Wendy Watego

Educator, Motivator, Leadership Coach, and Author

Wendy Watego Ittensohn is a co-author of “Out of the Box Thinking on Indigenous Leadership” and a co-founder and national program director of STARS, an educational organization designed to empower people in Shaping, Transforming And Realising Self.

Wendy is a Nughie and Goenpil woman from Minjerribah – North Stradbroke Island –which is part of the Quandamooka Nation in Moreton Bay off the coast of South East Queensland.

After gaining a Bachelor of Education degree from James Cook University, Townsville, she began her professional life as an educator which enabled her to travel, teach and take up educational leadership positions throughout Queensland, the Northern Territory, and Malaysia. She was the first Aboriginal person to chair the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Standing Committee of the Queensland Teachers Union. She says that holding the position of acting principal of Bagwoman Community School on Palm Beach has been a foundation for her dedication to the empowerment and transformation of Murrin communities.

After giving birth to her first son, Wendy left the education system to establish a coaching practice specializing in healing, transformational leadership and organisational reform. She has a number of certifications in Hypnosis, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Reiki and Life Coaching.

After a fortuitous meeting with Vicki Scott at an Indigenous Women’s Conference they realized their common vision of empowering individuals—especially from the indigenous population—and together in 2008 formed STARS. As national program director for STARS, Wendy creates, designs and delivers a curriculum which shifts the way people experience themselves and their lives.

She says that in this role: “What makes my heart sing and my spirit dance is empowering people to complete their unfinished business, and heal from the constraints of the past, to unlock their true leadership genius, and achieve the kind of results that make a real difference to their lives, the lives of their families and to the lives of their communities.”

Wendy is “blissfully married” to her childhood sweetheart, Ken, and the mother of two young boys, Lawson and Archie. They live in Mt Cotton, Queensland.