The daughter of South Vietnamese refugees, Katherine grew up in Homebush West and went to Homebush Primary School where her peers were from diverse backgrounds and her teachers pushed their students to “dream big”. Katherine was taught to work hard for whatever she wanted in life and, after attending Sydney Girls High School where she was inspired by other ambitious young women, she decided to study a combined Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws degree at university. After being knocked back on her first application, Katherine took up a Bachelor of International Studies degree and transferred to a Bachelor of Laws in her second year. She volunteered with the Red Cross for more than a year, working on disseminating international humanitarian law across the community. Her first legal internship was with the criminal division of the Aboriginal Legal Service as a paralegal, which showed her how law worked with social justice. She is also passionate about climate change activism and has completed work with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.