Forbes Australia has released their inaugural 30 Under 30 List, with Mary Fowler being named on the list alongside 30 Australian young innovators, trailblazers, sports stars and entrepreneurs.
After making her senior debut for Australia back in 2018 at just 15, Fowler became the fifth youngest player for the national team. Since that game in the USA against Brazil, the forward has been a stalwart of the Matildas, being named to two FIFA Women's World Cup squad and two Olympic Games squads.
The young forward started her professional football career with Adelaide United in the A-League Women's before leaving the club to join Montpellier HSC in France at the age of 17. After three seasons in France, the forward made the dream move to England, signing a four-year contract with English giants Manchester City.
Since making her debut back in 2018, the forward has made 56 appearances for the national team, scoring 15 goals in green & gold. The Australian public got to see Fowler at her best during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023, shining on home soil to help Australia to their best-ever finish at the tournament. Fowler scored a goal against Canada on a memorable night in Melbourne. The young forward showed her class in the tournament, picking up a wonderful assist on Caitlin Foord's goal against Denmark during our Round of 16 victory.
“When I first started out and debuted for the national team, I was a super driven person and very focused on football, to the point where anything off the field was a distraction,” Fowler tells Forbes Australia in a phone call from her home-away-from-home in Manchester, England.
More recently, Mary Fowler picked up the PFA Australian Young Women's Footballer of the Year for the second time after claiming the award back in 2022.
THE FORBES AUSTRALIA 30 UNDER 30 LIST:
| Abhishek Maran, Rampersand (finance and VC) | Andrew Pankevicius, Lucas Sargant, Alexander Valente, Redactive AI (technology) | Annie Liao, Build Club (finance and VC) |
| Ariarne Titmus (sport) | Awer Mabil, Barefoot to Boots (social impact) | Chanel Contos, Teach Us Consent (social impact) |
| Christopher Durre, Max Mito, Kieran Start, StrongRoom AI (technology) | Davie Fogarty, The Oodie (retail and e-commerce) | Dylan Coyne, Updoc (science and healthcare) |
| Grace Brown, Andromeda Robotics (science and healthcare) | Hamish McKay, Order Editing (retail and e-commerce) | Hannah Ferguson, Cheek Media (media and entertainment) |
| Jacob Elordi (music and the arts) | Jessica Arthur, Lauren Rugolo, Emma Spiliopoulos, Lash Therapy (retail and e-commerce) | Jessica Fox (sport) |
| Mason Yates, Blackbird VC (finance and VC) | Mary Fowler (sport) | Matthew Crott, Matthew Boustred, ResusRight (science and healthcare) |
| Matt Gordon, Jesse Waller, Inner Steps (social impact) | Natasha Etschmann, Tash Invests (media and entertainment) | Oscar Piastri (sport) |
| Sam Crowther, Kasada (technology) | Shoaib Iqbal, Przemyslaw Lorenczak, Esper Satellite Imagery (technology) | Stephanie Claire Smith, Kic (technology) |
| Tammy Hembrow, Saski/TammyFit (retail and e-commerce) | The Kid LAROI (music and the arts) | Tkay Maidza (music and the arts) |
| Troye Sivan (music and the arts) | Zara McDonald, Michelle Andrews, Shameless Media (media and entertainment) | Zara Seidler, Sam Koslowski, The Daily Aus (media and entertainment) |
* The judging panel included Robbie and James Ferguson (Immutable co-founders), Luli Adeyemo (Best Case Scenario), Vidit Argawal (The High Flyers Podcast), Jessy Wu (Encour), Craig Blair (Airtree), Kelly Ryan (ex-Netball Australia CEO), Jeff Browne (Collingwood president), Sarah Michael (ex-Pedestrian), Kim Randle (FairSupply), Sarah Liu (TDC Global), Renee Schembri (RSPM Creative), Dimitry Tran (Harrison.ai), Guy Hudson (Loam Bio) and Sophia Hamblin-Wang (MCi Carbon).