My body of work

Body of work

Body of Work is a concept I work on with my coaching clients. Prompted by the ideas in Pamela Slim’s book, Body of Work: Finding the Thread that Ties your Story Together, we explore the ingredients and continuing themes emerging and linking over time.

I have found body of work to be a powerful foundation for my own transition journey. On the day I was made redundant from the organisation I worked in for over 30 years I shared a piece, Your body of work: the greatest gift for transition to a bright new life.

Body of work offers us a perspective to see patterns, themes and skills in our life’s work and to see how they can be combined and developed in new ways.

As I’ve moved through this time of transition, I have realised that the key threads that tie my story together are:

making a difference (always a motivator for me, sharing skills and knowledge to help others);
teaching, coaching, mentoring, blogging (different forms of empowering others and sharing knowledge, skills and experience);
creativity (innovating, leading it, fostering it, writing);
leadership and self-leadership (leading others means leading yourself first);
being a reflective practitioner and knowing myself (a constant search for self-understanding, professional development and reflecting on experiences in work and other life roles);
writing (the authentic heart of it all, being a writer, becoming a teacher of writing and weaving it as a strategic and professional superpower in my life);
introversion and intuition as key strengths and gifts as an INTJ, the captains of my personality ship I needed to learn to work with; and,
in all of this, being wholehearted in how we live and work, not bringing parts of ourselves to the door of any workplace or relationship.

Here is more about my body of work – qualifications, skills, work experience, speaking engagements and publication notes – as worked on over time.

I hope it helps you to see my strengths and the recurring themes in my life and how this concept also might apply to you. If you would like to work with me on better understanding your body of work over time to support you in transition, head over to this link for more information.

Work with me

Overview of current focus and experience

A self-employed writer, certified life coach and personality type practitioner at Quiet Writing, a graduate of the Beautiful You Coaching Academy certified in Jung/Myers-Briggs personality type, I support women to make transitions to more creative and wholehearted lives through enhanced self-leadership and personality understanding, gathering the threads of their story and body of work so they can shine.

A highly experienced leader in adult education and the vocational education and training sector by background, I was most recently in the role of Director Strategic Policy for TAFE NSW, the largest and leading provider of technical and vocational education in Australia. With an extensive knowledge of the tertiary education sector, I worked in the Office of the NSW Minister for Education, the Hon Adrian Piccoli, providing high-level policy advice to the Minister and NSW Government based on wide experience as a senior leader and teacher in the sector.

My passion for innovative leadership and self-leadership is the thread that ties my vocational and personal experience together. A creative change agent in all the roles I have fulfilled, I now focus on supporting women to foster creative self-leadership in line with their deeper meaning and purpose.

Current work focus

Writer, Life Coach & Personality Type Practitioner, Quiet Writing™, January 2017 to present

Social Media & Communications Co-ordinator, Australian Association for Psychological Type Inc, June 2018 to present (volunteer role)

Leading social media and communications for AusAPT, the Australian Association for Psychological Type, a non-profit membership organisation and community promoting knowledge and ethical use of psychological type.

Coaching qualifications

Internationally Certified Life Coach, Beautiful You Coaching Academy, a program certified by the International Coaching Federation, completed July 2017.

Personality/Psychological Type Certifications

Majors Personality Type Inventory™, via the Institute for Type Development with Mary McGuiness, December 2016

Majors Personality Type Elements™, via the Institute for Type Development with Mary McGuiness, May 2018

Tertiary Qualifications

Master of Arts in Language and Literacy/Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, University of Technology, Sydney, 1998-2001 Focus: Innovation and Language/Literacy/Numeracy; Online Education: Open, Flexible and Distance Learning, Research Methodologies.

Graduate Diploma in Adult (Basic) Education, University of Technology, Sydney, 1985-6 Focus: Adult Learning, Facilitation, Reflective Practice, Consultancy, Communications, Language/Literacy & Numeracy,

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Diploma of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, 1979-83 Focus: Honours in Education – 2nd Class Division 1 research on readability and literacy/text quality. Majors in Education, English and Linguistics; Diploma of Education in Early Childhood/Primary Education.

Certificate IV in Teaching and Assessment, TAFE NSW 2008 Focus: a specialist qualification for teaching and assessing accredited courses in adult vocational education in Australia.

Membership + office bearer roles

Member of the National Committee for the Australian Association of Psychological Type Inc (AusAPT) as NSW State representative

Member of the British Association of Psychological Type

Member of the C G Jung Society Sydney

Recent articles, guest posts and essays

How In The World Does The INTJ Personality Type Manage Loss? What You Need To Know, published November 2019

Stepping Up Through Fear, published July 2019

Learning the value of writing as self-care, published in I Wrote It Anyway Anthology, edited by Caroline Donahue and Dal Kular, published December 2018

Starting over as a life coach at age 55, published in Issue 54 of inspired COACH Magazine, published November 2018.

Anchors of self-leadership in seas of change, in Captain of Your Own Life Anthology, edited by Angelique Desiree, May 2018

This is how to be more aware of the superior value of neurodiversity in the workplace, published March 2018

‘Unapologetically Quiet’ a poem published in a post 25 tips to living unapologetically edited by Sabrina Davis of Skyhigh and Believe, published March 2018.

