Meet Our Team: Nathan Sturgess (General Manager)

What inspired you to join our organisation? Can you share a little about your journey that led you here?

I had significant challenges in my youth, but was fortunate in avoiding any run-ins with the criminal justice system. Coming out of this phase I completely changed my life at 20 and entered the Fitness industry. Having never finished my HSC, I changed my life again at 30 by working my butt off to get accepted into UNSW to study a double degree in Software Engineering and Finance. Ultimately this is what led me to an amazing career in tech where I landed a Graduate role at Atlassian where I worked for the next 5 years.

I heard about The Last Mile program and given my background it deeply resonated with me. That is why as a Graduate Product Manager at Atlassian, I worked with the Atlassian Foundation and NSW Corrections in trying to bring the Last Mile program into Australia. Whilst this never eventuated, my desire and belief in this work never waned and through a series of serendipitous events I crossed paths with Cam. The rest as they say is history.

Share a moment that has been memorable for you so far.

Without doubt, it will have to be one of our students in Auckland South Facility. No names, but he didn’t gel with the traditional high school education model. After school he was in and out of jail, having never found his path or calling in life. Then he enrolled in Take2 and got his hands on a computer and WOW! If this student had had a more conventional upbringing and had someone given him a computer and mentored him, he would be on a 300k package at a leading tech firm or working as an academic doing uber cool research.

In the constrained environment of a prison with extremely limited offline resources and only 2.5 hours of class time a day, the code that this student writes blows my mind! I mean he handwrites code in a notebook and types it up in class. He has created a games studio that he showed me with Chess, Snake, Paddle Ball, a slot machine and a typing game (to name a few). Another student had a software (music) sequencer that he hand wrote the code for. As someone with a Software Engineering degree from a top University, I can’t quite express just how impressive this is. If this doesn’t light a fire in your belly and get you excited, then I don’t know what will.

What impact do you hope to make at Take2?

To make Take2 a resounding success and scale the program across Australia (and beyond) – so that as many people as possible can have the opportunity to rewrite their future, to discover things they never knew about themselves and ultimately so they can shine a light for others.

Besides work, what passions or hobbies do you pursue?

Bodybuilding, DJ’ing, bush walking, gardening and mycology.

Favorite quote/mantra, favorite book and/or movie.

Quote: “I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” – Abraham Lincoln.

Book: Never Finished – David Goggins.

Movie – Pulp Fiction.

Your spirit animal?

A platypus – As I am a weird mix of a lot of eclectic traits and contradictory interests.

What are you inspired by in life?

People that take the path less traveled. Human beings and their stories.