The theme for NAIDOC Week and the 2025 National NAIDOC Forum, held in Boorloo/Perth on 4 July, is 'The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy'.

Celebrating the Voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People the forum provides 22-year-old student Tahleah Pascov with her first public speaking opportunity.

A Bunuba, Noongar and Yamatji Woman, Ms Pascov is living in Perth while finishing the final year of her four-year degree at Notre Dame University in primary education.

She is also an intern at Development WA, the State Government's central land and development agency tasked with creating places for people to live, work, visit and do business.

Ms Pascov overcame the odds to turn her life around. With a dysfunctional home life, she had to care for her baby sister when she was just a toddler herself.

"At the forum, I'll be speaking about my situation growing up, drug use within families and the impact that can have on younger ones... I had to grow up very quickly," Ms Pascov said.

"I'm also speaking about domestic violence why I had to leave Bunuba - Fitzroy Crossing – which is my home, as well as homelessness and sleeping in my car in Year 12, during final years of high school."

These hardships made education a challenge, but Ms Pascov did not give up.

"I failed ATAR in high school, but I was able to do a bridging course to get into uni and I'm very excited to graduate at the end of the year," she said.

"Preparing for this talk, I was looking back at my life, and it made me stop and realise how far I've come and what I've achieved."

Ms Pascov said she has never done any public speaking before but has done talks at university, sharing her story with other Indigenous students.

"I'm excited, but I'm also a bit nervous for others to hear what happened to me and how that might impact them," she said.

"Just because you show up, look good and present yourself, it doesn't mean you're doing well.

"I'm excited to show other young people like what they can do, to hopefully inspire them to keep going and not let their situation stop them."

The dream, for Ms Pascov, is to educate Indigenous students in their way, in a way that works for them.

"My big crazy dream, I'd love to start a school and bus that goes to remote communities in the Kimberley, to communities that don't have schools and educate kids there."

National Indigenous Times is an official media partner of Perth's National NAIDOC Forum. Tickets can be purchased on Humanitix.