No one is better positioned to talk about evolving than our nation’s First Peoples. As the oldest continuous living culture on Earth, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have more than 65,000 years of wisdom to share. And at the FW Leadership Summit, four First Nations women took centre stage.

Opening the session ‘Leading Through Change’ – proudly supported by Witchery – Dunghutti and Yuin woman Emily Hill set the tone with her thoughts on the Summit’s theme: Evolve.

“This topic is so close to my heart,” says Hill, who has held several roles in Government – both at home and abroad – and is currently Assistant Secretary at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“In this ever-changing world, in terms of leadership qualities, humility is the number one for me,” she says. “Having the humility to learn and continue to want to be curious – and respect,” she adds. “Creating space for everyone to contribute and be authentic.”  

Rachelle Towart OAM opens the Leading Through Change conversation, Dr Casey Sullivan shares her non-linear success story

The three First Nations speakers who followed delivered stories straight from the heart.

Rachelle Towart OAM revealed: “If I’m honest, my leadership journey didn’t start with confidence. It started with a moment where life quietly asked me the question I couldn’t ignore anymore – and a question that many women eventually face. Is the path I’m on really the one I’m meant to stay on?”

The proud Wonnarua woman told the Summit how she stepped away from a senior government role to found Indigenous executive recruitment agency Pipeline Talent. 

“I had a stable career, I have a good salary, the kind of job people tell you you should be grateful for. But I kept noticing something. Every time I walked into a leadership meeting or recruitment discussions, there were still no Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders in the room,” says Towart. 

“Our communities are full of incredible leaders, but the system simply wasn’t designed to see them. And eventually, I had to ask myself the question, ‘if not me, then who?’” 

Now ten years old, Pipeline Talent works across government, universities, corporate sectors and community organisations to place Indigenous executives and board members. And as Towart shares, it has taken a lot to get here.

“Evolution can feel incredibly uncomfortable,” she says. “When I hear about the theme of the Summit – evolve – I don’t think about technology or trends. I think about courage. The courage to step into uncertainty.” 

To other women who are feeling a pull toward a new purpose, Towart has these words: 

“Your career does not have to be a straight line to be meaningful. Sometimes the moments look like disruption and they’re actually moments where transformation begins.”  

Dr Casey Sullivan, a proud Wiradjuri and Gamilaroi woman and General Practitioner based in Tamworth, echoed this sentiment. 

“People like to tell the story of their life as if it’s a straight line – school, career, marriage, children, success – as if life politely moves forward one neat step after the other. But if we are honest, life doesn’t really work like that,” she says. 

“Sometimes the hardest steps in our lives are the very ones that prepare us to lift others up.”

Shirking the linear narrative, instead, Sullivan likens life to a dance with steps that go in three directions – forward, sideways and backward. 

“These are the moments where the ground shifts under your feet,” she says. “For me, some of those steps came from living through domestic violence, coercive control and years of navigating systems that sometimes felt more like a battleground than places of support.”  

Sullivan is the founder of GiggleDocs, a community-focused initiative delivering accessible healthcare, education, and early-intervention support to the people who need it most – children in and out of home care, Indigenous communities, and those surviving domestic violence. 

“[GiggleDocs] exists because of all my steps backwards. The struggles, the setbacks, the moments I once thought were detours,” says Sullivan. 

“So if you ever find yourself stepping backwards, don’t assume you’re failing. You might be simply learning the choreography of life. Because sometimes, the hardest steps in our lives are the very ones that prepare us to lift others up.” 

Ngemba Weilwan woman Sharon Winsor knows this better than most. 

Winsor is the founder, CEO and executive chef of Indigiearth – an award-winning, Aboriginal-owned business offering premium food and botanical products made from native ingredients.

“My first 13 years of life was out in between Gunnedah and Coonabarabran – out in the Pilliga [Forest] – and that’s where my passion for bush foods came from,” says Winsor to the Summit.  

“I didn’t know that we were out collecting bush fruits, catching yabbies and hunting and cooking from the land because of necessity. Money was never ever talked about,” she continues.  

“So my success now, in business, has been built on the back of desperation. Of survival. And it’s been through survival of trauma – for my own healing – and to break cycles.”  

Sharon Winsor on-stage at the FW Leadership Summit, Emily Hill introduces the Leading Through Change session

Thirty years ago, Winsor started Indigiearth fresh out of university. 

“My first year into business, I lost my first baby. He was stillborn at full-term… I hit rock bottom mentally and emotionally, spiritually, everything. I couldn’t function from one day to another,” she shares.

“When I did pick up business again, I realised it was the beginning of a very long healing process – and it still is my healing process. And it’s not [for] the fact of doing commercial business. It’s my connection to culture through business, by being on country, by being able to bring people together through food.” 

Winsor went on to have two more children – now 27 and 25 – and shares that, 16 years ago, while living in Western Sydney, she almost lost her life to domestic violence. Two years later she moved to Mudgee in the Central West of NSW. 

“I had to get back to country. I had to get back to grassroots… And I’ve slowly been rebuilding my life and business,” she says. 

“The things that I get to do today – the awards that I’ve won, the things that I have achieved – I never, I never imagined that I ever would have been doing… [But] our people have always been evolving. We continue to evolve, to survive, to grow and to be here and be in the room.”

Image credit: Vienna Marie Creative
Hair and make up: Jaque Di Condio and Gemma Woods