Teen driven to inspire

At just 17 years of age, Bunbury resident Wil Massara has made an impact on aspiring leaders around the country.

A nominee for the Catholic Education Western Australia Young Leadership Award, Wil, pictured, has taken on leadership roles within his community since the age of 13.

“In 2016 I attended the Magic Moments Youth Leadership and Business Summit in Sydney and came back feeling inspired to make a change within my school community,” Wil said.

“I underestimated how much I was going to learn and those skills, tools and networks I made lead me to where I am now.”

At the age of 15, Wil launched the Youth Leadership Academy Australia with the aim to build a positively sustainable future through youth leadership.

“At the moment I run events and programs across Australia for youth by youth, empowering young people to realise their true potential,” he said.

“I have led school programs across WA as far as Karratha, equipping students with leadership skills within their communities.”

With his leadership tour kicking off in March, Wil also hopes to launch his own podcast ‘Gen Z in business’.

“I’ve done a lot of research that has shown 97 per cent of media published articles class young people as negative, and I want to overpower that negative stigma that Gen Z has.”

Being a leader at such a young age, Wil has faced his fair share of challenges along the way.

“There are a lot of people that don’t respect young people being able to offer advice and that has been challenging at times,” he said.

“I am very lucky to have an understanding and supportive group of friends and family which has helped a lot.

“At the end of the day, I want to help people develop the same leadership skills as me and have that ripple effect of young people impacting young people.”