Books for emerging coaches to inspire your life, work and business, published in Issue 51 of inspired COACH Magazine, February 2018

This is what happens when recruiters make inclusion mistakes (and how to avoid it), published December 2017

How to make the most of the right recruitment opportunities as an introvert, published October 2017

Extraverted Intuition: Imagining the Possibilities, published October 2017

How to become the heart of successful leadership: this is what you need to know, published August 2017

Introverted Intuition: Learning from its Mystery, published June 2017

Shining a Quiet Light: Working the gifts of introversion, originally published in The Introvert Effect Magazine Issue 1 February 2017 and reproduced on Quiet Writing with permission of The Introvert Effect editor, Katherine MacKenzie-Smith.

Recent speaking engagements

Learned Wisdom: Journeys in Type and Transition, Australian Association of Psychological Type Conference, Melbourne, 23 November 2019

Learned Wisdom: Journeys in Type and Transition, British Association of Psychological Type Conference, Milton Keynes, UK, 13 April 2019

Previous work experience

You can find more detail on each of these positions in my profile on LinkedIn.

Special Advisor Education Policy & Director Strategic Policy, TAFE NSW, February to December 2016
Associate Institute Director, Customer Engagement, TAFE NSW South Western Sydney Institute, January – February 2016
Institute Director – TAFE NSW Riverina Institute, April to December 2015
Departmental Liaison Officer, Office of the Minister for Education, August 2013 to March 2015
Institute Director – TAFE NSW Western Institute, August to October 2012 and short term relieving opportunities – Institute Director, TAFE South Western Sydney Institute, 2012-13
Associate Institute Director – Strategy and Development, TAFE NSW South Western Sydney Institute, March 2012 – August 2013
Director Business Development, TAFE NSW South Western Sydney Institute, January 2011 to March 2012
Associate Director – Business and Services, TAFE NSW South Western Sydney Institute, March – December 2010
Associate Director – Strategy and Development, TAFE NSW South Western Sydney Institute, March – June 2009
Director Employment Preparation/Foundation Skills Faculty, TAFE NSW South Western Sydney Institute, July 2007 – March 2010
Associate Director/College Director – Ultimo, TAFE Sydney Institute, March – July 2007
Director Sutherland College, TAFE Sydney Institute, April – May 2006, Oct 2006 – March 2007
Director Organisational Development, TAFE Sydney Institute, September 2006
Assistant Director Educational Programs, TAFE Sydney Institute, Sutherland & Ultimo, 2001-5
Senior Education Officer, Ultimo College, TAFE Sydney Institute, 2000-2001
Teacher/Head Teacher, Adult Basic Education (Literacy/Numeracy & Communications) and Tertiary Preparation, TAFE NSW: Padstow 1987-9, Cooma 1990-2000

Key publications & presentations contributing to excellence in Adult Vocational Education and Training

‘Systematic Innovation meets Australian policy changes’, Leadership: Journal for Post-Secondary Leaders, Vol. 19.2 Fall, 21-23, co-authored with Dr John Mitchell

Presentation to AUSTAFE National Conference: ‘SWSi Innovate: a publication, a model and a set of skills for growing the business’, 11 October, 2013

‘SWSi innovate’: the model of systematic innovation at TAFE NSW – South Western Sydney Institute, as Project Lead with Dr John Mitchell (author), 2012

Presentation to Australian Vocational Education Research Association, on A Manager’s Perspective on Learner Support, University of Technology Sydney October 2010

Towards a model of leadership impact to support innovation, Knowledge Tree ejournal, 2004

Final presentation for National Flexible Learning Leader year: Leadership impact and innovation, Flexible Learning Leaders final workshop, 2004

Adult Basic Education Research Handbook, 1991, University of Technology, Sydney

Australian Adult Basic Education Research Database, 1990, NSW TAFE/University of Technology, Sydney

Adult Basic Education Research Project, in Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services Bulletin, Vol 3, No 3, September 1990, 195-208

Published Poetry

Archetype, Writers at the Raglan, ‘Writers at the Raglan’. Cooma: NightOwl Publishing, 1998:84.

Demoniac, Writers at the Raglan, ‘Writers at the Raglan’. Cooma: NightOwl Publishing, 1998:82.

Metonymy, Writers at the Raglan, ‘Writers at the Raglan’. Cooma: NightOwl Publishing, 1998:62.

Optics, Muse, No 159, March, 1997:15 and Writers at the Raglan, ‘Writers at the Raglan’. Cooma: NightOwl Publishing, 1998.44. Also in this post on Quiet Writing.

Poetics, Muse, No 157, November/December 1996:15 and Writers at the Raglan, ‘Writers at the Raglan’. Cooma: NightOwl Publishing, 1998.9.

Vessel, Writers at the Raglan, ‘Writers at the Raglan’. Cooma: NightOwl Publishing, 1998.97.

December, Mattoid, No 35, 1989: 41

Ten Paces and Turn, Mattoid, No 35, 1989: 42

The Conversation, Mattoid, No 35, 1989: 41

Free ebooks

Reading Wisdom Guide for Creatives, Coaches and Writers

A curated collection of books for creatives, coaches and writers of all kinds. It features all the best books I’ve found in writing, creativity, coaching, productivity, personality, transition and transformation all in one place! I share my reading wisdom of many years to craft this synopsis of 45 top books to inspire your creativity, reading, writing and life.

Get the Reading Guide

36 Books that Shaped my Story

A 94-page celebration of the books we love as our creative legacy and the clues they give as to what is emerging in our story. There is a personal essay about the rationale and process, drawing the threads of the experience together into key themes. Each of the 36 books is discussed showing when they appeared in my life and the influence they provided. I suggest why you might want to read each book too.

Work with me

My body of work