In partnership with the Aurora Education Foundation, the Roberta Sykes CEW Scholarship was created for rising and mid-career Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women leaders across all industries.

This scholarship offers three recipients the opportunity to attend Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School, INSEAD Singapore, or Saïd Business School (University of Oxford) and undertake a course of their choosing.

In 2024, Ashlee Donohue was awarded the Roberta Sykes CEW Scholarship.

Ashlee Donohue is a proud Aboriginal woman from the Dunghutti nation. She is an author, educator, and passionate advocate for the empowerment of Aboriginal women with an influence that extends globally.  Ashlee has contributed to numerous anti-violence campaigns and anti-racism education resources, helping drive meaningful change. 

On learning she had been selected for the scholarship, Ashlee said “I feel incredibly honoured and deeply grateful for this opportunity. Winning the Roberta Sykes Scholarship to attend the Women of Power course at Harvard Kennedy School, bought me to tears, literally. Through participating […], I hope to achieve greater confidence and clarity in navigating leadership spaces, particularly where Aboriginal women's voices are often underrepresented or unheard.”

Having completed her studies in the Women & Power Program at Harvard Kennedy School, Ashlee shared with us some of her experience.

Reflections on Harvard: Power, Place and the Voices Missing

By Ashlee Donohue

Earlier this year, I had the immense honour of being awarded the Roberta Sykes CEW Scholarship  to attend the Women and Power executive education course at Harvard Kennedy School in Boston USA.

As a proud Aboriginal woman, Domestic and Family violence survivor and advocate and the CEO of Mudgin-Gal Women’s Aboriginal Corporation, I applied because I wanted to deepen my leadership skills, expand my network, and bring global insight back to my community. I also wanted to be in a room where power is redefined, where women’s voices shape policy, direction, and justice, and more importantly heard!

But arriving in that room on my first day, I immediately felt out of place. I believed I was the only Indigenous woman there, and the only one from Australia. Eventually, I discovered another woman with Indigenous heritage, from Canada, and a Dean from a Perth university who was of Asian descent. But the absence of visible, vocal First Nations women in a course centred on power was hard to ignore.

In a room of more than 45 women Army Generals, top Lawyers, Judges, Commissioners, and so on, I noticed what was missing. Race theory was absent from the discussions. Conversations on violence against women were noticeably silent. Given the statistics on domestic and family violence, and the fact that this is the core of my work, that silence was loud in a room full of women. I found myself carrying that weight and naming those truths at every opportunity. Because if I didn’t, who would?
I am so glad I did though, as a number of women came to me latter and disclosed some of their personal experiences to me.

It was also telling that out of everyone in the room, only one other woman besides myself ran an NGO. It reminded me how vital it is that grassroots voices, those closest to the community are in these spaces, not just those in boardrooms and courtrooms.

Despite those gaps, the course was transformative. It gave me tools to speak more clearly about authority, legitimacy, and ethical leadership. It pushed me to think globally while staying grounded in community. I walked away with sharper clarity, deeper courage, and stronger conviction that First Nations women belong in EVERY room decisions are made.

To any woman thinking about applying for a CEW scholarship, do it.  Especially if you’ve ever felt like the “only one.”  We need more of us in these spaces, unapologetically showing up, speaking out, and shifting the narrative.

This opportunity didn’t just change me. It reminded me of who I am and more importantly who I represent.

Applications for the 2025 Roberta Sykes CEW Scholarship are now open.
Open: July 21
Close: September 5

Learn more about the Roberta Sykes CEW Scholarship: HERE