Episode 21: Cass Wilson - From Banking to Community: A Story About Belonging, Loss, and Starting Over

What happens when a parent cuts you off with a single email, days after your wedding?In this episode, Carolyn sits down with Cass Wilson, CEO of the Rural Health Research Foundation, for a conversation that moves through small-town childhood, teenage courage, 17 years in banking, and one of the most painful kinds of family disconnection imaginable.Cass grew up in regional South Australia before uprooting to the Central Coast at 12. Arriving at high school without a single friend. At 15, she made a decision that surprised even her parents: leaving the traditional school system to finish Year 11 and 12 at TAFE, where she discovered a love of bringing people together that would quietly shape everything that came after.From the chaos of the Lindt Café siege lockdown and a ransom situation inside her own branch, to the sweetest workplace proposal you'll ever hear, Cass's banking years were anything but ordinary.But the thread that runs through it all is belonging. How we find it, lose it, grieve it, and ultimately build it; sometimes in places we never expected. Today, Cass leads a foundation dedicated to community-led health solutions for rural and regional Australia. Her story is proof that disconnection, as painful as it is, can become the very thing that drives you toward your purpose.The Rural Health Research Foundation: https://ruralhealthresearchfoundation.com.au/The Ubuntu Foundation: https://www.ubuntufoundation.com.au/Episode Breakdown0:00 – 0:52 | Welcome + the theme of connection and disconnection. Carolyn sets the show's tone: none of us escapes disconnection, and that's exactly the point.0:52 – 4:30 | Meet Cass + childhood in Gawler, SA A close-knit regional town, a nurse mum, a Navy dad, and grandparents who ran a strict ship.4:30 – 8:35 | The move to the Central Coast. Mum's isolation drives the family to NSW, where they arrive at Grandma's tiny unit with a fresh start and zero friends.8:35 – 16:20 | Not fitting in + the TAFE decision. Years of not belonging at an all-girls Catholic school, and a bold call at 15 to ditch it for TAFE. Parents said no. She pushed until they said yes.16:20 – 19:20 | Meeting Aaron. Eighteen months of best friendship before he asked her out, five times. She finally said yes, and they're still together.19:20 – 23:10 | Into banking: call centre to team leader. Straight out of TAFE at 17, Cass joins NAB and works her way up — finding a love for developing people along the way.23:10 – 32:10 | The Lindt Café siege + a kidnapping at the branch. Locked down during the 2014 Sydney siege, and a customer who needed cash fast, because someone had taken his children. No trauma counselling for either.32:10 – 35:25 | The proposal. Aaron put the whole call centre floor on hold, sent a courier with flowers, and proposed by note. She still has it in her wallet.35:25 – 50:05 | Marriage, the email, and twenty years of silence. Days after the wedding, her father sends a page-long email cutting her off. No warning, no reason. They haven't spoken for 20 years. He passed away just before Christmas 2025.50:05 – 55:30 | Leaving banking + the pivot into community work. At 37, the passion date arrives. A mentor named Beck sees something in Cass she hadn't seen in herself and tells her to make it a career.55:30 – 1:02:10 | The Rural Health Research Foundation. Cass now leads a new charity funding community-led health solutions in rural and regional Australia. Mini grants open now. 1:02:10 – 1:04:17 | Life's lesson + close. Walk through every door that opens,  even if you don't know where it leads.