Young Difference Makers: Rebecca Casey talks Numbers, Nerves, and a One-Planet Pledge Walk into a Conference

If you’ve ever been told to “wait your turn,” this conversation politely declines. We sit down with chartered accountant and risk professional Rebecca Casey to unpack how young leaders move from potential to presence—using expertise, community, and conviction to shape business and society right now.

Rebecca charts a clear route from a school enterprise in Sydney to Deloitte, Young CA panels in New South Wales and the UK, and a career leap to London. Along the way she shows why qualifications like the CA are more than letters: they open doors, build networks, and give you the platform to speak plainly on the issues that matter. We get specific on AI governance, data integrity, and ethics—what good looks like, where it breaks, and how to make accountability a daily habit rather than a compliance checkbox.

The energy from One Young World threads through the episode as we translate inspiration into action. Rebecca shares a grounded take on the circular economy, from volunteering with a hard-to-recycle plastics programme to making a personal pledge centred on reuse and repair. We connect those grassroots choices to workplace change—procurement standards, lifecycle thinking, and practical steps that reduce waste and build integrity into systems.

This is a playbook for focused impact: choose one problem, apply your skills, start small, and show results. If youth are the present, the question becomes simple—what will we build today? Listen for candid insights, actionable ideas, and a refreshing kind of optimism that pairs vision with the first step. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who leads from the front, and leave a review so others can find it.

Transcript

Youth As The Present

Rebecca Casey 0:00

I think the standout moment for me has been that the repeated message that's really come through about youth not being the future. We actually are the present. Hi, I'm Rebecca Casey and I am a chartered accountant representing Australia and New Zealand. So I was born and raised in Sydney. I've always had a fascination with numbers, the economy, and just business in general. Running a commerce business in my year nine class at high school was really a motivator to think about what I could do with my future. I studied economics at university and also did a couple of subjects of accounting there which sparked my interest. I started my career at Deloitte in the risk advisory practice as a graduate. During my first year, I was really keen to continue studying, learning, developing, especially whilst working full-time. And so there was an opportunity for me to complete the chartered accountants qualification. So I completed that while I was at Deloitte. Spent four years at Deloitte, studied while I was at Deloitte. That really sparked my interest in the profession, just being around other like-minded, ambitious individuals. So as a result of that, I got in touch with chartered accountants in Sydney to see what else I could do to contribute to the profession. And so in my third year while I was studying and completing the program, I joined the Young CA panel in New South Wales. That really inspired me to give back to the community, helping to organise events and increase engagement and attraction to the profession for young members. My experience on the Young CA panel, I've had I've now had two experiences with the Young CA, so both in New South Wales, sat on the YCA panel there for three and a half years. During that time, we especially quite a challenging time, it was over COVID, and so it was really important for us to continue that engagement with the YCA community during quite an adverse time for all of us as well, especially young, some of us only starting out in our careers, some of us looking to progress our careers quite rapidly at that time as well. In addition to that, I've now relocated to the UK, and during my time in the UK, I have been sitting on the YCA panel for the UK. And so completing similar activities in that space. However, given that it is a regional office, we are far away from home. It is really about that connection, connection to other members within the UK to have that sense of home and community and also share that knowledge that we're really immersing ourselves in by living overseas. Yeah, so another reason why I was attracted to completing the chartered accountancy qualification was the opportunities that could provide me. So my professional day-to-day job is in a non-traditional accounting role. However, I feel that the CA has actually boosted my opportunities both domestically and abroad, including my relocation to London. So I've been able to leverage the qualification to connect with a broader network overseas, develop myself professionally in terms of being able to learn new skills, present to audiences, share my knowledge, and also help to progress with my career in London, I think the standout moment for me has been that the repeated message that's really come through about youth not being the future, we actually are the present. So we are here, we are in leadership positions or close to being in leadership positions now, and we have that ability to influence and instigate change by taking action. I think that was that really resonated with me during the first day, day or two of the conference, and those messages were really coming through from multiple speakers and sessions that I attended. In terms of how I feel about the world post one young world, I think I am hopeful. It is very easy to go down the rabbit hole of feeling quite quite numb, especially with the current affairs of the world at the moment, political challenges, what have you, to really just feel just feel it, really physically, physically feel it and go. However, I think having really strong, passionate individuals, the the youth ranging from Gen Y, Gen Z, Millennial, etc. I think having all of that, all of that brain power in that room, the motivation is there, and that you could feel that energy in the in all of the rooms, all of the presentations that I attended. And so for me, that it if anything, it's just the driver now to go. What can I do next? How can I continue on the journey that I'm on to give back even further to my community? So thinking ahead to the future, 10 years ahead, the possibilities are really endless. However, I am quite a passionate risk professional, and there are so many elements to the profession, and you leveraging the skills that I've learnt through the CA as well as what I've learnt at One Young World, I feel like there is a lot of opportunity to continue the education journey that I have been on. So, for example, during my time in the UK, I've been lucky enough to sit on the Young CA panel there, where we've organized events with quite inspirational speakers where we get to sit down with them, have chats, share the knowledge about things that are really relevant to the profession now. So, hot topic that everyone's talking about AI, data integrity, ethics, things that we all we all know well, but they're continuing to progress. There's so much so much there that we need to continue to leverage. In addition to that, there's been quite a big theme at One Young World around circular economy and the climate, and that for me is a personal passion of mine. Touching on previous experiences back back in Australia, I used to volunteer for a small eco-business who led a hard to recycle plastics programme. They're still going today. I really want to go back to those grassroots types of opportunities, and because you can see the impact that it has. Things that start really small, from little things, big things grow. And for me, that it just takes one person to start. Role model the behavior that you want to see in others. And so for me as well, tying back to One Young World, there was a there was a stand at the exhibition today about carbon offset, and so had a really good chat with them, and essentially understanding like they wanted us to put forward a pledge and go, what is your pledge for for the planet? And for me, that it really comes down to the reusing, repairing mentality. Um, because we only have one planet, and so we need to look after it. The lasting impression that I will take from One Young World is that anything is possible. You anything that you set your mind to, you can do. There is so much more, there is so much more to it than just saying, saying what you think we should do. It's a matter of actually taking that first step, taking that action. And whatever that action might look like for you, it could be quite, it could be something very small, it could be a broader scale, depending on where you're at with your career and also your personal journey and what you want to contribute back to society. But it's very much just just go for it. Advice that I would give to other young professionals who are looking to make a start and to get involved in their community is really go back to what you are passionate about, go back to your you. Because one big thing, another big thing that I've taken away from one young world is that there are so many problems in this world. There are so many challenges that we have to try and solve, but at the end of the day, we can't all individually solve every problem. And so for me, it's a matter of finding that it could be more than one thing, but start with one. Find that one thing that you're really passionate about, focus on that, lean into that, make that your whole agenda, and the movement will follow you.