When it comes to trailblazing Australian role models, it doesn’t get more iconic than Turia Pitt.
The Australian Women’s Weekly cover girl is a best-selling author, motivational speaker, elite athlete and a mining engineer.
But on the home front, when it comes to raising her two young sons, Hakavai, two, and Rahiti, nine months, whom she shares with fiancee Michael Pitt, the 33-year-old admits being a role model to her boys doesn’t always come easy.
“I don’t know if I do that [be a role model]… I just try to I guess be the best mum that I can be,” Turia told us today, while stepping out at the Australian Women’s Weekly 2020 Women of the Future Awards, held at the Sydney Opera House.
The mother-of-two went on to perfectly capture the contradictory paradox of being a parent.
“I don’t always get it right. Some days with my kids it’s magical and extraordinary. Other days I’m looking at my watch thinking: ‘Oh my god! it’s only eight o’clock and I’ve got to get through the whole day!'”
As for who the Happy & Other Ridiculous Aspirations author looks up to, she credits her own mum, Celestine Vaite, for being her ultimate role model.
“It sounds a little bit earnest but I really look up to my mum. She’s an author, she had four kids at home, she had a full-time job, so I really admire her dedication and her persistence to her craft,” she explained.
Other names at today’s event include actress Sarah Roberts, media personality and ABC chair Ita Buttrose, Studio 10‘s Sarah Harris, journalist Jessica Rowe, radio presenter Kate Ritchie and cook Maggie Beer.
Since the inaugural Women of the Future Awards in 2013, many young entrepreneurs, social change-makers and leaders who impressed our judges have gone on to achieve world-class success.
From shaking up whole industries – particularly the male-dominated world of technology – to making real differences in the day-to-day lives of disadvantaged children, the Women of the Future alumni are a group of Australians that make us proud.
This year’s winner is Anna Robertson, whose socially responsible fashion label, Yevu, creates employment for women in Ghana.