Darian Brooker | Learning & Engagement Strategist

Building confidence, connection, and curiosity in young people through learning and mentoring.

Learning Engagement Strategist

Darian Brooker is a Learning & Engagement Strategist with a focus on inclusive, trauma-informed, and neuro-affirming education. She specialises in designing high-impact learning experiences that foster connection, confidence, and curiosity in young people from diverse and often underrepresented backgrounds. Grounded in lived experience, Darian bridges evidence-based practice with authentic relational leadership, with specialist expertise in early literacy intervention and senior science education.

Designs and delivers engaging, inclusive programs across tutoring, mentoring, and leadership development for youth aged 4-25.

Brings lived experience in out-of-home care, child protection, and neurodivergence (autism & ADHD) to inform trauma-aware, strengths-based approaches.

Specialist in early literacy and dyslexia intervention, as well as HSC Biology and high school science support.

Advises schools, community organisations, and government on best practices in youth engagement, educational inclusion, and systemic impact.

Founder & Purpose-Led Business Leader

Darian Brooker is the founder and managing director of We, Future Leaders, a purpose-led organisation empowering over 4,000 young people annually through tutoring, mentoring, and leadership development. She leads a high-performing team of 50+ staff and partners with leading organisations such as the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) and Ronald McDonald House to drive measurable, community-wide outcomes. Darian’s leadership is grounded in corporate responsibility, social justice, and lived experience, a commitment recognised through numerous awards, including 7NEWS Young Achiever of the Year (2025), multiple NSW Young Woman of the Year finalist honours, and inclusion in Instagram Australia & Are Media’s “Top 25 Female Business Owners Under 25.”

Founder and director of We, Future Leaders, supporting 4,000+ students each year across tutoring, mentoring, school programs, and holiday partnerships with a team of 50+ staff.

Partners with organisations including DCJ, Ronald McDonald House, and local schools to deliver high-impact, trauma-informed, and community-centred programming.

Recognised with multiple honours including:

7NEWS Young Achiever – Connecting Communities Award Winner (2025)
Finalist – NSW Young Woman of the Year (2021 & 2024)
Top 25 Female Business Owners Under 25 (Instagram & Are Media, 2021)

Resilience & Development Advisor

Darian Brooker is a Resilience & Development Advisor with a lived and professional understanding of how people grow through challenge. She has delivered resilient leadership programs in partnership with state governments across high schools in Sydney, regional NSW, and the ACT, and has shared her insights as a TEDx speaker. Currently studying a Bachelor of Psychological Science, Darian draws on evidence-informed frameworks and personal experience to support individuals, schools, and systems to foster growth, grit, and wellbeing.

Lived Experience Advocate - Out of Home Care

Darian Brooker is a Lived Experience Advocate in out-of-home care, child protection, and systems reform. Having navigated 26 schools while in care and surviving intersecting experiences of neglect, domestic, family, and sexual violence, period poverty, homelessness, and ill-mental health, she brings deep personal insight to every space she enters. Darian has MC’d national conferences and moderated high-level panels with state and national commissioners, judges, caseworkers, and sector leaders, using her voice to inform policy, challenge systems, and centre the voices of those most affected.

Public Advocacy & Storytelling: Featured widely across newspaper, TV, radio, and podcasts, sharing her story to challenge stigma and raise awareness of systemic issues in child protection and family violence.

Peer Support & Youth Empowerment: Through her business We, Future Leaders, provides mentoring and educational support for thousands of young people, modelling resilience and amplifying youth voice.

Sector Leadership: MC and panel moderator at national conferences, facilitating conversations with commissioners, judges, and professionals to bridge lived experience and policy.

Policy Engagement: Upcoming participant in the NSW Parliamentary Youth Roundtable, contributing lived expertise to inform government discussions on child protection and youth futures.

Media & Content

Bio

Darian Brooker is a Learning & Engagement Strategist, purpose-led business leader, and resilience advisor who empowers over 4,000 young people each year through inclusive, trauma-informed programs in tutoring, mentoring, and leadership development. As the Founder and Managing Director of We, Future Leaders, she leads a 50+ person team delivering measurable impact in partnership with schools, government, and community organisations, including DCJ and Ronald McDonald House. Drawing on lived experience in out-of-home care, child protection, and neurodivergence (autism & ADHD), Darian bridges evidence-based practice with authentic relational leadership, with specialist expertise in early literacy, dyslexia intervention, and senior science education. A TEDx speaker and current Bachelor of Psychological Science student, her leadership has been recognised with honours including 7NEWS Young Achiever of the Year (2025), NSW Young Woman of the Year finalist (2021 & 2024), and Top 25 Female Business Owners Under 25.