My passion is to inspire and connect leaders from all walks of life to discover their sense of purpose.

Katrina Koutoulas comes from 30+ years in the business world as a corporate executive working on some of the world’s most iconic brands. She’s had many career highlights including leading purpose-led social responsibility programs in Education and Nutrition Health & Wellness.  On this journey, she says she was fortunate enough to work alongside incredible leaders who left a lasting impression on her, which has shaped what she is doing today.

In 2019, Katrina found herself at halftime after a long and highly respected career. She connected with Sibon Schouten and Markd Global’s purpose-driven mission to propel leaders and companies forward to make their mark on the world.

At the same time, Katrina was consulting at Strathfield Girls High School, a lighthouse school in the inner-west of Sydney. Working closely with Years 11 and 12 in the school, leaders in education, and the business world, the dots started to connect for Katrina.

As leaders, the ultimate question we ask ourselves is what impact am I going to make on people and the world around me. In working with leaders across generations and sectors, I came across a powerful insight: Every leader wishes they had the opportunity to discover their purpose early in life.

This was the light-bulb moment that led Katrina to create The Purpose Academy™ – a youth leadership program that aims to inspire future generations to make a positive impact on the world.

Our mission is to inspire young people to lead meaningful lives as global citizens empowered by purpose. Research shows the biggest challenge for young people is having a low sense of self -worth and meaninglessness. This results in unrealised potential, anxiety, depression, and even suicide. Purpose empowers young people to be the solution to the world they want to see.

It’s not a surprise that in working through her own purpose, Katrina found herself back in Education. She talks about it as a full-circle story. Education has been a driving force that took a village girl that migrated to Australia from Greece and propelled her to work for world-leading companies and brands. She says education gave her choices and freedom.

I am fortunate that in my next half I found a personal sense of purpose beyond the companies I worked for. I’m now able to combine my passion, skills and experience with what I believe in through The Purpose Academy™ and Markd Global™ to inspire future and current leaders to make an impact in their world.

The Purpose Academy™ is being successfully implemented in high schools throughout NSW with plans to go to TAFE institutions and to a younger audience in primary schools.

For me, there is no greater return than investing in purpose-driven leadership from schools right through to the top of every organisation. As we say in our team, behind every positive move of the human race is a purpose-driven leader.

As a Markd Global team, we are excited about Katrina’s journey. She has embraced all that we stand for as a company to make her own mark on the world. Many leaders feel it’s too late to explore new opportunities and even find new careers at halftime. But purpose is a lifelong journey without a retirement age, which is why we call it the journey from success to significance.

To find out more about The Purpose Academy™ and The Markd Global™ Program for Leaders in Education link in with Katrina here.

If you’re a leader at halftime and think you’d benefit from your own personal or professional brand experience say hello@markdglobal.com.