ABOUT ME
About me.
I am inspired by the incredible things people can do. We are creative, resilient and determined beings. We have come to understand that intelligence, compassion, insight and wisdom are unique to us humans, and these traits both define us and unify us. I believe these traits are innate in us all, but I that they can be developed at any time in our lives. I am continually astonished and delighted by the feats, achievements and capacity for growth of humans, and am devoted to working with individuals and teams to bring out their best.
My professional background
I have over 25 years’ professional experience in corporate and start-up organisations as a People & Culture leader and executive coach. For the past 10 years I have sat at executive tables, coaching leadership teams in effective communication, collaboration, performance and culture development. I have designed and embedded cultural change, performance evaluations, organisational restructures and leadership and development models. I’ve seen established organisations stagnate and strive to change, and brand new companies blossom through adversity. I’ve seen people at their best, and at their most challenged. I have learned that perspective, purpose, respect and care, flexibility and diligence are the things that all great leaders share. As an independent coach and consultant I have worked across various fields including, bio-tech, medicine, finance, media, legal, retail, logistics and consulting, and while the contexts may vary, the challenges of individuals, teams and leaders remain the same. I have university degrees in history, languages and commerce, and professional training in management, governance, organisational and ADHD-specific coaching.
My community work
I am passionate about connection, community and building compassion and understanding to the world around me. My husband Chris and I have three kids with neurodiverse challenges that include Autism Spectrum Disorder (including Pathological Demand Avoidance), ADHD (both inattentive and combined types), generalised and social anxiety. Over the years we have been learning, growing, researching and gathering tools, techniques, and have been blessed to meet dozens of families just like ours. With about 15% of kids in Australia living with different neurodivergent conditions, I became driven to help others going through similar struggles, and started building Takes A Village in 2019. The Takes A Village team is made up of passionate individuals, all with lived experience parenting neurodivergent kids. The team bring deep experience across all the hard stuff, including coming to terms with diagnosis, kinder and school, siblings and family dynamics, dealing with medical and therapist teams, family and friends and the general mayhem of everyday life. Together we also have decades of professional years in community building, coaching, writing, media, and more. I am often invited to speak at events, in the media and in public conversations about raising neurodiverse families.
My personal life
I discovered my ADHD brain after one of my children was diagnosed, and I’ve relished in learning more about my brain, my nervous system and the gifts of unique wiring. I have spent most of my life striving to understand myself and others, in an effort to build meaningful, genuine relationships, and to make the most of the one life I have. I am a bit of a nerd and my curiosity is endless. I burn through books and podcasts via Audible - I’m an auditory learner and it means I can multi-task. I also love film and television programs depicting stories of the human experience- I’m also highly visual, and this provides an opportunity to rest . Becoming a parent has been the greatest gift, and frankly, the harder it is, the more I thank my higher power for the opportunity to raise little humans. True to my ADHD form, I have many half-finished projects, my most exciting being half a book, but my endless enthusiasm and optimism provides me with confidence they’ll all get done.
My passions include
Working alongside inspired individuals and teams to bring light to existing strengths and unlock potential.
Building community of families with neurodivergent kids, to share our experiences, support each other and usually both laugh and cry together
Reading broadly across philosophy, faith, psychology, sociology and even some fictional classics.
Cooking vegetarian Mexican food.
Dogs.
Vinyasa and Yin yoga.
Cold ocean dips.
Pizza. The fancy Italian kind.