I joined the Zonta Club of North Sydney Breakfast in 2005-2006 while it was still in formation. I came to the club through Julie Ankers who described it to me in glowing terms – the club which believes in service and advocacy for women. That was enough to get me in.
I was born in India and became an ardent feminist after I came to Australia in the early 70s. I found myself a single parent striving to feed ourselves and make a living in a somewhat patriarchal system. This was quite antithetical to my upbringing. Through working hard and studying at post-graduate level at the same time, I began to climb the corporate ladder – with the help of some emancipated and supportive men and a couple of women. However, I have never forgotten how hard it was for a woman to get a credit card, a home loan, a job at a professional level or finish a degree.
In the meantime, I have spent 25 years in corporate HR – at GM level for last 10 years - with multi-nationals and publicly listed companies (recently became a Fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute) and before that as a Manufacturing Planner and Technical Assistant. My qualifications include a BA in Political Science and Sociology, Masters of Commerce (Employment Law), a Graduate Diploma in Psychotherapy & Human Change and I am currently a part-time Ph.D. student looking at ‘The ethics and professionalization of coaching’.
I serve on the Australian board of a European multi-national, am on the board of two not-for-profit organizations as well as a member of the University of Western Sydney Advisory board. I have supported Unifem and WEL over the years and also not-for-profit organizations in the field of disabilities. As I shift to part-time work, I have started a consultancy in corporate coaching, organizational change and strategic HR. Advocating for women – such as raising their status in paid employment, providing educational opportunities for women everywhere, assisting women affected by violence, supporting female health programs and helping women train in new skills (e.g. Mahboba’s Promise programs helping widows in Afghanistan) are all projects dear to my heart.
In my spare time (sic), I design and make clothes and jewelry, read till my eyes are sore (anything from cereal boxes to research papers in coaching), travel, study new techniques in psychotherapy, travel and so on. I am supported by a wonderful partner John (he refers to God as ‘She’), a beautiful and talented 36 year old daughter Lisa and her family, and a handsome ginger cat called Bobby George McTavish.
|
