- What motivated you to take on a leadership position?
I commenced a sales and marketing, marketing management career when leaving school at only 18 years of age. By my early 20's I had achieved promotion within David Jones Limited to become the first female administration manager in David Jones NSW. I then realised that it was possible for a girl from the Western Suburbs of Sydney to perhaps do more than the sales girl job that had been expected of me.
- Were you encouraged or mentored during the process of becoming a leader?
During my career I have had the wonderful privileged of working for and with many high profile and high achieving women. These have all made a very distinct impression upon me but most of all it was the ones who not only cared for their families but created a difference in conditions that everyone around them who most inspired me.
- How did you reach your current position – your career path, studies, opportunities?
I achieved my current position as Manager Development and Community Engagement with TIGS after a number of years working in the Illawarra community. My sales and marketing career in Sydney, London, now seems a distant memory as I committed myself to being a true local here in the Illawarra.
- How has your leadership role impacted your relationships with family, friends and colleagues?
I consider my work to be one of the most important aspects in my life. However, above those I place my role as career for my children and my family members who are disabled by various physical and mental disabilities. Balancing this and my passion for volunteering in social justice often stretches me and makes time a very precious commodity.
- What responsibilities do you believe you have to those who “look up to you” as a leader?
I am privileged in my current role to interact not only with the students and staff at TIGS but also with a broad cross section of the Illawarra community. On a recent Saturday I was involved in leading 29 TIGS students to volunteer their time and skills at a picnic for recently arrived refugees from Africa and Burma. I am very inspired by seeing those young people play and engage so joyfully with their peers from overseas.
- How do you measure your success as a leader?
I feel that I am achieving success if in any way I can make a difference that provides an opportunity for a person who otherwise would not of been able to participate.
- What advice would you give other women who are aspiring to be future leaders?
I would encourage women of all ages to be true to their values and true to their beliefs and to seek out opportunities to make a difference. There is a phrase that "life is not the number of breathes you take, but its the moments that take your breath away".
- Who is your leadership role model, and what qualities do they display that you admire?
I have been privileged to work with a number of remarkable women who range from Kate Stevenson (who gave of herself for so many local causes), through to Eugenia (an African Refugee mum now settled in Wollongong who was raising 5 children on her own).
- Current Board Positions / Directorships
- Illawarra Schools Workplace Learning Steering Committee
- Illawarra Area Consultative Committee
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