At the age of 17, Wil Massara is well and truly owning his youth and leading other teens to their best selves.
With an impressive list of achievements including beginning the nation wide Youth Leadership Academy Australia, the Collie born teenager has added a 2020 WA Youth Awards nomination to the list.
Nominated in the Catholic Education WA Young Leadership Award Category, Wil said he was humbled by the nomination and hoped to use the platform as a tool to spread his message of empowerment.
"One of the big things I've come to understand is for me to be able to achieve my mission of building a positive and sustainable future it's not about getting every young person in Australia through the academy," he said.
"It's about empowering the youth that do come through the program to spread the work and knowledge they gain here.
"My next goal is to take the academy to an international level - youth may only make up 25 per cent of the population now but we make up 100 per cent of the future and we need to help that future be successful."
In 2016 Wil had his first taste of leadership outside his own community at only 13-years-old after gaining funding for the Magic Moments Foundation.
Following that Wil never hesitated to put his hand up for leadership roles while also juggling school, sport and part time work commitments including Operation Next Gen Collie ambassador role, South West Development internship.
In 2018 the Academy was founded by Wil which has directly engaged 82 young people and is on track to reach a further 1000 through youth events across Australia.
