Multicultural agency, Ethnolink, has appointed a creative lead among five new hires, expanding its team to 60 people to meet growing demand for multicultural communications.The new hires bring experience from Badjar Ogilvy, Zoo Group, Principals, M+C Saatchi Group, MullenLowe UK, VML and Publicis.Poke, strengthening Ethnolink’s creative, client service and communications capabilities. 

The appointments answer Ethnolink’s need to scale in response to increased demand from government and for-purpose clients, with recent work for organisations including the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Cancer Council Australia, Victorian Department of Education, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Leading the appointments is Derek van den Hogen, who joins Ethnolink as creative lead. Van den Hogen brings senior creative experience from Badjar Ogilvy, Zoo Group and 10 Feet Tall. He has also worked with ICON Agency, Town Square and, most recently, The Lekker Agency and delivered brand, campaign, digital and design projects for clients such as Coca-Cola, Heinz, Snowy Hydro, Red Energy, TAC, Pfizer and Colgate-Palmolive. A multilingual creative who speaks Afrikaans and English, van den Hogen also brings lived experience of navigating language and culture, strengthening Ethnolink’s commitment to culturally informed communications.

He commented, “Ethnolink is doing work with genuine purpose and impact. The opportunity to bring strong creative thinking to communications that help people access information, services and support is incredibly meaningful. I’m looking forward to working with the team to create work that is thoughtful, useful and culturally relevant.”

Ethnolink has also appointed Leah Papakrivos as account director. Papakrivos is a Greek speaker who brings more than 10 years’ experience across integrated campaigns and client portfolios in Australia and the UK, including roles with HBK Agency, McCann Synergy, Dyson, Publicis.Poke, BWM Dentsu and Ogilvy.

Carolina Silva has joined as Account Director, Communications. A native Brazilian Portuguese speaker and fluent Spanish speaker, Silva brings more than a decade of client service, branding and advertising experience across Australia and New York, including work with M+C Saatchi Group, VML, Principals, alt/shift, and Trout Creative Thinking.

Stephanie Speight is a senior strategic communications expert with nearly 15 years of experience leading integrated campaigns and client portfolios across government, corporate, and not-for-profit sectors in Australia and the UK. Her experience spans the direction of integrated communications and social impact program strategy for clients including Nike, The LEGO Foundation and WWF.

Emma Spiteri has joined as marketing and events coordinator, bringing experience across large-scale events, community initiatives, marketing and social media, including roles with Collarts and Welcome Merchant.

Ethnolink CEO, Costa Vasili, commented, “Demand for multicultural communications has never been stronger, and the work itself is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Organisations are looking for partners who can bring together strategy, creative, language services, public relations, media and community engagement, and that’s exactly where we’re continuing to invest.”

Van den Hogen said he was excited to join the agency as it enters its next phase of growth.

The team expansion follows Ethnolink’s recent 15-year anniversary. Founded by Costa Vasili from his bedroom in Keysborough in 2011, the business has grown from a small translation start-up into a national multicultural communications agency with more than 60 people. Ethnolink has set AU$20 million in revenue as its next major milestone, following an average year-on-year growth rate of 42% over the past five years and the 2024 acquisition of Sydney-based Language Professionals.