Rewriting The Pathways for young people

This weeks PBA Change Maker is Trent Miller, a Social Impact Leader and Advocate for Inclusive Leadership. He is the proud CEO of Youth Projects, stepping into the role after driving transformative growth as Executive Manager of Employment, Training & Social Enterprise. Trent has built his career on scaling impactful social businesses to positively impact the lives of Australians while driving economic growth.

Recognised as the 2023 Outstanding Emerging Leader by the Australian Scholarship Foundation, Trent holds a Master of Business Administration (Dean’s Commendation) from Monash Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce (Business Analytics). A passionate advocate for collaboration and adaptive leadership, Trent is focused on driving sustainable social change and empowering Youth Projects to continue breaking the cycle of disadvantage.

My career started in frontline community services, working with people out of employment, where I quickly realised that unemployment is often the gateway into the broader human services system, including housing instability, social isolation, mental health challenges, and long-term disengagement.

As I progressed, I saw a gap in how data was being used to inform decisions and communicate impact. This led me to complete a Bachelor of Commerce (Business Analytics), and a few years later, a mild COVID crisis prompted me to take on an MBA. Over the past decade, I’ve moved through senior and executive leadership roles, and in early 2025 was appointed CEO of Youth Projects.

My focus now is on scaling our impact by bringing together strong commercial discipline, partnerships, and social purpose to break down systemic barriers and create sustainable pathways out of disadvantage.

 

Growing up in a low-socioeconomic household with a single parent, I saw firsthand how limited access to opportunity can shape a young person’s future. I’m driven by a belief that potential is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not. I wasn’t exposed to many of the environments or pathways that shape what you believe is possible, and that lack of exposure can quietly limit ambition before someone even gets started.

What I’ve seen throughout my career is how powerful it is when someone believes in you. The right support, trust, and opportunity at the right time can completely shift a life trajectory. That’s why I am focused on creating a system that doesn’t just support young people, we actively expand what they see as possible. Because when you combine belief with access to new environments, you can change lives and shift trajectories.

 

Learn as much about yourself as you possibly can.

Early in my career, I focused heavily on building skills and proving myself, but self-awareness is the real unlock. Understanding your values, your triggers, how you show up under pressure, and how you impact others is what allows you to lead effectively.

When you know yourself, you can better understand the people around you; how they like to be supported, challenged, and led. It also helps you navigate setbacks with more clarity and resilience.

If I had embraced that earlier, I would have accelerated my career progression, strengthened the quality of my leadership, and delivered better outcomes for those around me. The better you understand yourself, the better you show up for others.

 

A few principles guide how I approach both leadership and life.

Coach yourself like you’d coach someone else, with honesty, but also perspective. It’s easy for me to be overly critical of myself but that’s counter-intuitive and deficit-based, I need this to remain positive, optimistic and also challenge myself more.

The harder you work, the luckier you get. Consistency and effort over time create opportunities that often look like luck from the outside.

And finally, if you’re comfortable while doing something challenging, you’re probably not pushing yourself enough. Real growth happens when you’re slightly out of your depth.

These ideas keep me grounded, they help me stay accountable, continue learning, and lean into discomfort rather than avoid it.

 

I’m on the verge of fatherhood, so a lot of my listening lately has taken a more personal turn. With the amount of time I spend driving, I’ve been working through the audiobook So You’re Going to Be a Dad by Peter Downey, which is refreshingly honest, practical, and a bit tongue-in-cheek. It feels more like getting advice from someone who’s been through it than being told what to do, which has made it all feel very real—and probably a little overdue.

On the lighter side, I’ve been watching the latest season of Jury Duty, which is set around a company retreat. It’s built as a full social experiment, one real person navigating a completely staged workplace, which makes it genuinely funny, but also surprisingly insightful. The non-actor is an absolute shining light, he consistently shows empathy, patience, and integrity, even when everything around him is designed to test that. It’s a great reminder of how much individual behaviour can shape culture, especially in unfamiliar environments.