Our Team
Inaivu is led by people shaped by lived experience and grounded in systems change.
Our team brings together lived experience, policy insight, and facilitation expertise. We work in partnership with organisations and communities to create culturally safe, practical solutions that recognise existing wisdom and enable everyone to contribute.
We don’t bring answers. We help make space for them.
Shankar Kasynathan,
Practice Lead
“Let’s close the gap between intent and experience. When we understand how workforce, systems and community realities interact, we’re better equipped to lead with confidence, respond to complexity, and create outcomes that genuinely serve the people we’re working with and supporting.”
Shankar Kasynathan brings more than 20 years of experience working at the intersection of local government, multicultural policy, and community engagement.
At Inaivu, Shankar works with councils to strengthen relationships with multicultural communities, embed cultural safety into everyday systems, and support staff to lead with confidence in complex social environments.
Shankar has served as a Commissioner for Multicultural Affairs, an expert adviser to the Australian Human Rights Commission on anti-racism education, a Director at LGPro Victoria, the Migrant Workers Centre (a community legal service) and was Senior Policy Adviser to the ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs.
He currently teaches at Victoria University, where he facilitates programs linking human rights, community leadership, and lived experience.
Desh Balasubramaniam,
Director of Workforce Capability & Learning
“Communities do not need fixing. They need systems that see them, hear them and trust their wisdom. Dignity is what carries us forward.”
desh Balasubramaniam brings over 15 years of experience working in and alongside local government, education systems, community organisations to strengthen equity, cultural inclusion and workforce capability.
At Inaivu, desh supports organisations to build culturally safe, community-informed workplaces; helping staff navigate complexity, lead with empathy, and engage meaningfully with diverse communities. His work focuses on co-creating, workforce development, and justice-oriented practice, ensuring that policy intent translates into everyday practice.
As a lawyer, business strategist and Lecturer at Victoria University, and the Founder of the humanitarian initiative Ondru and the international peace-building initiative Nūl, desh brings lived experience shaped by years of community-based practice and a deep understanding of how organisations operate in practice.
He has held senior roles within the Victorian Government, including the Department of Education and Training, where he led large-scale equity and community development initiatives focused on inclusion, leadership and organisational capability.
Get in touch
If you feel our work may support yours, please reach out.
We welcome the conversation and would love to explore how we can walk alongside your organisation.
Melbourne:
3/3 McLennan Place,
Preston, VIC 3072
