Michelle Cowan
Senior Coach for the Fremantle Dockers women’s team.
Profile
A homegrown success story and compelling speaker, Michelle Cowan, has always defied convention.
From being the only girl in the locker room, to the only Gen-Y in the boardroom, Michelle is a daring story of success against the odds.
Taking the attitude which made her the pioneer of women of professional football coaching into the workplace, Michelle managed a team of 150 government staff as a 23 year old, before launching her own national training company, working with some of the biggest names in Australian sport.
Inspiring, entertaining, energetic and hilarious, Michelle’s amazing stories are a tribute to what all of us can achieve with enough guts, grit and groove!
Current work
Michelle later took on a dual role at Melbourne Football Club as the Senior Coach of their Women’s Team and Development Coach for the Men’s team. She was named as Senior Coach for the newly formed Fremantle Dockers women’s team in 2016 as they embark on the inaugural AFL Women’s season in 2017.
Previous experience
WAFL: At 21, Michelle Cowan become Australia’s first female WAFL assistant coach and put West Perth through their paces. At 23 she managed 150 staff through a $10.3 million Leisure Centre redevelopment. At 25 she became Managing Director of her own national company. At 27 she became a mother, also known as – story-teller, doctor, teacher, firefighter, garbage truck driver, princess, kangaroo, fifth Wiggle and more…
AFL: In 2012 Michelle was appointed Assistant Coach with the South Fremantle Football Club, and in 2013 coached the Melbourne women’s team in the AFL exhibition game at the MCG against the Western Bulldogs, and was named AFL Football Woman of the Year.
Feedback
Michelle has the innate ability to inspire and motivate. She has a unique energy and is incredibly driven - which has resulted in a myriad of personal achievements and has also encouraged success in others. Hearing Michelle speak makes you believe you can go that extra mile and turn your dreams into reality too.
Michelle Cowan has been an excellent Master of Ceremony at City of Joondalup events. Her wit and natural warmth puts the audience at ease, and her ability to pull the event together ensures a seamless, enjoyable experience for participants.
Our presentation night was a huge success due to Michelle's contribution. She is a very enthusiastic speaker whose passion shines through and I believe it is very contagious. I would like on behalf of ALCOA to say that she was one of the best that we have had the pleasure of listening to.
Michelle is an exceptional speaker. A very genuine character, her humility is quickly recognised by her audience, yet the magnitude of her achievements shines through. A highly competent and confident public speaker, Michelle was able to adapt her presentation to suit our needs. She addressed numerous topics, put the audience at ease and made an impression on a relatively 'hard to please' group. Highly impressed with her willingness to give time to our students and staff, especially given a day in which she a very tight schedule and important engagement ahead. A top class person delivering a top class presentation. A pleasure to host Michelle.
Michelle was absolutely fantastic. I receive, and continue to receive, numerous comments from the attendees, who thought that Michelle gave an excellent presentation, was truly motivating and inspirational and most importantly, relate-able.
She nailed the brief that I gave and covered the area ‘working in a man’s world’ very well.
Michelle was asked a question in which her reply unintentionally caused an emotional response to one person in particular. After the session, Michelle personally went up to the person to ensure that they were alright. This was an amazing extension of herself, and the person in question and I will certainly remember the compassion Michelle showed at that time.
Working with Michelle for International Women's Day was an absolute pleasure! Her story of grit and determination had everyone in the room in awe and we would've been happy to have her present for hours! Definitely recommend booking Michelle.
