Figen leads a school where many of her students share her own background, the culmination of nearly two decades teaching with the Victorian School of Languages, co-authoring Turkish language textbooks, and a secondment with the Department of Education working on family violence policy, work recognised with a 2021 award. She arrived in Australia at two and a half, fleeing civil war in Cyprus, and grew up facing racism and language barriers at school. She completed her formal principal qualification only weeks after her mother's death, and was diagnosed with breast cancer during the height of COVID, facing every appointment alone.

Her message to other women: don't live in the shadows of others, you have your own shadow.

Find Figen on Instagram at @figenmustafa9