Sometimes, a pivot isn’t triggered by a failure.
Sometimes, it happens because you keep looking for a way to make the world a little bit fairer.

Anne Aly was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and moved to Australia when she was just two years old. Her parents worked hard in factory jobs to give their family a foothold here - and those early experiences of displacement, resilience and possibility stayed with her.

By her late twenties, Anne was a single working mother raising two young boys in Perth on the minimum wage. She knew what it meant to juggle life’s demands with no safety net - and she used that as fuel to keep pushing forward. 

She went back to study - and then studied some more, earning a Master’s and a PhD focused on countering violent extremism. From there, Anne became a globally recognised expert in her field - advising the United Nations, publishing hundreds of academic works, and even being the only Australian invited to speak at President Obama’s White House summit on countering violent extremism. 

But academia was never where her story stopped.

In 2016, Anne took another monumental pivot - into politics. She was elected as the Federal Member for Cowan, becoming the first Muslim woman in the Australian Parliament, and then a minister in federal government, shaping policy on multicultural affairs, small business and international development. 

Along the way, she has championed issues close to her heart - from community safety to meaningful support for domestic and family violence survivors, turning her own life experience into public purpose.

In this episode, Anne talks about how she navigated seismic life shifts with grit, compassion, and that same drive to make space for voices too often overlooked - and how she keeps pivoting even when the stakes are high.

THE END BITS:

Want more from Sarah Davidson? Check out her podcast Seize The Yay.

Discover more Mamamia podcasts here.

Feedback: podcast@mamamia.com.au 

Share your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will get back to you ASAP.

Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.

CREDITS:

Guest: Anne Aly 

Host: Sarah Davidson

Executive Producer: Courtney Ammenhauser

Senior Producer: Sally Best


This show was brought to you in partnership with Charles Sturt University. Australia's largest and most experienced online uni. Take the next step. Search Charles Sturt University online. 

Complete our short survey about education for for a chance to win a $1,000 gift voucher in our quarterly draw! https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8467038/Ch

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. 

Sometimes, a pivot isn&rsquo;t triggered by a failure. Sometimes, it happens because you keep looking for a way to make the world a little bit fairer.
Anne Aly was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and moved to Australia when she was just two years old. Her parents worked hard in factory jobs to give their family a foothold here - and those early experiences of displacement, resilience and possibility stayed with her.
By her late twenties, Anne was a single working mother raising two young boys in Perth on the minimum wage. She knew what it meant to juggle life&rsquo;s demands with no safety net - and she used that as fuel to keep pushing forward.<a href="https://www.annealy.com/about/about-anne/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">&nbsp;</a>
She went back to study - and then studied some more, earning a Master&rsquo;s and a PhD focused on countering violent extremism. From there, Anne became a globally recognised expert in her field - advising the United Nations, publishing hundreds of academic works, and even being the only Australian invited to speak at President Obama&rsquo;s White House summit on countering violent extremism.<a href="https://www.wef.org.in/dr-anne-aly/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">&nbsp;</a>
But academia was never where her story stopped.
In 2016, Anne took another monumental pivot - into politics. She was elected as the Federal Member for Cowan, becoming the first Muslim woman in the Australian Parliament, and then a minister in federal government, shaping policy on multicultural affairs, small business and international development.<a href="https://ministers.dfat.gov.au/minister/anne-aly?utm_source=chatgpt.com">&nbsp;</a>
Along the way, she has championed issues close to her heart - from community safety to meaningful support for domestic and family violence survivors, turning her own life experience into public purpose.
In this episode, Anne talks about how she navigated seismic life shifts with grit, compassion, and that same drive to make space for voices too often overlooked - and how she keeps pivoting even when the stakes are high.
THE END BITS:
Want more from Sarah Davidson? Check out her podcast <a href="https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts/seize-the-yay/">Seize The Yay.</a>
Discover more Mamamia podcasts <a href="https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts/">here</a>.
Feedback: podcast@mamamia.com.au&nbsp;
Share your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will get back to you ASAP.
Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.
CREDITS:
Guest: Anne Aly&nbsp;
Host: Sarah Davidson
Executive Producer: Courtney Ammenhauser
Senior Producer: Sally Best
 This show was brought to you in partnership with <a href="https://www.csu.edu.au/">Charles Sturt University</a>. Australia's largest and most experienced online uni. Take the next step. Search Charles Sturt University online.&nbsp; Complete our short survey about education for for a chance to win a $1,000 gift voucher in our quarterly draw!&nbsp;<a href="https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8467038/Ch" data-stringify-link="https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8467038/Ch" data-sk="tooltip_parent">https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8467038/Ch</a>
Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.&nbsp;

Welcome to Pivot Club, where we sit down with people who've spent years building their lives… and then one day completely changed direction. People who looked at the path they were on and said, "Actually, this isn't for me anymore".

Whether it's celebrities who walked away from fame to study their true passion at university, corporate leaders who took up comedy and "fell up", or your neighbour who left teaching to start a food truck – we're here to uncover the real stories behind life's biggest pivots. How did they know it was time? What was the scariest part? And most importantly, what can YOU learn from their leap of faith? 

In each episode, your host Sarah Davidson, has intimate and at times hilarious conversations with both household names and everyday heroes who took the plunge! Sharing the messy, honest truth about reinventing yourself. Because sometimes the best life is the one you never planned.

This show was brought to you in partnership with Charles Sturt University. Australia's largest and most experienced online uni. Take the next step. Search Charles Sturt University online.

Welcome to Pivot Club, where we sit down with people who've spent years building their lives&hellip; and then one day completely changed direction. People who looked at the path they were on and said, "Actually, this isn't for me anymore".
Whether it's celebrities who walked away from fame to study their true passion at university, corporate leaders who took up comedy and "fell up", or your neighbour who left teaching to start a food truck &ndash; we're here to uncover the real stories behind life's biggest pivots. How did they know it was time? What was the scariest part? And most importantly, what can YOU learn from their leap of faith?&nbsp;
In each episode, your host Sarah Davidson, has intimate and at times hilarious conversations with both household names and everyday heroes who took the plunge! Sharing the messy, honest truth about reinventing yourself. Because sometimes the best life is the one you never planned.
This show was brought to you in partnership with <a href="https://www.csu.edu.au/">Charles Sturt University</a>. Australia's largest and most experienced online uni. Take the next step. Search Charles Sturt University online.

Pivot Club

From Studying Power To Holding It: Why Anne Aly Chose A Career Bigger Than Herself

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/3ea926be-9be7-482a-8ac3-a44f016e43d1/clips/c25eea20-ce01-42f0-bda7-b379000d5b32/transcript