1. First thing in the morning when you wake up do you look at your phone? If so, what do you search?
For me it all depends on the day of the week…I keep my phone on silent through the night but I am of the sandwich generation and have elderly parents as well as young people starting out in their own business…parents only use the land line so that is always on…My sons own a bar/live music venue so I will often quickly check if they have had a big night on as I still worry about them and support them whenever they need…for work I would look at the phone if I knew we had some press happening or on a day where we are teaching, especially Sunday as I need to check quickly for messages re teachers not attending and try and find cover for them. Sometimes on a quiet day I will do my social media updates in bed before I get up so it gets done…lots of different reasons to look or not look at my phone!
2. Are you a coffee or tea drinker and what kind?
coffee…skim cap but only one a day..our office is right next door to an amazing coffee shop and we smell it all day so I think the fumes keep us going.
3. You always imagined growing up you’d be?
Well that was a while ago but I was always fascinated with animals and still am…think I wanted to be a dolphin trainer!
4. Little Hereos Swim Academy came about from…
Very long story that happened very quickly…won’t pull any punches and tell it like it is…working managing a large inner city swim school we were raising money for a special needs program with a swimathon…this program I developed…I did not think that the fundraising was being correctly administrated by management…I was approached by one of the parents regarding making a donation and he suggested we go off site and have a coffee together to chat…during the chat he informed me that he was the founder of a private trust that had long pockets and gave money to worthwhile projects…He asked me what my dream was and I told him a swim school that was one of excellence and centered around children with disabilties and their families…He suggested that I apply for a grant from their trust to get it started. There were conditions that we must be a Charity fully registered with DGR status to apply…Two of my then colleagues joined forces with me and I took a big jump off the cliff and resigned from my stable management position to start Little Heroes Swim Academy…that was four years ago and we have grown enormously but still have not got the home we need yet. The original grant turned out to be a matching build grant but we have been very successful in obtaining other grants and using social enterprise from the profit of our mainstream program to sustain the charity…it hasn’t been easy and I am certainly not in this life for monetary value but I could not see myself staying in the situation that I was in for the rest of my work days…now I feel like my work is my lifestyle and not a job you go to every day.
5. When women are negative it makes you…
I want to find out the circumstances before I choose the path of supporting them or turning them off in my life…I have been fortunate to have done lots of workshops by great people in handling negativity and I always go back to this when I feel myself letting my own negativity start to creep into my life and brain. Everyone is human and has negative thoughts but some women in particular just seem to look for it constantly and it becomes not only a pattern but unfortunately their personality…it’s okay to clean out the cupboards sometimes if these people are draining your life force!
6. When women support one another you…
Love it, need it and thrive on it. I come from a world that is very male dominated. I have no daughters or sisters or nieces or granddaughters so I need to find strong supportive women to help my brain and also mentor off their strength. Women are the new men of the world and we all need to stick together!
7. One thing you keep close to your chest (until now is)…
Sometimes I prefer the company of animals to humans…I have my “girl” staffy and could sit with her all day…I find that there are some horrible humans in the world right now and it bothers me as I get older I get more intolerant of stupidity.
8. To all those women who are negative on social media you’d say…
What is wrong with you! Grow Up! I use social media to promote my Charity and my own profile and also to spread the word on drowning prevention education as the drownings this summer have been ridiculous. All I can say is that what people say on their own pages is their own business but thank goodness for the power of being able to take others comments off your own page! Then you have to deal with the fallout of offending people but if they cannot be adult enough to understand what is correct and what isn’t then its best to remove them. I can’t stand all the politics on social media and never include this at all as it is personal, I also hate the racism that appears…there are good and not so good humans in all races and walks of life…The bullying by younger girls is disgusting and actually causing people to take their own lives which is very sad. Everyone has a different agenda for using social media but lets keep it positive and effective…I would hate to be trolled and criticized as I know a lot of high profile women are. It’s really poor form and these people are just tragic, sad and in need of help…best just not to engage them at all as this is what they feed off.
9. If you could express one piece of QueenHood advice to working women you would say…
Life is for Living…follow your dreams and encourage your children to do the same. Don’t be afraid to take a chance and do something you really want to do rather than sit in the security of a career or job that you are hating with your mind and soul slowly dying just for security and the pay cheque.
