Tamara File, Deputy RYC Chair for the South Pacific:

Tamara File, Deputy RYC Chair and member for Cook Islands, is the first National Administrator for the Cook Islands National Youth Council. She has been involved as an advocate in volunteer work since she was 13 years old, but for the last five years she has focussed mainly on youth-related issues.

Having a mother working in a women's counselling centre meant she was always absorbing information and issues from a young age, a natural progression from that is that she grew up wanting to change the world. The first organisation she volunteered for was Red Cross and it just grew from there.

In 2007 she joined up with the Youth and Sport Division to help with the re-establishment of the Cook Islands National Youth Council. She is proud of how far they have grown CINYC over the past three years, to the point that they now have a functioning office.

Tamara's main passions are youth employment, education and youth in politics. Environment is also an interest of hers. She is looking forward to the challenge of holding the position of Deputy RYC Chair and seeing how she can grow as a person during her term.