Donisha Duff

Donisha Duff is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman from Thursday Island and her family descend from the Moa and Badu Islands, and the Yadhaigana and Wuthathi people.

Donisha is being honored tonight due to her passion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurship and innovation. In 2013, after six years of combining full-time work and part-time study, Donisha became the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person to graduate with a Masters of Business Administration from the Australian National University. During her studies, Donisha won a bursary from the Roberta Sykes Indigenous Education Foundation to attend summer school at Harvard University.

In her time at Harvard, Donisha completed two courses of study in Systems Thinking and Cross Border Innovation, which were credited towards the completion of her Masters of Business Administration at ANU. In 2012, Donisha became a member of the Harvard Club of Australian.

In addition to her academic success, Donisha has worked with the Australian Government, not-for-profits and community organisations in a number of roles including being former Adviser to Warren Snowdon MP, the first Federal Minister to have an Indigenous Health portfolio.