10: The never ending quest for balance between work life and family life you take on by…
I try and have two days a week off if I can and one day of that is spent with my husband. We take breaks whenever we can and just go for short trips to the south coast. We both love live music so we go over to our boys bar whenever we can and support them. We are a very close family and also support my elderly parents on the central coast. Being my own boss makes it easier for me to drop things if I need to attend to family matters. Having a strong work team around me also helps with this as I know that I can trust them to support me when I need. We have family dinners once a week and my sons and depending on girlfriend status at the time will attend. We have a big house and the door is always open if they need anything including a room. We also walk the dog together, go to beach etc. Rod hates flying so I do the overseas travel with the Industry Circuit.It works for us, we have been married for 33 years.
11. The recent drownings cross Australia in summer has seen you…
On my knees in disbelief and sadness!!! I just cannot understand how this keeps happening and how the education that is needed just doesn’t seem to be getting out there. Basically people are not watching their children, its hard to comprehend. I have seen it constantly at the pool and beach over the summer break and have had my teachers constantly calling me to say what they too are witnessing. Of course these families are grieving to an extent that no one could ever imagine and full support and respect for their loss if given. But all of these drownings could have been avoided. For every fatality you hear of, there are probably 4 going home from a non fatal accident with brain damage and another 4 going home okay. Whilst swimming lessons are high on the agenda to help prevent these tragedies so is common sense and knowledge. Supervise around the pool, have a pool watcher appointed if you are hosting a party. Keep the gate shut not propped open. Don’t rely on older siblings who get distracted to supervise younger children or elderly grandparents if they are not able to retrieve a child from the pool. Don’t have lightweight furniture around the pool that a child can drag across and climb up and over the fence. Check the fences meet regulation, fence above ground pools even demountables, empty out the blow up ones when not in use. Don’t swim at the beach after dark and if the lifeguard is telling you not to swim as the beach is closed its probably for a good reasons. Don’t ignore him and then expect him to risk his life and save your life. If you own a pool its your responsibility to make sure visitors are supervised as well and everyone that owns a pool should know how to do CPR.
Its got to also become part of the school curriculum.
The work that myself and the water safety task force do on the Australian Swim Schools Associations drowning prevention education products, is all done on a volunteer basis and as a team we do feel deflated when we see the epidemic of drownings occurring this summer especially in NSW.
12. When you’re in work mode you are best described as…
I’m called “The Boss”. I’m involved in my Charity as the CEO down to being in the pool teaching the students and training the teachers. I wear many different caps and am a very patient person. I do expect the same ethics from my staff though and am a big believer in getting the right people on the bus but sometimes changing their seats as I see their potential and skill set. I do also take people off the bus if needed. I try very hard to please people but I do not tolerate rudeness or anyone in the work team that is being cancerous to the culture I am working to develop. I am very thankful to my gen Y workers as they need to be constantly thanked to get the most out of them.
13. The legacy you hope to leave is…
I hope to be like the great Ursula Carlisle and still attend industry related conferences and their wonderful award dinners until I am 90 plus! I want to also continue to run Little Heroes until then…maybe eventually as the Patron and not the CEO but we will see about that. My legacy I hope will be a chain of Little Heroes Swim Academy’s to help many children with a disability love the water but also maintaining the standard and quality that I expect. I would love to see added therapy rooms attached to the centers like sensory gyms and OT rooms so it becomes a bit of a hub. My other dream, but maybe not a Reality, is For a “Little Heroes House”. There is nowhere for these children and families to go for respite and no aged care for them as they go into adulthood and loose their parents. The only place for them as young adults is a nursing home with all the other people that are non functioning. he Callan Park Site would have been perfect as this is what it was initially used for and it is very tranquil. Sadly however, the developers have got hold of it. The parents of these children have to battle for their rights every day of their lives and it should not be like this. To think that they have the worry of what will happen to them when they are no longer around is horrible but it is reality. My Aunt and Uncle face the same dilemma with my cousin. He was only supposed to live until he was around 10 and is now 51 and they in their 80’s. It’s a sad situation for Australia to be in and more needs to be done. But first the pool…baby steps.
