Merindah Bairnsfather is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analyst at Winyama. Her role is to analyse and prepare spatial data, work in map production, and train participants of the Indigenous Mapping Workshop Australia. Merindah is a Bibbulmun wer Ballardong yok and was born and raised on Whadjuk Boodja country. Merindah’s career started in the Western Australian Government where she worked for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Aboriginal Heritage department. During this time Merindah gained many technical skills, and in 2011 was provided with the opportunity to undertake a GIS position. Merindah has a Certificate III in Business and is self-taught in GIS. Merindah’s ability to empower Indigenous people is what drives her work at Winyama. She is strongly committed to her Aboriginal culture and is passionate about promoting Aboriginal values and perspectives both inside and outside of her work. At Winyama, Merindah is present across all of our services.

Khia Emslie is a GIS Analyst Graduate at Winyama. She is the first of our employees to graduate from our Internship program. Khia works with Winyama clients as well as supports Winyama’s Senior GIS Analysts to deliver solutions. She is continuing to develop her skills across Skyline, Esri Enterprise, Python and ArcPy, Feature Manipulation Engine (FME), and Google Cloud Platform. Born and raised in the warmth of Darwin, Khia is a proud Wiradjuri woman. Before joining Winyama, she received a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan and worked as an Art Consultant at an Indigenous art gallery in Perth city. Having always had a passion for arts and culture she continues to engage with community arts in her spare time. What motivates her is the team's enthusiasm to share skills with Indigenous people and communities; ensuring better protection of the land and Indigenous knowledge for generations to come.