Who am I and how did I get here – a nonstandard approach to a new member profile.
The early & formative years..
I was born at Randwick hospital in Sydney, but as a very young child we moved to Melbourne. As the family of a senior civil servant, we lived where my father’s work took us.
My childhood, in fact my whole life, has been very heavily influenced by my father. His early life was not a simple one, because as a nine-year-old boy, he left England and his beloved mother and sisters, to sail effectively unaccompanied to meet up with his father in Australia. Understandably, this had a profound effect on him, and when he was a father himself, he was very protective of his daughters - my two much older sisters and myself.
His two tenants in life were to place others before yourself, and whatever you are involved in, to do it to the very best of your ability …. do not settle for less. These were values that helped to make him the very successful man he became and the yardsticks by which I have lived my life.
In fact, his influence has been the making of me, but his protectiveness also inadvertently had the potential to derail my success in later life.
My schooldays were very happy. I embraced learning and as a result, I have had a lifelong love of reading. Toorak Central School provided me with the gateway to my senior school years at Macrobertson Girls High - a selective entry school on the edge of the city. Mixing with a significant cohort of students whose parents had lost whole families Europe, my eyes were opened as to how fortunate my life in Australia was.
My time at Macrob and the opportunity of a Commonwealth scholarship provided me with a very straightforward pathway to Law / Arts at Melbourne University.
An early marriage saw a deviation from my initial plans, as I moved from my very protective father to my very protective husband - both with the best will in the world, but not a good example for strengthening your sense of self. Paternalistic I suppose but for my father, always with the intention of sparing me the hurt he had experienced.
I continued with my university education, with my mother and mother-in-law providing care for my daughter Emma. My foray into external childcare, very limited in the seventies, however began and ended in one day at share house in Lygon Street, Carlton, redolent with the smell of marijuana.
At the same time, I was a very involved executive wife. But my very young high-flying husband had a suspected heart attack, and this was probably around the time I wondered if you could have it all … Just not all at the same time. My decision to defer my studies did, however, provide me with the luxury of being at home with my child, and strengthened the importance family has always played in my life and three years later my son Scott was born.
Our life had much to offer, but the stresses and strains of business success, constant travel, and much time apart over a number of years led us to consider if we were seeking different things from life. During these years I was also considering if I had the capacity to look after myself and my children financially should I need to.
We made the difficult decision to divorce, but fortunately my first husband has always remained a terrific father, and he and I are now firm friends again.
And so, at the age of 30, I started out on a solo career
I presented for the somewhat daunting first job interviews of my life. In a short space of time, I was offered a number of positions, but fortuitously accepted one which set me on the path to become an academic bookseller. The man who had the confidence to employ me was really taking a chance, given my lack of experience. When he asked me how he would know that I was serious about the job and wouldn’t leave in a month, in my naivety, I said why would I be applying for the job if I did not intend to stay! When he asked if I had any other observations about the interview, I also told him he was wearing odd socks! This same man became not only my employer, but my mentor and a friend of over 30 years.
Beginning my career at what is now Monash Frankston, I opened and operated their first campus bookshop, a small retail business, but one which offered me the experience I needed.
Sufficiently successfully it would appear, as some years later, I was approached to establish a similar operation at Frankston TAFE which also integrated their existing internal stationery supply arrangements. This also provided me the opportunity to qualify with a number of diplomas, keeping my academic interest alive. The business was rewarding but challenging and one which required much of my attention at nights and weekends.
As my son entered his final years at school, I made the decision to normalize my working life to allow me to be more available to him and I took a position at Deakin Rusden This gave me the chance to work with the small existing store and ultimately, to relocate the business, increase the turnover and more fully integrate it with the larger Deakin print business.
It was during this time that I married my second husband and increased my interest in snow skiing and motor sport. Much older than myself and someone who was less protective, and he saw no need for me to fall under his shadow. My family was also growing as I became stepmother to two girls of similar ages to my own two children.
As fate would have it, my original employer and mentor sought me out to manage the now Chisholm TAFE businesses which Monash has just acquired. Consisting of stores at Frankston, Dandenong and Moorabbin, the brief was a larger one that I had undertaken before, but in his inimitable fashion when I questioned my capacity to do the job, he gaily said it would be fine, I would just be on a steep learning curve. I always felt that he had more confidence in my abilities than I had, but ultimately his faith in me was rewarded. He taught me that leadership produced positive results where often management failed.
The Chisholm businesses became part of a much larger retail umbrella, which ultimately included Monash stores at Clayton, Caulfield, Frankston and Gippsland as well as Australian Catholic University and the separate Holmesglen TAFE in Ashburton. With such a wide reach, the potential for my professional career to grow increased and with my children now away at university and independent, I took up a position at Monash Caulfield.
In each field of endeavor, I was always privileged to work with terrific people many of whom either moved with me or subsequently applied for positions at the sites where I was located. At Monash Caulfield I was working with George-Ann’s son-in-law Deni Mudigdo. Deni is a most unusual young man and one from whom I learnt a great deal, not only because of his financial acumen but also his calm wisdom and capacity to understand people and how to bring out their best. Ultimately, we worked as partners, he as General Manager of Finance and with me as General Manager of Operations and it was one of the most satisfying professional relationships of my career.
When Monash made the decision to entrust the retails businesses to a burgeoning organization MONYX, which would also encompass Monash catering and sport, another gateway for professional growth opened for me. When it obtained accreditation as a Retail Training Organization, I had the opportunity to increase my academic qualifications as well as my professional experience.
As you can imagine, managing businesses across so many sites, as well as undertaking studies, the workload and hours were significant. Unfortunately, in July 2005 this took its toll, and I was admitted to hospital for an aortic cardiac bypass. At 53, seemingly fit and healthy and in the prime of life, it was rather unexpected, but my family rallied in ways that I could not possibly have expected, and I will be forever grateful.
After nine weeks of recovery, I returned to work, ostensibly 3 half days each week initially. However, the workload soon returned to pre surgery levels, the direction form Monash changed and I made the decision that the time had come to “retire”.
My retirement was short-lived as I was asked to undertake some business development and bookkeeping work part time for a local hairdressing business. Not my milieu, but I accepted non the less. Some months later, I was also approached by Toorak College to work in their retail area, so my weekdays were now once again filled and my second career - life at Toorak College began.
After my first six months at Toorak College, the business manager was looking to make some changes to the purchasing system. As this was an area in which I had some experience and combined with the work I had done in change management at Monash, I left my foray into hairdressing and undertook full time work at Toorak ,managing and operating the purchasing system.
Once established, responsibility for the individual purchases was devolved to the cost centre managers, I continued to manage the process overall and I moved into the business office to oversee accounts payable. From the labour-intensive process I inherited we are finally implementing an electric system which I hope to be fully integrated by term four this year.
Employment at Toorak has provided me with the luxury of working just minutes from home, with civilized hours and the bonus of having three of my granddaughters as students here. My daughter is also a Collegian and, on the staff, so it is a real family affair – some have suggested a Dynasty!
I am very privileged that my twelve grandchildren are enthusiastic to be part of my life. With the adult children in particular, we share many similar interests, and it is wonderful to be able to enjoy things together.