Operations Manager

• May 2021 - Present

Founder

• 2015 - 2016

Initially responsible for establishing the Women’s Room initiative as a community capacity building endeavour, this role rapidly expanded from a leadership role – sourcing and building the space, developing the program framework, implementing a stakeholder engagement campaign and ultimately bringing together a group of women in the local community – to an educational and facilitation role. This secondary role became the primary focus. Overall responsibilities included: • Establishing the operational framework for the program, seeking and securing funding, creating and implementing a stakeholder engagement strategy, and establishing a robust reporting and evaluation mechanism. • Developing a modular course by drawing together relevant theoretical concepts, philosophies and pedagogies, and combining these with practical skill development within a modern teaching and learning framework. • Creating all program materials, teaching and learning experiences, and tools used within the education program, comprised of interactive workshops, practical assignments and round table discussions supported by coaching and mentoring. Show less

Diversity Consultant

• 2008 - 2010

Accountable for developing and facilitating professional development courses, training programs and capacity building projects for a wide range of clients, this role rapidly evolved to encompass leading a large scale program for a newly acquired contract with a key government client – the NT and WA Government Cultural Inclusion Professional Development Program for Childcare Services. Responsibilities included: • Undertaking a detailed assessment of all levels of professional practice and service delivery amongst childcare centres and other services; then developing a series of recommendations accordingly. • Developing a multidisciplinary program to build capacity and enable strategic partnering amongst community support services across the states, designed to assist in meeting the challenge of a sharp increase in clients from migrant families. • Leading the design and implementation of professional development and training that was practical, innovative and tailored to the unique needs of the workforce and their clients. • Identified an opportunity to build capacity in a sustainable manner, and subsequently built multi-stakeholder partnerships with management and leadership stakeholders within the organisation to assist them in driving organisation-wide change. • Represented the company at senior stakeholder meetings and built capacity ‘upwards’ to enable their understanding of authentic non-tokenistic cultural awareness needs in services. • Developing and publishing a suite of engaging, accessible and relevant learning and professional development resources focused on cultural inclusion – which have been incorporated in all onboarding, training and operational processes. • Facilitating region-wide education programs, taking into account the different needs of rural WA and NT including areas such as Bunbury, Busselton, Margaret River, Collie and Donnybrook Show less

Women's Refuge Support Worker

• 2005 - 2006

Responsible for providing integrated support to women and children experiencing domestic and family violence, this role involved providing an array of services in an advocacy and facilitation capacity, working on the frontline: • Providing high quality emotional support and counselling in an inclusive manner, offering relevant information and access to referral services, providing financial and practical assistance, undertaking risk assessments and developing safety plans. • Enabling women’s access to housing, welfare, benefits and legal advice while simultaneously helping them understand and process their experiences within cultural and feminist contexts in order to break the cycle moving forward. Show less

Adult Migrant Program - Lecturer of English

• 2005 - 2005

Responsible for facilitating the Adult Migrant Program, this role was accountable for delivering English language lessons, cultural awareness classes and society and culture lectures to newly arrived adult migrants and refugees. Funded by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, the program required that participants learn the basic skills required to support their entry and inclusion within Australian society and assist them in becoming productive community members through an immersive teaching framework delivered in a culturally sensitive, inclusive manner. This involved: • Developing engaging, informative teaching and learning experiences for an extremely diverse student cohort, with students including those from Darfur, Cambodia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. • Creating unique materials and resources in order to accommodate the diversity within the classroom, ensuring that key course material and syllabus outcomes were delivered in a culturally appropriate manner that resonated with students. • Fostering capability by facilitating multidisciplinary learning, bringing together cultural and linguistic experience to provide students with the practical support necessary to challenge preconceived ideas and become participatory learners. • Ensuring that lectures, workshops and tutorials accommodated a wide array of learning styles – communicative, written, verbal, auditory and expressionistic. • Taking into account the need for a trauma-informed approach to education provision, considering the student cohort’s personal experiences and capabilities Show less

Regional Manager

• 1997 - 2001

This multifaceted role evolved from an education position as University Teacher from 1997 to 1998 to Teacher Trainer from 1998 to 2000, and from then onwards as Regional Director. The Regional leadership role was accountable for leading the new strategic direction for the British Council’s Medellin regional office, an area with a population of two million. This involved: • Developing and deploying a strategy to raise awareness of the Council’s profile and influence despite increasing political, social and economic instability across the region. • Managing all financial administration, communication strategies, corporate services and operations necessary to ensure the office ran effectively and continued to develop and deliver education, training and professional development programs. • Leading a team of four staff, supporting them with the frameworks and strategic direction necessary to provide quality consulting services to build capacity amongst leadership and teaching staff within educational organisations regionally. Show less