After school, I started a Bachelor of Liberal Studies (blend of Arts & Science) at the University of Sydney but took a gap year after 3 semesters to do a season working in Meribel – a French ski resort. At the end of the season, two of my best mates from IGS – Sebastian Matthews and Julian Gutierrez – joined me for a summer season working on the Spanish Costa Brava, before we all returned to Sydney to finish uni. I transferred to a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in History and Psychology, before getting my first corporate job in a project management consultancy, working in admin.
From there…
I found my passion for projects – more specifically, helping people learn how to use project management tools and techniques to achieve whatever goal was before them. I stayed in that consultancy for seven years, working my way up to Office Manager, then General Manager, and completed a Master of Project Management in the process. This took me from back-of-house admin to front-of-house consulting on projects and training project managers. The best part was getting to work across industry, with private, public, and not-for-profit organisations – delving into projects as far and wide as defence, aerospace, transport, software development, environment, health, justice, and Indigenous outcomes. I became a tourist of industry and I loved it! In 2012 I started my own training and consulting business, specialising in project/program/portfolio management – Elemental Projects.
Along the way…
I moved to Curl Curl on the Northern Beaches with my husband, Dave, our three kids, Ethan (22), Olly (14), and Lexie (11), and our two dogs, Malinche and The Queen. Olly and Lex went to IGS for a couple of years (before the commute became too much for us) and loved their time at the school as much as I did. Seeing how IGS has grown in size but held onto its core values of inclusion and creativity and anyone-can-do was very special.
These days…
I’m still obsessed with projects. As CEO of Elemental Projects, I lead a team of twenty fabulous people who, like me, love to support ‘good work, done well.’ I’m often back at the University of Sydney, either lecturing in the Master of Project Management or as a member of the Industry Advisory Board for the School of Project Management. I also sit on the board of an international standards organisation for project management, which takes me all over the world a couple of times a year, chatting about projects with government and industry leaders, academics, and other specialists. But I’m just as happy ferrying my kids to playdates and walking the dogs at Curly.
Looking back…
I think the lessons I learned and the people I met at IGS had a massive influence on where my life has gone. I was only at IGS for my last two years of high school, but those years profoundly changed me. I learned to accept myself as I am and to have a real go at the things I want, because life is long, success is in the eye of the beholder, and there are many paths to happiness.
Anything you would like to add?
I’d love to mention our Diploma of Project Management – it’s for anyone with at least a year of experience working on projects of any kind, in any industry or technical domain. We’re running a free Open Day in Sydney on 15 October for those who are curious and want to see what the course involves before enrolling. All are welcome! If you have a project, or manage people who have projects, you can register yourself or your people here.