Catholic University. She holds Bachelor of Arts, Master of Social Work, and Master of Business Administration (MBA). She has recently completed Governance Foundations for Not-for-Profit Directors Course at AICD.
Monique Dam | CEO and Board Director
Monique is the current CEO of Lucy’s Project. In her previous role at Lucy’s Project, she co-led a cross-sector capacity building program to increase understanding of domestic and family violence perpetrated against people and animals.
Monique has worked as the Advocacy and Prevention Manager at Domestic Violence NSW, the peak body for domestic and family violence services across NSW. At DVNSW, she worked alongside survivors, social workers, lawyers, policy makers and politicians to advocate for women, children and animals experiencing violence. Prior to that, Monique worked on legal assistance policy for victim-survivors of domestic and family violence at the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department.
Monique has been an advocate and community activist for many years and has completed the Centre for Australian Progress Fellowship on advocacy and campaigning and is an alumna of the Pathway to Politics program.
Monique also has a keen interest in children as change makers and has worked on early childhood education policy and programs at the NSW Department of Education. She loves taking her dog Putty to the park as well as relaxing with him at home on the couch!
Kate Hammond | Board Director
Kate has been on the Lucy’s Project team for over two years – starting out in a volunteer capacity and moving on to become a Project Lead.
Kate completed her PhD in Islamic Studies in 2021. Her research focussed on how Australian Muslim women find gender equality within and through their faith. Kate works as a researcher in the field of family violence and issues impacting Muslim women’s equality in Australia.
Kate has a passion for working in spaces that have a positive social impact. She has dedicated much of her personal time towards advocating against greyhound racing.
Kate lives in Melbourne with her two rescued greyhounds, Larry and Peggy.
Rishika Pai | Board Director
As a frontline worker supporting women experiencing domestic and family violence, combined with her passion for advancing animal welfare, Rishika brings a unique perspective to the Board, aligning with Lucy’s Project’s mission of addressing the intersection between animal abuse and domestic violence.
