In the seven years since graduating from CDU in 2013, Sophie Verass has played a distinguished and transformational role in the public media sector at a national level.
Through 2014-2015, Sophie rose to take over the management of Canberra’s largest and leading community radio station 2XX FM. For her success in improving media pathways for women from diverse cultural backgrounds at 2XX she was recognised as a finalist for ACT Young Woman of the Year 2016.
That year saw Sophie transition to national media with a reporting role at multicultural broadcaster SBS, and shortly thereafter into producer and editorial roles at the National Indigenous Television (NITV) channel within SBS, overseeing key elements of the broadcaster’s digital transformation. This included fostering a roster of talented emerging Indigenous writers and dramatically growing audience engagement for NITV’s Indigenous content across a suite of social platforms.
Since 2016, Sophie has led the NITV digital campaigns for high profile Indigenous content and events including Warwick Thornton’s "We Don’t Need a Map" and "The Beach", Logie Award-winning children’s series "Little J and Big Cuz", "Always Will Be" season for January 26, NAIDOC Week, Garma, and the NIMA and NATSIAA awards.
In recognition of her prominent role at NITV, and her own links to the Territory, she was invited to judge the 2019 Walkley NT Media Awards.
Throughout this time Sophie has also maintained her own voice as a writer, contributing pieces for SBS, as well as The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times. Sophie has been a guest on radio around the country, and her articles have been included in anthologies and tertiary teaching.
More recently, Sophie began writing for the television program Mastermind, airing in a 6pm slot on SBS’s main channel.
In a very short time, Sophie has demonstrated a commitment to ensuring that a range of new voices be heard and created a demand for her own talents and insights. Without the benefit of existing relationships or access to the industry links and entry programs provided by some of the metro tertiary institutions, she has carved out an influential role at a national broadcaster. With many achievements still ahead of her, CDU can be proud to call this outstanding media professional one of their own.