Last night, I was honoured to receive the Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Melbourne Alumni of Distinction 2020 Leadership Award, alongside fellow award winners Dylan Alcott OAM and William ‘Bill’ Conn OAM.
The University of Melbourne FBE and Melbourne Business School MasterOfEntrepreneurship (2016) was the springboard to launching girledworld and Future Amp, and catapulting me into the thriving Victorian startup and innovation ecosystem, where I now get to play across startup mentorship, angel investment and innovation advisory – and get to hang out every day with people who are bold, smart, brave and audacious – the kind of humans we need to shape Australia’s future cities, education and innovations – and drive the engines of Industry 4.0.
You don’t set out to win awards.
They’re a byproduct of bloody hard work.
But when you do receive one, it’s an affirmation, a validation, that what you’re doing matters, and that gives you the fuel you need to keep going, keep growing – creating more leaders, founders and game-changers along the way.
THANK YOU to all the incredible humans who’ve supported my journey (especially Colin McLeod), and those who’ve supported us at girledworld and Future Amp – but mainly and always mostly, to Edwina Kolomanski.