From Rock Bottom to the Top

I want you to imagine this for a moment, two titles in the Women’s Welterweight Division, ranked number one in Australia, money in my pocket, sponsors backing me. Sounds perfect, right?

But let’s rewind.

Because in November 2020, I wasn’t holding up titles. I wasn’t standing in a boxing ring. I was lying in a hospital bed after what doctors called a mental breakdown.

I had no money. I had no home. And I had no real support system.

Like many during COVID, life collapsed around me. I soon realised the people I spent every weekend drinking with weren’t the people who were going to help me through the hardest time of my life.

My only real support came from my manager at work. And I was too ashamed & embarrassed to tell my two best friends that I was homeless, broke, and drowning.

I had hit rock bottom.

Now here’s where the story shifts.

I had two choices.

1. Keep drowning my sorrows in alcohol, numbing the pain.

2. Or… choose something different.

It wasn’t until my manager literally picked me up off the street and helped me find government crisis accommodation and free counselling that I realised I could choose differently.

And that’s when the rebuilding began.

I got back into the gym. I tried boxing. And my coach threw out a challenge: “Why don’t you join a 12-week fight camp?”

At the time, I was just looking for purpose, for distraction. But boxing gave me something else… it gave me myself back.

And then, something happened that I can only call divine timing.

I had the chance to train with four-time world champion Jeff Fenech. He took me under his wing, pushed me through my first fight, and I won. But here’s the truth, it wasn’t about the win. It was about the journey. For the first time in a long time, I had won back my mental health.

Afterwards, I went back to my recruitment job, thinking that chapter was closed. But one afternoon my phone rang.

It was Jeff.
He said, “Kate, I’ve been thinking. You’re strong, you’re dedicated, and you can punch. I want you to turn professional, the first female on Team Fenech.”

My jaw hit the floor. Within weeks, I resigned from my job, risked it all, and stepped into the unknown.

And because I sacrificed, because I took the risks, because I built the right support system, I grew.

I became the first female athlete to be sponsored by JD Sports in Australia.
I fought live on TV.
I won two titles in the Women’s Welterweight Division and ranked number one in Australia.

But the biggest victory wasn’t the belts. It was this: I turned my pain into purpose.

Through boxing, I met a young girl named Bell. Coaching her changed my perspective. I started volunteering, running programs for young girls. More and more kept showing up, craving not just boxing, but community and support.

With the guidance of a mentor, I launched It’s Her Foundation in 2022 a not-for-profit supporting young females in need.

Who would have thought?
Kate from country England, a homeless girl in 2020 is now standing here in 2025 as a keynote speaker, a mentor, a women’s health advocate and NFP founder.

So, what does this mean for you?

How do you overcome adversity when life feels impossible?

Here are my lessons:

1. Find the right support system. The people you surround yourself with will shape your future.

2. Choose differently. Pain will push you down one path, but you always have another choice.

3. Take risks and back yourself. Fear will never leave, but neither will opportunity.

4. Turn your pain into purpose. The very thing that broke you can be the thing that builds you.

Adversity doesn’t define you.
How you respond to it does.

And if I can rise from rock bottom, to the number one fighter in Australia, to running a foundation that changes lives, then I promise you this:

SO CAN YOU!