In the Spotlight

What gets you out of bed on a weekday?

Watering the garden, an early bike ride and quiet time with God while the birds are still singing! Also, getting to work as the Australia Volunteers and Programs Coordinator at the Jane Goodall Institute Australia: I help coordinate our wildlife conservation, school and volunteer programs across Australia and Eastern Africa.

What was your first paid job?

Officially, at DCC! I worked with a great little team in After-School Care on the top oval on Friday afternoons playing chess and soccer with teachers' kids. Unofficially? It was helping my Dad at work tinting windows over the summer holidays: we attended a Day-Nighter ODI at the MCG together as my annual salary, and I thought it was the best thing since sliced gluten-free bread. I can still remember seeing McGrath and Lee coming in to bowl, clear as day!

Thinking back to your years at Donvale, what do you know now that you wish you’d known then?

I'd reassure myself that God will bring everything together for His good. If anxiety about selecting subjects was a real subject, I'd have scored an A+. So my message to any student is simple - try your best to not be like me! Don't be anxious about selecting subjects and degrees to 'finally reach' a career and vocation that glorifies God: one of the beautifully quirky things about life with Him is trying diverse careers and being able to shine for Him in each. He cares much more about your heart than what's written on your CV, he delights in you and he'll get you where you need to be: enjoy the adventure! 

Who in the public eye would you most and least like to work with?

I'd really enjoy working with Maggie Beer because I'm a huge permaculture nerd: I figure she'd help me take all the native plants I try growing in the garden and we can help kids and teens learn to cook with them: there's so many fizzy, unexpectedly awesome flavours out there in our Aussie backyards. I'd least like to work with Rowan Atkinson, only because I'd find it so hard to concentrate on anything else: it's been thirty years since the first Mr Bean and the legend still manages to crack me up like a little kid.

What is the strangest situation you have been in at work?

When I was interning at Collingwood Children's Farm, I got an important phone call earlier than I'd expected. The issue was I had an irritable teenage billygoat called Aristotle trapped between my knees trying to escape while I cleaned a ringworm infection off his forehead: he wasn't my biggest fan right then. Fair enough, little fella. Anyway, a nearby veterinary colleague came to my rescue while I took the call: it ended up being an interview that led to years of field research in Timor Leste and China! More importantly, Aristotle aced his recovery and went back to being a fungi again. We also had a chimpanzee escape at Taronga Zoo, but that's another story!

Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with?

Colin Buchanan! If we had our guitars we could co-write a few brand new songs for my local church service that week, while we waited. I figure elevators have pretty great acoustics, right? I love listening to his music, it has great messages for little kids and big kids, too.

What book are you reading at the moment?

I'm currently reading "How To Talk About Climate Change In A Way That Makes A Difference" by Rebecca Huntley: it's helpful and, interestingly, it includes great insights into how faith communities can advocate for environment care. I work in wildlife conservation, so I love integrating my Christian faith into my work and caring for God's creation.

What was the last CD you bought?

Crikey, I think it's been ten years since I bought my last CD! It was Andrea Bocelli's "My Christmas" for my family home, so we could play new carols in the background while we put up Christmas decorations: we go a bit crazy with our indoor Christmas decorations...garlands, fairy-lights, baubles hanging from the  air-conditioning vents and lots more, it looks beautiful when it's all up and super homely.

What song will always get you on the dance floor?

Anything on an ABBA playlist will get me moving! Like literally, anything.

Where is your favourite place in the world?

Easy - Yirrkala, in North East Arnhem Land! It's a beautiful place with an Indigenous Yolgnu community that is filled with such warm and friendly people, who  inspired me towards reconciliation and encouraged me in my faith. Living there and learning with elders and families was a blessing that's really helped shape my life, and I can't wait to return in the next few years and reconnect.