Victorian Health Promotion Foundation

I've encountered Deepa Jayapalan in a number of different roles.

I first met her when she was working at VicHealth, a government agency that was going beyond just like traditional food policy.

Rather than just telling people to eat an apple a day, it was looking at how we could create a better world that supported good health for communities.

Then she was at Regen Melbourne, a fantastic organisation funded by philanthropy that looks at nourished neighbourhoods and how as a community we can come together to create a world that helps us eat better.

And that was the game changer.

And then the next job was very, not by design, I was headhunted into VicHealth by the then CEO and very strategically placed into a very high-level executive role and That completely changed my career and credibility in the industry and how people saw me.

And then the next role was really the role that I'm in now.

So finally a CEO of a national sport.

Yeah.

Not everyone wants to be a CEO.

No, but do you think those government experiences and state experience, like you said, with VicHealth and local council, I imagine most people – listening and probably even myself included as someone in industry, we don't look at government roles as something that's going to progress our career, but it's by the sound of things, like it's a sacrifice you can make to open those extra doors that maybe you couldn't have opened if you just stuck just to sport.

Yeah, I would agree with you so much on that.