Creating Synergy Podcast #62 - Gavin Wanganeen, AFL Legend and Contemporary Indigenous Artist on Football, Life and Business
Gavin Wanganeen is a former AFL player who played for Essendon in the AFL and Port Adelaide in both the AFL and SANFL.
Wanganeen won the 1993 Brownlow Medal and has been inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
He was a 2x AFL premiership player (1993, 2004), was a SANFL premiership player (1990), was a John Cahill Medallist in 2003 and the Port Adelaide captain between 1997-2000.
In addition to this, he was a 5x All-Australian team representative (1992, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2003) and participated in the National Football Carnival championship of 1993.
Further to this, Wanganeen was awarded the following honours: Michael Tuck Medal (1993), Essendon Team of the Century (back pocket) and Champions of Essendon (number 19). Port Adelaide also have the Gavin Wanganeen medal for the best young player and has been honoured by having the eastern stand at Adelaide oval named after him.
Today, Gavin is an Indigenous Australian Activist, who is also working as an artist, painting stories that remind him of his heritage. In his business career he is a Director for the Port Adelaide Football Club, and founder & managing director of Murra Partners, a recruitment company that does all types of recruitment from blue-collar to white-collar, however, has the vision aims to close the gap in corporate Australia.
Gavin says 'It's an area that is neglected and so we're playing a leading hand at MURRA in creating culturally safe workplaces, educating leaders and creating role models to ensure brilliant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have clear pathways to peruse their dream careers and be mentored along that journey."
In this episode, we talked about all things football and business:
- Career highlights
- The importance of his team
- The importance his coach the Great Kevin Sheedy had on his life
- The transition from an athlete to be an Entrepreneur
- How he became a professional artist
- The work he is doing at Murra Partners, a recruitment company for aboriginal people in corporate roles
- Passion to change a narrative to change the scenario of aboriginal people in the corporate world
- Importance of Culture aware Sports contributed to his success as an artist and entrepreneur Growth time.
Where to find Gavin Wanganeen
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