Gippsland as a whole has had its fair share of rough trots. That’s a flippant way to say this is an area where communities have suffered and rallied, and suffered, and rallied. I spent a lot of time supporting the communication and engagement effort in Morwell in 2014 and 2015 with the Hazelwood Mine Fire and […]
When I was young, summer holidays meant camping at Warrnambool’s Surf Side 1 or 2 caravan parks with the entire extended family, getting rolled in the ocean and snorting salt water out of the way for hours a day. Or taking trips down the Great Ocean Road with my friends, ignoring the prospect of bumper […]
You wake up smelling bushfire. It’s on the wind, in almost inner city Melbourne. In the distance the city has disappeared under a fog of smoke that doesn’t belong to it either. It complements in a tiny, miniscule way the apocalyptic photos coming out of eastern and north east Victoria under those blood red, smoke-choked skies. […]
Leadership is a funny thing. You don’t need to be a Leader to be a ‘leader’. Sometimes you don’t know it’s being done well until it’s not there any more. Sometimes you don’t know you’re leading because you’re ‘just doing your job’. And sometimes leadership comes from unexpected quarters because someone has an opportunity to show what […]
This New Year’s Eve I strolled down my inner Melbourne suburban main street for a casual dinner with friends. And I was grateful I could. I’m grateful for my year, for my Christmas, my home and my family. I’m holding onto that gratitude with both hands knowing that others are fighting for those very things, […]
Tech start-up Third Aurora has a little something special on the market with an augmented reality App testing the boundaries of technology with more than 500 wineries from across the world so far. Winerytale takes a real wine bottle and via a smartphone app displays the winemaker’s own video, audio, images, text and sound to […]
I may have extensive experience in internal and external stakeholders, but as I explore my new hustle as a small business owner of a boutique communications agency, building and maintaining relationships with new – and existing – clients takes on a vital note. What’s important to me is what’s important to them. I listen, ask […]
My memory says I was young when as a regional journalist I started writing about big things. Murder. Grief. Terrorism attacks. I don’t remember being asked if I ‘needed to speak to anyone’. Maybe I was. Regardless, I had in place my own psychological support to cry through the things I had seen, heard, written […]
In November I was asked to chat to council communicators for a Municipal Association of Victoria sponsored forum about social media and communication in emergencies. It was a pleasure to wear two hats, in my former role leading emergency management communications and working as a senior officer with a busy metropolitan council. Councils are closest to […]
My first trip overseas was the first anniversary of the Bali bombing. In 2002, a series of bombs in Kuta, Bali killed 202 people and injured hundreds more. I was a journalist at the Geelong Advertiser working the afternoon shift and oblivious to the international tragedy when I walked in. I had to do multiple ‘death […]
I was really pleased to complete the final module of my IAP2 Certificate of Engagement recently. Over a 12 month period I have delved into the world of engagement and strategy moving through the modules on engagement foundations, methods, facilitation and evaluation. Engagement Evaluation was one of the more daunting lessons for me. It was acknowledged […]
“Bring the girlie in. Not a culture fit. But she’s a woman. She’s so full on.” Marketing strategist Anne Miles (CPM) introduced her talk on unconscious bias and the push for gender neutrality in marketing with a bit of punch. Bluntly, she said brands themselves have an unconscious bias and don’t always recognise their own customers. For […]