Looking towards a more multicultural future in Ballarat

"I would love for (the city) to be more multicultural, advocating for the different cultures we have here in Ballarat," she said.

"I know it's getting a lot better but it would be cool to see different carnivals or groups getting together and celebrating different cultures."

The Wotjobaluk woman is living out her business dreams she once thought were out of reach.

Six months before her life changed dramatically, Ms Hayes bought a second-hand embroidery machine online.

Then just before COVID-19 lockdowns at the start of 2020, Ms Hayes' business the Minority Co started to gain traction online.

"I'd always wanted to have my own clothing brand but I didn't really think anything was going to happen," she said.

"I don't have a business background and my parents don't have business backgrounds, I had no idea."

At the time she was watching the Black Lives Matter movement play out in America.

"I just got so overwhelmed and I was so angry and so upset," she said.

"I felt like I was not doing anything ... people can post as much as they want but I just felt like that wasn't enough."

Ms Hayes used her machine to embroider Black Lives Matter and George Floyd's last words "I can't breathe" onto jumpers which she posted to Instagram.

"I just wanted to have a yarn to people, to be like 'this is what is going on, this is how I am feeling'," she said.

"I was trying to gauge where everyone was at and I was happy to educate people on what was going on, it was a controversial topic and people were getting riled up."

People were interested and Ms Hayes said she was amazed by the number of orders coming in.

Now her jumpers have been worn by people like federal Senator Lidia Thorpe and actor Jason Momoa.

Ms Hayes said a number of people supported her during the early days, including Ballarat TikTok personality and business owner Celia Gercovich.

"She helped me get my business set up, especially those parts of business you don't really think about," she said.

"I never thought I would have my own business, everything happened so fast I was kind of thrown in the deep-end and I just had to figure it out."

Along with support from Ms Gercovich, Ms Hayes said she was pleased to have the support from the youth arm of council.

"It was cool to have that support from Ballarat," she said.

"It would be cool to keep collaborating with other Ballarat businesses."

Ms Hayes said she has been "a really big family person" and always wanted to stay near family.

Her dad moved to Queensland from America in his early 20s and then moved to Melbourne, where he met Ms Hayes' mum and moved to Ballarat.

Ms Hayes has been here all her life.

Alongside her clothing business, Ms Hayes works as a disability support worker and high school teacher's aid.

She realised she has a passion for education when she was volunteering as part of an elective in high school.

"We did volunteer work at the special school and I really enjoyed that, I went onto disability support work and I've been doing it ever since," she said.

Ms Hayes said many of her different jobs were about helping others.

"I've always enjoyed helping people," she said.