Marlee Silva is a twenty-six-year-old Aboriginal woman from the Gamilaroi and Dunghutti tribes of NSW. Starting her career in the non-profit sector, Marlee’s path was shifted toward a more public profile when she was employed as the Co-CEO of Aboriginal education charity AIME Mentoring. A role which saw her shadow the work of AIME’s CEO for twelve months and in turn, act as the representative of the organisation’s story and direction, in the media and through keynote speaking.
It also gave her the opportunity to study at the Summer Institute of General Management at Stanford University in the U.S., making her the first Aboriginal woman to do so.
Since then, Marlee has continued to emerge as a skilled public speaker and presenter. After publishing her first book ‘My Tidda, My Sister: Stories of strength and resilience from Australia’s first women’ in 2020, Marlee continued to expand her media reach with successful appearances on NITV’s January 26th Sunrise Ceremony, ABC’s Q+A as well as appearing on Today Extra during their ‘Today’s Take’ segment.
Marlee is determined to utilise her storytelling skills to inspire people and create change, and uses her platform to advocate for the causes she is most passionate about, which has previously seen her named as a finalist in the Australian Human Rights Commission ‘Young People’s Human Rights Medal’ in 2019. Often writing and creating social media content with a particular focus on First Nations people and community, women in sport and various other social issues, Marlee has also built a strong online presence with a community of 16 thousand followers on her personal Instagram account.
She also has a passion for sports, rapidly becoming one of the countries leading voices on women’s sport, particularly Rugby League. Marlee recently travelled over to the UK for the Rugby League World Cup, where she interviewed participants, giving an insight into the reach and impact of the sport.
Marlee also volunteers for various charities and sits on the board of both ID. Know Yourself, an Aboriginal founded charity which provides support to Indigenous children living in out of home care, and youth suicide prevention non-profit, Cultural Choice Association, through which she has also developed and delivered mental health and wellbeing program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students.
Earlier this year, Marlee joined the Wide World of Sports team for Channel Nine as a commentator and reporter for the NRLW.