Cormach Evans and Coco Eke
A typical day in the Evans and Eke household involves cycling through every device in every room: a laptop here, a desktop computer there, multiple ipads and phones everywhere else. When you’re juggling two businesses and parenting two young kids at the same time, it pays to be logged on wherever you are.
Coco and Cormach have a heck of a lot on their plates. Cormach is a proud Yorta Yorta man and CEO of Strong Brother Strong Sister, an organisation that empowers young Aboriginal people through mentoring, youth groups and advocacy. He and Coco co-founded Ngarrimili in 2018 – a separate organisation that offers tailored support to First Nations businesses. And while Coco (who is also label manager at Briggs’ Bad Apples Music) has taken a step back to look after the kids, she still pitches in with Ngarrimili’s behindthe-scenes work, writing grant applications, helping with HR and providing general staff support.
It might sound bonkers, but Cormach and Coco don’t have set working hours. They find it best to operate without strict boundaries between work and home life, and have an “open door” policy in their Darwin abode. “Throughout the day, one of us will run downstairs to the office and go, ‘Your turn,’ then the other will go up and hold fort with the kids,” Coco explains. “The flexibility to both be at home with the kids and pick and choose the hours we work is so important,” Cormach adds. “We’re so invested in supporting each other that it’s just natural. I think we’re a really good team.”
It’s been like this since they first got together. Within weeks of meeting, they began plotting how to bring Cormach’s vision for
Strong Brother Strong Sister to life. “I was sick of seeing the same preventable issues in the Aboriginal youth sector,” Cormach says. Six months into their relationship, he quit his day job and launched the organisation from scratch. By then, Coco was three months pregnant with their first child, Waari – a year later, the pair started Ngarrimili. “It’s crazy!” Cormach admits. “But if anything, running the businesses together has allowed us to grow as individuals and be better parents. I feel like it’s allowed me to be more available and supportive for community, as well.”
Though their working style baffles friends, Coco and Cormach reckon it comes down to having honest conversations and a no-bullshit attitude – something that’s easier with a partner than a colleague. When tough decisions need to be made, he and Coco sit down at the dinner table and hash it out – no beating around the bush. Coco puts it bluntly: “Shit festers if you don’t talk about it. You have to focus on really open communication.”
Aside from managing the day-to-day of both organisations, a big part of Cormach’s job involves helping First Nations business owners with their social and emotional wellbeing. Dishing out advice, he says, is a good reminder to practise what he preaches. “We make sure weekends are for us and the kids. We have to make time to do the fun stuff because the kids always come first; each of us comes first.” Their words of wisdom for other couples pondering their own business plans are plain and simple: if you don’t give it a go, you’ll never know. “The long-term opportunities are incredible,” Cormach says. “And in today’s world, where most people are working from home together, you’re pretty much already doing it.”