Natassja Purontakanen was born in Redcliffe, QLD. Growing up there was not a lot of opportunity for young girls to play a contact sport, she finally got to take a football field when she was 25 years of age starting out at rugby sevens and 15’s and moving over to rugby league in 2020, prior to taking a wide leap to football she was a QLD Softball representative for most of her younger years. Being a part of the Queensland Maroons State of Origin squad in 2021 was a dream come after all of those backyard footy years with her brother growing up, closely followed by being selected as a part of St George Illawarra Dragons NRLW squad for the 2021 season.
Aside from being an athlete she is a qualified financial planner and currently studying a Graduate Diploma in Financial planning. She has recently started her own business with a goal to improve and educate others to get financially organised to start living a secured and financially stress free lifestyle, particularly for female athletes as she knows how hard it can be to juggle all of the things that come along with being an athlete – training, work, family and trying to balance having a life.
