Dion Devow is one of the 18 voices representing this year's theme - The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy - at the 2025 National NAIDOC Forum in Boorloo/Perth.

The Forum, held on 4 July at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, will bring together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander speakers from across the country to celebrate 50 years of NAIDOC. Hosted by Christine Ross Consultancy, the Forum will feature both well-known First Nations advocates and quieter achievers making a difference.

Mr Devow, a Manbarra / Erubam Le man, First Nations TEDx presenter and founder of Yerra Consulting and D Designs, was the 2018 ACT Australian of the Year and 2016 ACT NAIDOC Person of the Year.

A dedicated advocate for First Nations cultural empowerment through his business ventures, Mr Devow's cultural identity is deeply intertwined with his work.

With his heritage rooted in the Manbarra people of the Palm Islands and Erub (Darnley) Island in the Torres Strait, Mr Devow said his culture "has always been at the heart of everything".

"It's shaped every part of my heart, because my cultural heritage is at the centre of who I am as a person. So it shaped everything, from my lens on the work that I've done, and I've always worked in Aboriginal Affairs my whole career."

This strong cultural connection is the inspiration for much of Mr Devow's entrepreneurial journey, such as D Designs, a fashion and promotional apparel business established in 2010. Mr Devow realised there was a gap in Australian fashion for First Nations-inspired clothing while working for a promotional sporting event.

"We had these promotional materials that were meant to be giveaways and I thought, wow, they were pretty cool shirts and had Aboriginal art and designs on them," he said.

"Then I realised how these guys were really resonating with the promotional materials and the clothing. So, I decided to create my own."

Before rebranding to D Designs, the business had a controversial name which Mr Devow believes reclaimed derogatory language and challenged the prejudice he faced during his life.

"When I started, it was called Darkies Designs. I did that purposely, because I was always teased and had a negative experience about the fact that I had dark skin, and I got that my whole life," he said.

"I was always very proud of being Black. So part of that was also about negating the historic use of that word, and trying to bring it in a more positive way."

He believes the prejudice stems from a misinformed understanding of Indigenous history.

"We live in a country where the true history of Australia, the Black history of Australia — not only as the Indigenous peoples of this country, but the oldest living culture in the history of mankind — is not taught in our everyday lives."

Reflecting on his own experiences, Mr Devow said this year's NAIDOC theme struck a powerful chord.

"It pretty much sums up everything… Our youth are our future. They are our lifeline to our legacies moving forward," he said.

"So we need to invest in them. We need our youths to understand that they can be whatever they want to be in life, right? They need to know and understand that by being a part of our race, being an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person is very valuable. It means something, you know, and that a lot of our youth have either lost culture, or they don't value themselves.

"They don't know how important they are, and they don't understand the meaning of the fact that our knowledge system, our kinship systems and the way that we live and operate and navigate in everyday society, we've been doing for 1000s of years, and our culture is still really strong."

Mr Devow said his upcoming speech will focus on encouraging strength, self-awareness and pride in First Nations youth— reflecting the core message of this year's NAIDOC theme.

"I just really want to encourage our youth to understand who we are and that moving forward into the future, they need to understand the value of who they are as First Nations kids, and the legacies that they can produce and leave behind for the youth when they are older," he said.

"They've got a lot of responsibility, but they need to understand that they have the key to success through understanding the culture and the importance of that."

Looking ahead to the upcoming National NAIDOC Forum, Mr Devow summed up the heart of his speech in one word: "Hope."

"I want people to understand that everybody has hope and opportunity; they just have to take a step of faith."

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