Tracey Holmes told the audience at the Sydney Writers’ Festival last week, that the title of her memoir Eye of the Dragonfly is apt as she tries to see things with a 360 degree view, just like a dragonfly. She works tirelessly to report “what is there” and to bring about positive change with sport as the vehicle. Tracey is our eleventh profile.

The series, Wisdom of Women in Media explores the career and personal journeys of women in the audio media industry. The aim of the series is to reflect on the wisdom they have gained, to mentor and to share their hopes for the industry.

1. Describe your current professional life and your stage of life.

Currently I am doing several things (what’s new?):

* Writing my Substack columns on various topics regarding sports governance, politics, geopolitics and culture

* A weekly podcast called The Sports Ambassador

* Completing my master’s in international sports diplomacy at the Hungarian University of Sports Science

* Recently launched the Sports Ambassadors Network – Australia at the Australian Embassy in Riyadh with a roundtable hosted by the Australian Ambassador, HE Miles Armitage, bringing together senior Australian sports executives in Saudi Arabia with their Saudi colleagues (the plan is to expand this into other capitals where Australians work in significant numbers)

* Deputy chair of the Oceania Australia Foundation (connecting Oceania based athletes with tertiary education opportunities in the USA)

* Council member for Indigenous Football Australia, the advisory council for John Moriarty Football

* Member of the IOC Press Committee

* Senior mentor for the IOC’s Young Reporters program run in conjunction with the Youth Olympic Games

2. How did you come to be in this industry?

Journalism for me is the continuation of a childhood spent observing other people and cultures as I travelled around the world with my surfing parents who basically survived week to week on what they could earn (shaping surfboards in the case of my dad, making hand made clothes in the case of my mum). 

We lived in apartheid South Africa at a time when surfing was just transitioning from a counter-culture to a professional sport, and through that experience, letting surfers from other countries (who were not white) stay at our home, it led to us living at the bottom of a Chinese graveyard in Honolulu with one of the most famous Hawaiian surfing families who were caretakers of the property.

After school I studied PR then migrated to a Broadcast Specialist trainee program at the ABC in 1989 (bring back the program!) which was really the springboard into what I have done since. 

Living in Hong Kong, Beijing, Abu Dhabi and Dubai with Stan (my husband, Stan Grant, and our three sons) continued this journey of exploration, discovery and understanding.

I’ve always liked observing, putting my feet into the shoes of others, asking questions of people, and trying to drive deeper understanding into the issues that often threaten to divide us.

3. What are your core beliefs? How are your values evident in the work you do or the life you lead?

Everyone is equal. 

Everyone has a story. 

Don’t complain or be negative unless you are willing to do the hard work of finding a solution. 

Politics and sport are completely intertwined, but still sport is the one place where the world does come together in peace, that has lessons for other forums. The world is not black and white, it is mostly shades of grey, it is those shades I am fascinated by. 

Try to see all things with a 360 degree view. 

See what is there, not what you want to see. 

4. How did your education, formal and informal, enrich your career/ life journey? Include mentors, detractors, etc.

Travelling in the back of a Kombi van full of surfboards in numerous countries since the day I was born, taught me to go with the flow, adapt to whatever your surroundings are, and to be resilient. ‘Move on’ is probably my driving force.

High school at Pittwater House on Sydney’s Northern Beaches taught me more about leadership and creativity. 

Key people who offered me experiences that kept my journey progressing include the irrepressible Kim Mckay (my first boss, now director of the Australian Museum), Peter Longman (former head of ABC Sport) and all the men who taught me so much when I first joined the ABC (there weren’t other women broadcasters there at the time), my husband of course, and my children, who teach me to this day. 

I don’t remember detractors probably because I make it a mission to learn from everyone, including the critics who might have a valid point to make. Sometimes what people say teaches us more about them, than us, and once again, that’s a positive.  

5. What are some of your key decision change points and how did they shape your career/ life journey?

Joining the ABC in 1989. Leaving the ABC in 1996 to work at the Sydney Olympic Organising Committee. Rejoining the ABC in 2007 after years overseas. Leaving the ABC in 2008 to go back overseas. Rejoining the ABC in 2014 after years overseas. Leaving the ABC in 2023 to pursue broader horizons once more. 

I am only partly kidding.

We make decisions every day that determines what our path ahead looks like. I am happy with my decisions for where they have led me.

6. What makes you happy? What makes you get up in the morning?

Life!

7. Share your words of wisdom for others in the industry or those wishing to work in the industry?

The world is changing, the way we tell stories and report the world is changing. The former president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, often said, ‘Change, or be changed’. The Chinese have a saying, ‘If it is not moving (or changing), it is dead’. 

The challenge is to stay on top of developments at the same time as being true to yourself and what you do. 

Ask yourself: 

How can you influence the inevitable changes around you? 

What positive role can you play in constant change? 

How can you help others adapt to constant evolution?

8. Describe your vision for the  audio media industry in the near future. 

The podcast is king. However, a podcast is just a modern version of a radio show. Technology has made access easier, and reach wider. The product is still the same. 

Those who do it best will continue to succeed.

Series compiled by Serena Ahern for radioinfo.

If you have a suggestion for someone to be considered for this series, please send a note to [email protected]

Previous articles in the Wisdom of Women in Media series: