Is Your Skillset Outdated? Featuring Yaleela Torrens

Aboriginal social worker, AMHSW, and MAICD board director Yaleela Torrens joins Anton Guinea to explore how influence, culture, parenting, and leadership intersect in Gladstone, Queensland. She shares her journey from growing up extremely poor and watching her grandmother attend university as a mature-age student to building a social work practice grounded in Aboriginal identity, responsibility, and respect. Yaleela explains why helping professions face burnout and staffing challenges, how giving birth in the country and naming her daughter Ginaby (black swan) express cultural continuity, and why she believes leadership starts in the home. She unpacks her decision to step down from two boards to prioritize parenting, the role of deep work in making better decisions, the impact of joining the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD) on her governance and network, and her leadership mantra: “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”

Takeaways: Parenting is foundational leadership – How you show up at home shapes the kind of leader you become at work and in your community.

Culture, responsibility, and respect drive impact – Anchoring identity in country, language, and values creates more grounded decisions and longer-lasting community influence.

High standards plus strong networks amplify influence – Striving for excellence, refusing to walk past poor standards, and intentionally building social capital all expand your capacity to lead and serve.

Quotes:

“For me, influence is about having an impact, having an effect, making impressions on those that you want to be able to support.” “Leadership starts in your home. Your good leadership in a workplace is a byproduct of your leadership in your house.” “We grew up extremely poor… and seeing people pull themselves out of that taught me that our individual choices have a direct and an indirect impact on the outcomes of our life.”

Timestamp: 0:00:00 – Harbor Fest, Fiji, and Warm-Up Chat 0:02:31 – Introducing Aboriginal Social Worker Yaleela Torrens 0:05:07 – Motherhood, Parenting, and Core Influences 0:06:01 – Names, Country, and Cultural Belonging 0:08:09 – What Influence Means in Social Work 0:09:34 – Burnout and the Reality of Helping Professions 0:12:19 – From Poverty to a Family Legacy of Education 0:16:00 – Working with Kids and Respect for Teachers 0:17:16 – Culture, Responsibility, and Respect as Guiding Values 0:21:50 – Disruption to Culture and Rebuilding Foundations 0:22:07 – Stepping Off Boards to Prioritize Parenting 0:25:06 – Hopes and Legacy for Ginaby 0:27:05 – MAICD, Governance, and Board Leadership 0:30:20 – Leadership Mantra: The Standard You Walk Past 0:32:04 – Excellence, Mentors, and Social Capital

Conclusion: Meaningful influence, as shown through Yaleela Torrens’ story, begins with how you lead at home, stays grounded in culture, responsibility, and respect, and is amplified by the standards you hold yourself to and the people you choose to surround yourself with. From growing up in poverty to building a social work practice, investing in governance education, and consciously stepping back from boards to prioritize her daughter, Yaleela’s path highlights that titles and roles matter far less than the legacy you create through your daily choices, your relationships, and your contribution to community.

Connect with Yaleela Torrens: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaleela-torrens-maicd-9196a776/ Yaleela Torrens Social Worker Pty Ltd. - https://www.linkedin.com/company/yaleelatorrenssocialworker/posts/?feedView=all Website - https://yaleelatorrenssocialwork.com.au/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/yaleelatorrenssocialworker/