Emma Brown never saw herself as a lanyard-wearing public servant.
She struggled with dyslexia in school, which was only diagnosed at 12. At 17 she became a mum.
After many ups and downs, she was named Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student of the year at the Australian Training Awards in Hobart last week.
When her name was called out at the ceremony, she looked around and said: "Who? Me?"
"I was like on autopilot mode because it just was so surreal and I couldn't believe that I could have accomplished something like this," Ms Brown said.
For someone who hated school, completing a 12-month Indigenous Apprenticeship Program was a huge milestone.
"Primary school was terrible for me. I was undiagnosed dyslexic until the age of 12," she said.
"I struggled with school a lot, same with high school. It was only when I went to college at Canberra College to the Big Picture [program] that I found that I actually liked school."
One teacher, Lisa Garner, turned her attitude from hating school to realising she could do more than she ever thought.
"She made me believe in myself and made me realise that, hey, I can actually do more than I think I can. And I'm not dumb," Ms Brown said.
Then halfway through college, she fell pregnant with Zachary. She came back to school with baby in tow, determined to become the first person in her family to finish college.
She took time to raise her son as a single parent. In 2019 she started the Indigenous Apprenticeship Program but had to resign when two friends close to her died.
But this year she decided to give it a second try.
"I thought, 'You know what, my son needs some stability in his life and I need to get back on track'. And so I rejoined and I got through," she said.
Students in the program are able to study a diploma of government through CIT Services while also working at an Australian Public Service agency. The program has had more than 1500 graduates in the past four years.
Ms Brown was placed with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and has thrown herself into her customer service role.
"It was very overwhelming at the start. I just thought, 'I really chucked myself in the deep end here'. But with the support of the other apprentices and with Robyn [Watson, CIT Solutions teacher] it was good," she said.
"I actually found it enjoyable and it's actually made me want to go and pursue more further studies."
She wears her Aboriginality on her sleeves, literally, with her Indigenous artwork-printed shirt and lanyard. She also brought her culture to the office through NAIDOC Week smoking ceremony and rock painting events.
"I have been in a previous workplace where they questioned my Aboriginality because I have fair skin," she said.
"I just think tea is still tea no matter how much milk you put into it."
The framed awards are nice to look at, but the biggest prize was her 11-year-old son's reaction to the win.
"Just having him telling me that he loves me and how proud of me ... that's like a massive thing for me," Ms Brown said.
"It makes my heart happy and because I've really done this for him, to give him a better life than I had growing up and to break the intergenerational trauma from my family."
