5x Olympian Nat Cook

Five Olympics gold metal and Aussie icon but retired from professional sport in debt.. Waaatttt

I had an unreal conversation and shoot with Nat about the realities of professional sport and how if you're not prepared to build your brand as an athlete you're gonna struggle.

She told me great story about how she went around door knocking selling Yatala pies to fund her competition in Tasmania as a kid.

This kind of hustle then translated into her career as a professional volleyball player and how she now coaches up and coming athletes to think outside the box to fund competing in their sport.

Obviously athletes all wanna win and come first but sometimes they have to find themselves or look for outside sources of income like sponsorships, merchandise, partnerships to help them reach their sporting goals.

Athletes need to think of themselves as a brand to help attract better contracts fans and sponsorships because just being elite it's not enough as a Pro in 2026.

Stoked to work with Nat and be invited to shoot with the Aussie Athlete Fund at their upcoming event.