When Aunty Munya Andrews and Carla Rogers met 12 years ago, they realised they shared a vision: to build "a kinder, more inclusive Australia that celebrates First Nations people and culture".
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They are working towards that vision through their business Evolve Communities, which provides cultural awareness and ally training.
The business is based in the Illawarra but operates nationwide, boasting large corporations such as Woolworths and IBM, government, not-for-profit organisations like Cancer Council NSW, and individuals among its clients.
Evolve Communities recently won the Building Communities award for NSW in the Telstra Best of Business Awards which celebrate small and medium businesses.
It's a gong Aunty Munya, a Bardi Elder originally from the Kimberley, describes as "truly, truly wonderful" validation of their work.
"It's really exciting and for us it's the recognition that we are a genuine business, and what's more we're hear to stay and do it well," she said.
The win puts the business in the running for the national award, to be announced in February.
The business was also a finalist for the Indigenous Excellence award, but Ms Rogers said winning the Building Communities category showed that "they get what we're about".
She said she and Aunty Munya were led by the belief that the way to achieve their vision was by making non-Indigenous people feel more confident engaging with First Nations people.
Non-Indigenous people were not confident, Ms Rogers said, because while the education system was improving, many did not learn about Indigenous Australians or when they did, it was incorrect.
With Indigenous people making up just over 3 per cent of the population, Ms Rogers said many people also did not know a First Nations person.
But she said they found during the Voice to Parliament referendum that many people wanted to do the right thing, but they were afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing.
An online pledge launched on the business' website in the wake of the referendum has attracted over 2200 signatures.
Aunty Munya said other businesses offered cultural awareness training, but they were unique with their focus on allyship.
As well as training, Evolve Communities has also published several books; the most recent, released last week, is Aunty Munya's Ask Aunty: Seasons, a picture book to teach children about First Nations seasons.
They had also tapped into social media and Ms Rogers said a lot of people were finding them through TikTok.
Ms Rogers said Indigenous employment was a focus of the business and they had made sure their employees could stay on Country and not have to move for the job.
She said she was honoured to do this work, and to be able to live, work and play on Dharawal country.
Aunty Munya said everyone had a role to play in bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together, and building a place that celebrated everyone's culture.