Latest news with #Yagan
West Australian
a day ago
- General
- West Australian
Emma Garlett: WA's Aboriginal resistance heroes deserve a day to celebrate
Here's the good news: West Australians could soon be getting two extra days off per year. And the even better news: we get a say in what those extra days off will be for. West Australians have long been shortchanged when it comes to public holidays. We get 11 a year compared to 13 in most of the Eastern States. A shake-up of the public holiday calendar is set to rectify that, with the Government calling for input into the changes. Public holidays are more than just an extra day off work or school. They are a statement about who we are as a society. They announce to that society's members and the world at large the achievements and milestones that the community believes are worthy of celebration or commemoration. It's a fantastic opportunity for WA to officially recognise its Aboriginal history. We are talking about the custodians of the oldest continuous living cultures on Earth. Surely that's an achievement and a history that is deserving of a day off to celebrate? And there are plenty of moments in WA's proud Aboriginal history to celebrate. Yagan is a name that is probably familiar to Perth residents. Born around 1795, he was a Noongar leader and warrior is the namesake of Yagan Square in the CBD. He was initially friendly with the early settlers and was a champion of culture, place and authority in the early years of the Swan River Colony. To many Noongar West Aussies, Yagan is a symbol of our recognition and rights. Unfortunately, it did not end well for Yagan. He was shot in 1833 and his head was cut off and sent to England where it was kept at the Royal Institute in Liverpool until 1964. It wasn't until 1997 that it was finally returned to Australia and another 13 years before it was reburied. The date of that reburial — July 10, the anniversary of Yagan's last full day alive — would be fitting to celebrate Yagan Day. Alternatively, there's Fanny Balbuk, who was a Noongar woman born in 1840 on Matagarup (Heirisson Island). She was determined never to give up her land. She was resolute, even as Perth's settlement encroached further onto her lands. She continued to maintain her traditional rights, regardless of what was in her way. She would walk her lands, gathering foods, knocking down fences if she needed to. She was a true resistance fighter. Without the knowledge she passed down, the Noongar Native Title claim of 2006 may not have been successful. The date of that claim, September 19, could be celebrated as a day dedicated to Fanny's memory, to celebrate her commitment to fighting for her culture. This is not just about a day off. This is saying that we as West Australians recognise and value our Aboriginal history. Emma Garlett is a legal academic and Nylyaparli-Yamatji-Nyungar woman
Business Insider
19-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A new dating app made by college students uses mutual friends to match you. Read the pitch deck it raised $1.6M with.
While some new dating apps look to the future with AI, others are going back to basics. Myles Slayton, CEO of dating app Cerca, is betting that Gen Z dating app users want their next relationships to come from their already established social circles — not strangers. Cerca, which launched in March, curates matches with mutuals using people's contact lists on their phones. Cerca's users are limited to seeing four profiles a day and find out at 8 p.m. each day whether someone liked them back. The startup recently raised a $1.6 million seed investment led by venture capital firm Corazon Capital, Business Insider has exclusively learned. After returning to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., following a summer banking internship in New York City, Slayton spent his senior year building Cerca, alongside cofounders William Conzelman and Carter Rocket-Mun. "We built this app out of frustration with the other apps," Slayton said. Cerca users can see what contacts they have in common with another profile, and those mutual friends can join the app to help do the matchmaking themselves. "We want to show the mutuals — the people and friends that you have in common — and then show the info about the person, and then lastly, show the photos," Slayton said. "It's not all about what you look like." To join the app, users need to bring five friends, or they can bypass the waitlist if they already have five friends using it. The dating app landed on the radar of Corazon Capital's Sam Yagan, who previously cofounded OkCupid and was the CEO of Match Group (which owns dating apps like Tinder and Hinge) from 2012 to 2015. Yagan said Cerca's traction among college students caught his attention. The app has more than 20,000 users, and most of that user base is between 18 and 30, Cerca said. "There has been a very noticeable rejection of the swipe apps by Gen Z," said Yagan, whose firm's first investment in dating is Cerca. Using mutuals to match isn't completely novel. Hinge launched over a decade ago with a similar premise, and other dating apps have attempted to tap into the friends-as-matchmakers trend (including Tinder and Facebook). One of Cerca's unique features, though, is that you can look up specific people. "Everyone has four or five crushes in mind at any moment, right?" Slayton said. "As opposed to waiting days, weeks, months for that profile to appear, you can simply search up their name." The next generation of dating apps Cerca is one of several new startups taking on the apps dominating online dating right now. Other startups, like Sitch, an AI matchmaking app, also recently raised capital. (Applications of AI in dating have also spurred interest among some investors.) However, outside Cerca's algorithm, its product or branding does not heavily boast AI. "AI will touch everything in this world, every sector," Slayton said. "The one thing that AI can't touch is your best friend's opinion on something or someone." Instead, Cerca's growth plan will include an IRL events component, such as parties with mutual friends or activations on college campuses. "Almost every dating interaction that starts online ends up with the desire of being offline," Yagan said. "The more a dating app can integrate the real world into its customer acquisition, into its engagement loop, the more it naturally lends itself to success, which is ultimately, users going on a date." Note: Some details have been redacted. Its pitch starts by describing the app. Cerce Then the deck outlines the problems Cerca is trying to solve. Cerce The startup also outlines its plan for IRL events. Cerca has been hosting events in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Miami. "Cerca Events is an extension of our app, giving our users spaces to meet mutual friends in person," the slide says. The slide outlined a few planned events in New York and on college campuses. The deck wraps with a product demo. The slide includes a video showing how the app works and what the user experience looks like, including its mutual friend tools.
