Shreya's story

Hi, my name is Shreya. I’m 20 years old, and I’m building the future of govtech - with Kora.

My story starts when I was five, stepping into Australia as a migrant kid with a family carrying a quiet promise that all of this would be worth it.

Growing up as the eldest of three, I watched my parents quietly re-build our lives from scratch. In particular, watching my mother who had advanced business and accounting become disqualified for the jobs here. I watched as she started from scratch, as she volunteered, and as she took bridging courses at the local TAFE. Along the way it was local MP’s that supported us as we got back on our feet. They helped my mother with centrelink payments for TAFE, and helped us with immigration paperwork, and forms. They not only helped us get settled into a new country, but they also helped us feel a deep sense of belonging and inclusion.

As I headed into high school, I became the typical public speaking, model UN, debating kid. Through all this, I engaged with MPs and politicians and built education engagement programs with them in high schools. I was fascinated with politics, and its ability to grow and amplify community needs and problems.

I later pursued computer science and arts because I wanted to understand how the world runs beneath the surface, how decisions get made, how information moves, how systems either work or fail. At the same time, I stepped into government spaces, interning in a federal parliamentary office. That experience rewired my understanding of the intersection of government and technology. I saw how digital systems aren’t separate from policy, but they shape policy. They determine what gets actioned, what gets lost, and how quickly people receive support.

Later, when I worked for a state-level Shadow Minister for Innovation and Technology, I saw how long manual admin, siloed data, and slow case processing times left citizens waiting. They would create delays in access to support and would mean constituents and community members were unable to get the value they needed from the platform.

Every delay had a human cost. It meant someone’s concern wasn’t heard in time. Someone’s situation didn’t make it into the room where decisions were happening. Someone who needed help couldn’t get their needs raised through the channels meant to represent them.

And that’s why I’m building Kora.

Kora is my response to what I’ve seen: a belief that the government can be radically more responsive through better tools that prioritise people’s time and stories. I’m building technology that helps MP offices run faster constituent communication, and more human consultation experiences so they can handle cases efficiently, understand what constituents are experiencing with more clarity, and ultimately turn community needs into policy action.

I’ve always believed that better citizen engagement isn’t just about collecting feedback, it’s about creating a bridge between policy and people that actually creates impacts. It’s about making sure voices aren’t lost in inboxes, spreadsheets, paper trails, or fragmented systems. It’s about giving public servants and parliamentary staff the time to do what they desired to do in the first place: serve people, not chase admin.

At its core, Kora is built on the vision that software that reduces administrative burdens and frees government workers to focus on individuals and communities.

I’m building Kora because I’ve experienced what happens when systems are easy to navigate and I’ve felt the impact of when systems are responsive and empathetic. Now I want to build what I wish had existed: a government that prioritises people, cases, and stories.

Along this journey, programs like UNSW Founders New Wave and the JEINA Ignite Grant played a critical role in shaping not just Kora, but my role as a founder. Through New Wave, I’ve found a community of incredible female and culturally diverse founders who’ve shared similar lived experiences, values, and ambitions. The Ignite Grant was also incredible in giving me a platform to share my story and articulate why I was building Kora. It also provided me with the funding needed to continue building the product and advancing its technical capability to better meet MP’s needs amidst a competitive govtech landscape. More than resources, these programs reinforced the importance of ecosystem-level support for women-led ventures, and why connection, community, and partnership are essential to building companies that challenge the status quo.

Follow along with our journey. We’re going to bridge the gap between government and individuals by building the technology layer that allows governments to be responsive, efficient and human-centric.