Ep 53 Sally Irwin on creating a world of freedom

There are 40,000 victims of modern slavery on any one day in Australia, as reported by the Australian Federal Police. Shocking right?

My guest on this episode is Sally Irwin, Founder and MD of The Freedom Hub, who is committed to create a world of freedom by ending Modern Slavery. 

Sally has a career background in the corporate sector, but in 2008 she moved to Germany when her husband took up a Diplomatic post in Berlin. There, Sally was confronted with the issue of human trafficking in Eastern Europe, and established a charity in Berlin to fund organisations that supported the victims. She became very active in a centre supporting women trafficked in prostitution and was personally involved in helping a number of these women return to their country and begin a new life. 

After four years working face to face with trauma victims of modern slavery, Sally returned to Sydney in 2012, keen to apply her experience in Australia. 

She found a gap in Australia’s care for slavery victims, resulting in the creation of The Freedom Hub (TFH). In March 2014 Sally founded TFH Survivor School, that rebuilds the lives of slavery victims and is the ONLY specialised long-term support in Australia. TFH trauma informed classes train, equip and provide work experience to survivors of modern slavery in Australia. With over 14 years of frontline experience TFH is now a leading organisation in this field. 

Sally is such an inspiring leader committed to creating change and this is an episode you don’t want to miss. What is remarkable and what I absolutely LOVE is how her commitment to tackling this problem has led her to creating an innovative organisational model that creates value for a range of different stakeholders.

Her story and that of The Freedom Hub is utterly compelling and will – I have no doubt – inspire you. My hope is it inspires you into action. Small steps or big leaps, it doesn't matter. One action almost always begets another, as Sally's story confirms and as the quote featured on TFH's website also supports...

“Start by doing what’s necessary, then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

~ Saint Francis of Assis

 

Interview highlights:

❤️ We learn about the shocking scale of the problem that is modern slavery in Australia.

💲 Sally describes the problem that she discovered – not just the existence of Modern Slavery in Australia, but the absence of long-term care for its victims. 

❤️ Sally shares her extraordinary story that saw her move from a corporate career in procurement to being posted overseas as a diplomat’s wife, to eventually starting The Freedom Hub, the only organisation that exists in Australia to support victims of Modern Slavery with long-term care.

💲 Sally tells us about the origins of The Freedom Hub - a cafe in Surry Hills, Sydney - that then became an event venue

❤️ How the Modern Slavery Act 2018 led to Sally expanding TFH into ethical business consulting for corporates, leveraging the work of TFH as well as Sally's earlier corporate expertise in procurement.

💲How Sally's passion to eradicate the problem of Modern Slavery has led to TFH also running Zoom training sessions for smaller organisations to do it themselves as a voluntary exercise, making improvements over time. She also talks about the business opportunity for medium and small organisations supplying corporates.

❤️ The galvanising statistic! 75 per cent of global slavery in the world is in Asia-Pacific - Australia's shopping ground, for our government, businesses and consumers. Meaning WE, Australians can dramatically impact global slavery just through conscious buying.

💲Sally describes the 5 pillars of TFH's Survivor School - the human-centred journey for survivors, the length and depth of which can vary for each individual; and which links to TFH's employment program.

❤️ Marking TFH's 10 year anniversary, Sally shares her inspiring 5 year vision of success and what she needs (businesses, please take note - there is so much opportunity for business partners in this, corporates and small to medium businesses alike)!

 

Connect with Sally

Linkedin

The Freedom Hub Website