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Goodbye “Co-CEO”

Today, Friday the 16th of December 2016 holds the final hours in which I can refer to myself as AIME’s inaugural Co-CEO.

I still have about 800 business cards with that title printed on them and it wont feel like I’m not coming back in to the office next Monday to sit at the same desk I have been since January and answer my emails and attend events and go in to meetings, for at least a few more weeks. 

But boy, am I ready to pass this on to someone else. 

2016 has been the most challenging year of my life, both in a proffessional and personal context. 

When I picked up a phone call on the 14th of December 2015 and heard the words “How would you like to be AIME’s first Co-CEO?” I could not in my wildest dreams have imagined I would have been through all that I have 367 days later.

I have cried and screamed and laughed and been left speechless a great amount of times this year. I have met some incredible people and lost some too. I have hit the highest highs and lowest low points of my life all within the boundaries of 2016 and as a result I have grown in to a completely different person.

I am stronger, wiser and will never again take for granted the beautiful life I’ve been lucky enough to live these past 21 years.

I am forever grateful for this experience. Grateful to AIME for letting it exist and more than anything, grateful and infinitely thankful to my family and friends who have picked me up when I have fallen and snapped me out of my stupidity when I was so very ready to quit.

Through experiences ranging from; meetings with senators in the nations capital, organising workshops for AIME art interns, attending receptions at Government House, doing program visits at sites across the country, guest speaking opportunities on triple j, various partner events and of course a Summer program at Stanford University, I have seen the world in brand new ways and learnt so much about how it works and who I am.

I was so sure that I knew who I was this time last year and it’s only in hindsight that I can see my past naivety.

Every experience this year hasn’t seen me step out of my comfort zone, but instead I’ve watched my comfort zone completely disintegrated around me. 

Only now, after having that assuredness in my answer to “who are you, Marlee Silva?” challenged in so many ways, can I be sure about the kind of person I’m trying to be and what, when I’m gone, I want to leave behind in this world.

As I look toward 2017, I know I will be heading back to complete my studies at the University of Wollongong and hope to continue my relationship with AIME on a casual employment level. And I will be doing this with a new sense of purpose.

Prior to this year the passion for my people and our prosperity was well and truly present, but what wasn't was the knowledge and tools that are required to make the change I've always desired to lead in this country.

I'm not sure exactly where I'll end up and what I'll be doing, but I do know that no matter the sacrifice I have to make or the complex road I have to take I will be a part of this movement of successful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people who come to power in Australia and leave behind the legacy that will guide a sustainable, prosperous future for our people.

You haven't seen the last of me, but as of late this afternoon I think I'd like to take a step back and be a regular 21 year old - if only for a moment.

In the words of my fave radio hosts who are saying a very big goodbye today too,

PACK ‘ER UP BOYS!

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I'm Depressed, But Is That Actually a Problem? | VICE | Australia

Maybe my depression isn't the problem. Maybe it's a collective symptom of being a black person in Australia.

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Day 20andsomething?: Passing on the Baton

So.

This is nearly the end. On Dec 16th, my time as AIME’s inaugural Co-CEO comes to a close.

I know the regularity in my posting has been pretty terrible but in the next week or so I’ll be writing a nice big ol’ final goodbye and reflection on the year.

For now! I’ll leave you with the launch of the search for my successor!

Can’t wait to see what the next Co-CEO brings to the table (although I hope it’s tough to reach the height of the bar I’ve set in 2016!)

http://jobs.aimementoring.com/co-ceo/

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Day 200: GLOBAL

Zooming out and thinking about the world in its entirety has been a unexpected common theme in my life over the past few weeks.

Unexpectedly in the recent development of a personal trip to Europe I am now taking at the closure of 2016 and an “Around the World” themed party I recently attended - which I’m only mentioning because I need to self promote my greatest dress-up costume creation to date just a little more:

I am of course the moon and am literally around the world.

(And my sister to the right is some kind of Mexican motif - I don’t know but her effort is insignificant in comparison)

You’re welcome.

Otherwise, the “global” reoccurrence is less surprising when considering AIME’s newest directional shift: our global campaign. 

Which I would encourage you to read more about here: https://wannachangetheworld.raisely.com/

As I touched on a few posts ago, there’s this crazy surge of change, ideas and action that’s drenching everything we touch at the moment. Global is the word on everyone’s lips and It’s nerve racking and intense for just about everyone here. It’s adding a lot of pressure simply because it’s something we’ve tried or even considered before.

I have no doubt that this time next year the AIME I know now will be almost unrecognisable. That’s not meant to sound negative at all but I really can’t imagine with all this change around our branding and the projects we’re working on, that it will look completely different.

Just something to think about.

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Day 193: Mental Health Week

It’s International Mental Health Week and recently I saw the trailer for this really powerful documentary about the effects of a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I thought I’d share it to spark your thoughts on the importance of such an awareness week...

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Day 183: Harvard Graduate on Education and Educating...

“Injustice is telling kids they are stars, but not acknowledging the darkness around them.”

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Day 176 : The voices of the young

Just a reminder never to underestimate the intuition, awareness and compassion of a child. 

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Day 167: Ch-ch-ch-changes

Our CEO is back in the country and now there’s some big changes coming. After 11 years of existence it’s no surprise that the time has come for a massive wave of reinvention. That’s the nature of any business, they’re cyclical and why they matter and what they do changes, like a child, as they age and grow.

It’s not 100% clear how different our AIME world will look in the next three months or six or even twelve, but it is clear that this is going to be quite an adjustment.

