Plenary 5: Thursday 26 November 2026 | 2:30pm - 3:45pm
EXPLORE: HARNESSING YOUR FUTURE
Backing possibility
With Michelle Payne
1st female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup
in conversation with
Sara James
Emmy award winning journalist
Session Overview
Michelle Payne's historic 2015 Melbourne Cup win on Prince of Penzance captured the world's attention. Michelle Payne's journey to becoming the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup is one of extraordinary resilience. She lost her mother in a car accident as a baby, and later lost two sisters, including the recent loss of her sister Bernadette after a difficult and challenging time.
Yet through it all, she reached the pinnacle of Australian sport: she was honoured with international awards, and inspired the feature film Ride Like a Girl. She has since released two books charting her journey….
...but the story behind that success began long before race day.
In this candid conversation with Sara James, Michelle reflects on a life shaped by courage, perseverance and the unwavering support of those who believed in her when others did not. From overcoming personal loss and confronting setbacks to challenging expectations in one of Australia's toughest sporting arenas, her journey demonstrates the power of backing a vision long before the outcome is certain.
At its heart, this is a story about family, trust, resilience and shared purpose. Michelle explores how success is rarely achieved alone, and how the people around us—those who encourage, challenge and support us—can help make the extraordinary possible.
For advisers who spend their careers helping clients navigate uncertainty, pursue long-term goals and build meaningful legacies, Michelle's story offers a powerful reminder that belief, commitment and trusted relationships can shape outcomes far beyond what initially seems possible.
Meet your speakers
Michelle Payne
1st female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup
Michelle Payne is one of Australia's most admired public figures, and she is celebrated for her groundbreaking achievement of becoming the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015 aboard Prince of Penzance. Her victory, against odds of 100 to 1 captured the hearts of Australians and established her as a national icon. Beyond her historic win, Michelle has excelled as a highly successful horse trainer, jockey, and author.
Raised on a farm in Miners Rest, near Ballarat in Central Victoria, she is the youngest of ten children. Despite the tragic loss of her mother in a car accident when Michelle was just six months old, she was drawn to the world of horse racing, a path that was shared by many of her siblings. 8 Michelle’s career has not been without significant challenges. At 18, she suffered a serious fall during a race at Sandown in 2004, resulting in a fractured skull and bruising to her brain.
Further falls in 2012 and 2016 led to life-threatening injuries, but her resilience and determination saw her return to the sport each time, inspiring many with her strength and perseverance. Her impact extends far beyond the racing world. In 2016, she was awarded the prestigious Don Prize for Most Inspirational Australian Athlete at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Awards, alongside several other accolades, including Sportswoman of the Year and the Women of Style: Sport Award. Michelle and her brother Stephen were also honoured as Queen and King of Moomba.
In recognition of her contributions to horse racing, Michelle received the International Longines Ladies Award in 2017, and in 2022 she was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM). She also released a bestselling memoir, Life As I Know It, in 2016, and her life story was brought to the big screen in the 2019 film Ride Like a Girl, which became the highest-grossing Australian film that year. Michelle’s Melbourne Cup victory was voted the most significant moment in Sport Australia Hall of Fame history from a shortlist of 20 iconic sporting events over the past six decades. Today, she continues to inspire through her successful training operation at Nottingham Farm in Ballarat and her new venture on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Sara James
Emmy award winning journalist
Sara James is an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and author. James has reported from across the United States and around the world as a correspondent for NBC News. During her years based at NBC Headquarters in New York City, Sara also was a frequent newsreader on the US Today Show, and guest-anchored on Weekend Today and MSNBC. James is a featured commentator on Australia’s ABC News Breakfast. Her American in Oz segment provides detailed analysis of the US political landscape. Sara also undertakes assignments in the Australasian region for NBC News.
James is the Chair of the Australian-American Fulbright Commission, the flagship foreign exchange scholarship program of the United States. From 2022 to 2026, she served as National Director External Engagement for the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia where she focused on international trade missions for the organization.
She advocates for people living with KCNQ2 encephalopathy and other genetic epilepsies. James is the Vice President of KCNQ2 Cure Alliance, a co-founder of Genetic Epilepsy Team Australia, and co-creator with husband Andrew Butcher of the annual KCNQ2 New Horizons in Science Dinner in Melbourne dedicated to funding research to find a cure for this deadly neurological disorder.
Prior to moving to Australia in 2008, James was based in New York City for NBC News for more than a decade. Her reporting duties took her to all fifty of the United States and worldwide, including Somalia, Sudan, Bosnia, Israel, China, Japan and the Khyber Pass. She also travelled to the wreck of the Titanic in the submarine Nautile. James served as a substitute newsreader on the NBC Today Show and guest anchored on many NBC news programs.
James' distinguished reporting career has earned her many prestigious honours, including a Headliner Award for her report on a victim of the September 11 attacks, the National Press Club award for her investigation of modern-day slavery in Sudan and a New York Festival award for a profile of the first woman considered for the US space program. Sara received an Emmy Award for coverage of the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado and a Gracie for her report about methamphetamine addiction in women. Sara’s chronicling of Australia’s Stolen Generation won the Overseas Press Club of America Citation for Excellence.
Sara James is the author of An American in Oz (Allen & Unwin), co-author of The Best of Friends (HarperCollins) and editor of An Extraordinary School (ACER Press).
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