From corporate boardrooms to community connections, Gamilaroi woman Alanah Scholes is using her AGSM MBA to create lasting impact.
As a proud Gamilaroi woman, reconciliation has deep personal meaning for Alanah Scholes. She believes it’s an opportunity to educate others and unite.
“It’s not a political issue to me,” she says. “It’s a genuine way for people to connect and learn. It’s not about big gestures, it’s about being respectful, listening to the people and community around you and coming on the journey together.”
Educating people on reconciliation is the essence of Alanah’s job as RAP Program and Social Impact Manager for the National Rugby League (NRL).
Launching the NRL’s second Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) was a career defining moment for her. It gave her a framework to influence and empower executives and senior leaders within the organisation to do more to support the reconciliation journey and bring others along – from grassroots clubs to national leagues.
“Creating the RAP challenged me at every step. From applying and going through the process with Reconciliation Australia and then with my executive team, it took a long time. But it was incredible to get it over the line and to know how much input I’d had. A lot of the content is my own words and that’s a surreal feeling.”
As an AGSM @ UNSW Business School MBA student, Alanah’s a firm believer in the power of education to show people how they can support reconciliation and empower them to create change.
You could say making a difference is in Alanah’s DNA. As a descendent of a stolen generation survivor, she has experienced firsthand many of the disadvantages faced by Aboriginal people. And with strong family ties, she absorbed an ethos of empowering others and giving back to her community from her parents.
Her father spent over 30 years working in correctional services, while her mum created rehabilitation and healing programs for inmates as part of the Aboriginal unit at Long Bay jail and worked as a teacher for over 17 years.
“My Dad looked after all the Aboriginal inmates right across NSW. He was the first point of contact from the jail if anything happened - especially around deaths in custody. And he’d get a lot of calls from community members looking for support when their nephews or sons went into jail. It gave me a strong sense of social justice and for a while I thought I’d be a lawyer – until I learned how much study was involved.”
These early experiences, along with her exposure to local land council meetings and NAIDOC marches, ignited a passion for advocacy. They also gave her a deep understanding of the disadvantages and challenges Indigenous communities and individuals face.
She continues to work closely with her family as chairperson of the Yula-Punaal Education and Healing Aboriginal Corporation – an organisation set up by her parents and Aunty to bring people on to Country to reconnect and facilitate Cultural and healing experiences.
She’s also Director of the Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation, set up to support survivors and descendants of the girls who were removed from their families and communities and taken to Coota Girls’ Home. Alanah’s grandmother Catherine was one of them.
This work also allows her to connect with her family, honour her culture and make an impact at the grassroots level for future generations.
“I was very privileged to have those early experiences,” she says. “At the time, I don’t think I appreciated it as much as I should have but being exposed to so many things at such a young age has helped me get to where I am today.”
While her mother instilled the importance of education into her children, Alanah wasn’t particularly keen on studying. She decided to go into hospitality after school, starting in front of house at Accor, serving food and beverages at conferences.
But it wasn’t long before her desire to make a difference rose to the surface and she moved into Indigenous Engagement where she became involved in programs like the NRL School to Work program in 2020 for Indigenous youths.
When an opportunity came along to join the NRL permanently in their Community – School to Work Team, it was a chance for Alanah to step into a role where she could use her own experiences to empower others on a one-to-one level.
“It was great to be in a role where I was mentoring and connecting with Aboriginal students. It helped me reflect on my experiences as a teenager having to transition through education and employment.”
Returning to education as an adult helped Alanah gain the confidence to put her ideas into practice and the skills to get others on board. But getting started was a leap of faith.
Her educational journey began in 2020 2021, when she was looking for a challenge. A friend who worked at UNSW thought she’d be a great fit for the AGSM @ UNSW Business School Emerging Indigenous Executive Leaders Program and encouraged her to apply. It was daunting at first, but she decided to take the plunge.
“I didn’t feel like a leader and when my friend told me about some of the other people who did the course, I was even more intimidated. There was a GM in a bank. I didn’t really have a title like that. But I just took the leap and decided to enrol.”
Connecting with others who shared Alanah’s experiences helped her understand some of the challenges she had silently been facing and made her feel less isolated.
“Uncle Mark Rose, one of our lecturers, did a session on walking in two worlds. It was the first time I’d heard that expression, but I realised I’d been doing it for years - and I’d seen my parents do it as well. I have to walk in the Western corporate world but also stay true to my values as an Aboriginal woman.”
“When you’re trying to have impact and make a difference for our communities, you don’t just get to clock off at the end of the day.”
In 2023, Alanah decided to continue her studies and enrol in an MBA at AGSM with a friend she met in the Emerging Indigenous Executive Leaders Program.
Now in her final year, Alanah is already putting the lessons she’s learning into practice – starting with having the confidence to back herself in her own knowledge and capability.
“I’ve found my voice and I’m more assertive in the type of leader I want to be within the workplace. And I’ve learned how to approach things differently in terms of the language I use when I’m engaging executives and other key stakeholders.”
Her MBA helps her in everything she does; from her role at the NRL to her not-for-profit work.
Today, Alanah’s work ranges from overseeing the NRL RAP implementation to working on specific education and advocacy projects for the organisation – using her experiences and the skills she gained through her studies to create opportunities for others at the grassroots and elite levels of the sport.
Also, when setting up Yula-Punaal with her mum and Aunty, Alanah used what she’d learned about strategy planning, day-to-day operations, setting up finance platforms, good governance and creating policies to validate her ideas and create a plan for the next stage of the business development.
And Alanah is passionate about using what she’s learned to support the people around her so they can make a difference. Her 14 years’ experience in Indigenous engagement, employment, strategy and HR mean her colleagues often turn to her for guidance.
“I particularly love it when staff members are proactive in their learning journey and come to me for advice. When I can see the passion behind their questions or ideas, I feel like I’m really making a difference. I might just be able to help one person today, but hopefully that will have a ripple effect through to the next generation.”
“If we can continue to empower our young people, we can continue to show them that connecting to their identity will not only make them a great leader, but it’ll also make them the best version of themselves. I do the work I do for my family and children. My purpose is to leave this place a little better than what it was for the next generation, no matter how big or small the impact may be.”
Click here to learn more about the Executive Indigenous Leaders Program (EILP)
Click here to learn more about AGSM @ UNSW Business School’s MBA Programs