Even if the changes of the physical nature of what we do isn’t extreme, the mindset and way we navigate certain moments will shock the system of a lot of people who work here.

I’m not going to lie - I’m terrible with handling change at the best of times. Seriously - the desk I usually work out was moved to the other side of the office two weeks ago and I nearly had a meltdown.

But I’m intrigued in watching this all unfold - particularly as it’ll be a great learning curve with me facing my fears, but also as it reveals the reshaping of the future of what we do.

Change is actually coming at me from more angles as we get further in to the discussions around recruiting the next Co-CEO and what my 2017 looks like...

Sheesh I better keep this little thought in mind...

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Day 163: Language on National TV

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Day 161: Ulladulla High

Last Friday I had the pleasure of speaking at Ulladulla High. It was a pleasure not only as I met some of the most talented kids I've ever come across but also as I heard the story of the lady to the right of me in this picture. Aunty Nel is one inspiring woman to say the very least. Her story of triumph over tragedy is one of many which have paved the way for my generation and it's legacies like hers that we carry with us on this journey to spread#indigenoussuccess 

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Day 159: R U OK?

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Day 158: Peaceful Protest

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Day 157: Kalgoorlie

As you may have seen in the news recently, the death of a fourteen year old Aboriginal boy in the town of Boulder just outside of Kalgoorlie which occurred last weekend has seen a wave of unrest in the Western Australian community.

Now, I wont focus this discussion on the expression of my personal opinion around the charges laid on the fifty-five year old man accused of causing his passing and subsequent uprisings that have occurred in Kalgoorlie - it’s too inherently political and divisive, and I’m simply not informed enough to give a balanced view on it.

But what I can and will highlight is the trend of our people and our kids ending up in the headlines for such tragic events. 

There is something wrong.

Undoubtedly this country has a few elephants in the room and right now, our first people and the issues they’re facing are particularly horrifying.

All I can say beyond that is, yes, it’s horrific whenever a young child dies so unnecessarily, but it’s also true that as a result of the context that exists (as outlined in the article below) it’s increasingly more devastating as we see more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people losing their lives in this way. To see the reoccurrence of Indigenous people falling victim to a society that has historically seen them overwhelmingly disadvantaged, undermines how far we think we’ve come and highlights where we’ve got to go.

And I think keeping that in mind, and the events in the following article, is a good place to start when we begin evaluating why this all happened and what we can do to stop it from happening again.

https://newmatilda.com/2016/08/31/the-kalgoorlie-uprising-a-rational-response-to-another-black-death/

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Day 156: Blog forgetfulness

Many apologies for the lack of blogging over the past week or so, I’ve started writing some content for our AIME Facebook page and for some reason (probably because my minds all over the shop trying to do a few million things at once) the thought to write these posts at the end of the day has totally and continuously slipped my mind.

Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to try and bring you a new style of content - perhaps involving interviews from some of my fellow staff!

So stay tuned!

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Day 143: Why high school is not the best years of your life.

Firstly! Apologies for the rather large gap between this post and my last. In all honesty, the past week and a bit has been relatively news-less and I found no point in reporting on the regular day to day (as I’m pretty sure I’ve done that enough already).

Today, although there’s still not much happening around here out of the ordinary as yet, I wanted to talk about something I was reminded of first thing this morning thanks to Facebook’s ‘On This Day’ app.

Now, I think I have written something on here previously thanks to inspiration from this throwback tool, so I’m admittedly I’m a daily checker of it. Usually I’m greeted with equally heartwarming and cringe-worthy photos of me aged 15 with a poorly cut front fringe and a mouth full of braces, or a friends post on my wall reading “Heyy marlzz, wot was the maths homework again?! I forgot 2 rite it down! lmao xoxo” Both of which give me a good chuckle and are generally accompanied with a flood of memories around the great little dork I used to be.

But on the rare occasion, this reminder of my past social media activity brings up things I’d rather forget. Which is what was the case today, as I once again saw this photo I had posted after a group of students in my year took to vandalising a school yard table with personal and offensive comments about a group of their peers, including myself.

Each comment that was on the table had been written in the same format, “[name] does/is not [something referring to a rumour/characteristic or a running joke specific to this person]” with the idea being that they couldn’t get in to trouble if it looked like they were saying something in support of the person, when really it was quite obvious that they were being sarcastic.

I’d accompanied it with this caption...

“I don't care who did this, I don't care why and I could not care less whether it was a joke or not. The point is in no way shape or form is this or any other kind of racial slur funny or acceptable and I implore whoever did this to, at the very least apologise to the innocent victims of your immature act as it has hurt so many.” 

When I look back at my memories of high school, I’ve never felt even the slightest longing to have those days back. I have a lot of friends who fit that cliche belief that high school is the best years of your life, but I could never understand that - and it’s when I see stuff like this again, that I’m reminded of why.

The last couple of weeks has been dotted with the voices of some very ignorant individuals in both my personal life and as always (unfortunately), in the outside world. And I guess, I just wanted to talk about this, to stress the reality of the fact that, whether it’s someone throwing a banana at Eddie Betts or a kid in your class trying to put you down by undermining your identity, discrimination is alive and well - I’d almost call it an epidemic. 

To all our kids out there, know that the greatest way to combat this kind of horrible stuff is to reach far beyond the gates of your school and your current situation. The greatest years of my life so far have come from the moment I graduated. The bullies hold on to the past where they had the power and get lost when nobody thinks anything of their mean ways in the real world, and if you just put your head down and work hard to smash your goals you wont even consider their existence again until Facebook reminds you of what they’ve done and helps you realise how far you’ve come.