Never once did Tracey Corbin-Matchett think she'd be the recipient of an Order of Australia. She grew up in housing commission in Sydney's West and today, as CEO of Bus Stop Films, leads a life she never dared to dream of as a kid. Tracey is hard of hearing and an active, proud member of the Deaf community, and it's her strength and determination that carried her here.
Bus Stop Films is a disability led, award winning non profit social enterprise that uses filmmaking and the film industry to change community attitudes around the rights and contribution of people with disability, and under Tracey, it has grown into a global leader in inclusive filmmaking.
Build Your Own Seat at the Table
Her approach is as personal as it is organisational: if you don't get a seat at the table, build your own, and invite your mates around, rather than waiting to be asked.
"I've never really been asked," she says.
"Never in my life did I ever think that that little kid from Peakhurst with a bad fringe would be a CEO."
Lived Experience
In 2023, Tracey was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for services to people with disabilities and the arts, recognition for a 30-year career in leadership, policy and project management across social housing, domestic violence services, and film and TV. Alongside it sits her advocacy; Equality at Work Ambassador with the Australian Human Rights Commission, a Council Member of Disability Council NSW, and a Director of Disability Sports Australia. It's lived experience that sits at the centre of her advocacy, not alongside it.
People often don’t realise the journey it took to get here
She often comes back to the gap between how leadership looks from the outside and how it actually feels to arrive there.
"When we see people in leadership, we just assume they always thought they were going to get there, that they never had self doubt."
For her, that assumption doesn't hold. She never expected to lead, to receive an Order of Australia, or to become a CEO. And yet here she is.
Strength doesn't always look like confidence from day one. Sometimes it looks like showing up anyway, building the table yourself, and getting on with the work.
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