Crookwell's Pippa Kensit wins coveted Future Women scholarship

The 12-month scholarship program is a NSW Government initiative that aims to support women living in rural and regional areas to become leaders in their community.

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The 28-year-old, who is currently studying medicine, was inspired to work in health from a young age.

"I've done my medical career very backwards. I decided I wanted to go into health in some capacity when I was a little girl," she said.

Ms Kensit grew up on a sheep and cattle property between Crookwell and Boorowa.

"My mum was unwell with cancer when I was a little girl, and then there was the drought," she said.

"I saw the impacts, and how access and utilisation of care services is so different in the bush to the city."

At the age of 16, Ms Kensit went to Cambodia and Vietnam to work as a volunteer.

"It was the first time I had ever seen poverty, and kids with access to absolutely nothing in dire conditions," she said.

"I thought maybe I didn't want to go into medicine and would instead work to address the root causes," she sid.

After finishing school, with an eye to working in public health, Ms Kensit again headed overseas, back to Cambodia and on to Kenya.

"I met some pretty cool people working for the United Nations and World Health Organization," she said.

"They were working on things like sanitation and little things, like washing your hands, and don't build a toilet beside where you cook your food for the community. Simple things."

By this time she was 18 years old, and Ms Kensit needed work experience.

"I went on to become a nurse working in remote NSW communities at Broken Hill, Wilcannia and Ivanhoe. It was really good being able to raise awareness of rural and remote and indigenous health."

However, during this time Ms Kensit worked "mainly" without a doctor.

"We were serviced by the Rural Flying Doctor Service and then just a nurse on the ground," Ms Kensit said.

"Sometimes we would have a police officer in the community and then sometimes we wouldn't. It's completely different.

"I loved that type of nursing but you do hit a point where you think 'it's not fixing anything'. It's troubling because the impact of mental health. There's a lot of drug, alcohol and accidents and traumas but then you have these horrendous mental health presentations."

Afterwards, Ms Kensit returned to Sydney to complete a double masters in International Public Health and then Health Leadership and Management. Once again, her mission was to work in public health.

"I wanted to get back to the causes. I'm also quite interested in that leadership side of things," she said.

At this time an exacerbated previous back injury forced her to step away from nursing altogether.

"I had to undergo spinal fusion surgery and at the time it felt like the ending of everything for me," Ms Kensit said.

However, she was soon recruited to work in allied health and nursing at the NSW Rural Doctors Network and the NSW Rural Workforce Agency.

"It was just brilliant. It was all about developing ways that we can encourage, recruit, retain and attract rural and remote nurses; allied health; medicine to country areas," Ms Kensit said.

She worked with students from high school through to university and early career.

"When I worked out west I had absolutely no support. I felt that if we gave just a little bit of support then people might stay in the industry," Ms Kensit said.

Around this time, Ms Kensit underwent spinal fusion surgery and completed her masters.

In 2021 she returned to study once more, to complete a degree in medicine..

"I'm used to the lights and sirens nursing but I'm enjoying it," Ms Kensit said.

"At the moment I'm in orthopedics and I've never done anything in theatres before - I'm loving it. It's been just so fun."

Ms Kensit is the national vice chair of the Rural Health Club and it was in this capacity that she was exposed to the Future Women Scholarship Program.

"A friend of mine, who was the old president of the National Rural Health Network, said they thought it was tailor made for me," she said.

Ms Kensit was selected to attend the Future Women Leadership Summit in Sydney earlier this month, as part of the 2023 NSW Women's Week celebrations.

"They had three tables for the rural scholars, and then it was just a room filled with some seriously good brains," Ms Kensit said.

"As much as the rural women were not only so impressive and humble and down to earth and just doing really good things; it was probably the most thought provoking conference I've been to.

"In health we try to think about all of the different minorities, like people with a disability; people from non-English speaking background; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, so I'm pretty aware of those things. But there was so much discussed about the true meaning of inclusion."

Ms Kensit's takeaway from that event was a better understanding of how to best raise your voice and advocate for women in rural areas.

"In terms of the conference it was obviously all about women and gender equality," she said.

"Innovation comes from conversations and chatting about different things because if everything was perfect then we wouldn't have any issues. It was all about working out innovative ways to keep advocating and making an impact."

Ms Kensit is looking forward to participating further in this year's scholarship program and meeting "very inspiring" women.

"Not only networking but also working out ways to juggle your own workload and all the extra things you may want to do in advocacy and leadership," she said.

"At the moment I feel like I am nearing burnout so I'm looking for strategies to manage all the bits."

Minister for Women Bronnie Taylor said the scholarship program was dedicated to helping women "connect, learn and lead".

"I'm delighted to see the that the cohort participating in this program reflect both the creativity and diversity of women in rural, remote and regional NSW, while offering practical support and advice," Mrs Taylor said.

"This year's participants include small business owners, farmers, teachers, artists, engineers, and women working in health, disability, community development, transport, property and real estate.

"The scholarship program helps women feel connected and supported, inspired and empowered. It provides an opportunity to learn, grow and celebrate the richness of each other's experiences," she said.

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