In June 2018 I completed my first internship at Terri Janke and Company as a Legal Intern. The opportunity to work at Terri Janke and Company arose when my Student advisor at the CareerTrackers Program mentioned that there was an opportunity to complete a Winter internship at the firm. I was excited to learn more about Intellectual Property as it was a new area of Law for me. But most importantly I was thrilled to be interning with an Indigenous Law firm that works to protect the cultural rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.
CareerTrackers is a non-profit company that places Indigenous interns such as myself who are studying at Universities across the country, into Corporate organisations and companies during the University break for a period of 12 weeks[1].
Fast forward to my Summer Internship at the firm, last week I joined hundreds of other interns at the CareerTrackers Annual Leadership Development Conference held at the University of Sydney. This is one of the most important events of the year for those involved in the program. Fellow interns and I met between January 30-1st February to participate in a series of workshops and listen to inspiring Keynote Speakers. We had the amazing opportunity to hear from several influential speakers on the first day. For instance, the keynotes we had the pleasure of listening to included addresses from Dean Parkin, Judy Atkinson, Leah Armstrong, Filipo Katavake- Mcgrath, Michael McLeod, Shemara Wikramanayake and a panel of amazing Aunties who spoke about the power of learning and supporting others in the community. I enjoyed taking part in 3 workshops during the conference around Company and workplace culture. It was interesting to learn that most young professionals believe that the culture, ethics and values of an organisation are at the core of establishing a successful company. Nevertheless, it is understood that these qualities can be more vital in a company’s development compared to factors such as resources and strategies.
Terri Janke and Rachel Durmush at the Career Trackers Gala Dinner
On January 31st over 2500 supporters of the program gathered at Sydney Technology Park at the CareerTrackers Gala Dinner to celebrate the success of CareerTrackers over the last 10 years. Terri Janke the Solicitor Director and Kevin Anderson the Executive Assistant joined me at the Gala dinner to also celebrate Terri Janke and Company’s involvement in the program. Terri Janke and Company’s involvement began with CareerTrackers flourished a lot earlier as Terri Janke was a keynote speaker in previous years at the conference and spoke at several CareerTrackers networking events.
I remember listening to Terri talk about her Career and personal story. Terri spoke about Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property rights that Indigenous people have. I hoped that one day I might have a chance to work with the firm in its goal to protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
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[1] CareerTrackers, About (2018) CareerTrackers <http://www.careertrackers.org.au/about/>