If there’s a Filipino event, big or small, happening on Naarm (Melbourne), chances are Grace Guinto is there – championing her people. Of Filipino heritage, the Philippines sits at the heart of everything she does, from her baking practice Sweet Cora – named after her late Mama, Corazon (Spanish for 'heart') – to her role as co-founder of The Entree.Pinays, a collective of entrepreneurial Filipinas introducing Filipino cuisine, culture and community to Australia.

Returning often to Bataan, the probinsya of both her parents, Grace finds healing in walking the same barrio streets her mother once did, past the panaderyas she once visited. That same nostalgia carries through her baking, where recipes inspired by her Mama’s handwritten cards offer comfort to fellow Australian-Filipinos and are featured among the stories shared in the book We Cook Filipino.

Through The Entree.Pinays, Grace uses food to advocate for her fellow Filipinos and communities of colour. She co-leads events for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and has contributed to projects such as The Calamansi Story – a James Beard Award–nominated film made in collaboration with FEATR, the Philippine Embassy and the Department of Tourism.

Grace is driven to challenge the barriers women of colour continue to face in male-dominated industries. By building platforms led by lived experience, she hopes to help shift narratives around intersectional feminism, representation and leadership – and to be the Australian Filipina presence she never saw growing up.