Growing up in a small country town I never dreamed that I would one day be a leader, let alone of my diverse community. Here I am with the great privilege of being a leader in my local town, I was first voted on to Council in 1994 and as President 2001 – the first woman to hold that position and one of the youngest Presidents.
My life was also filled with raising a family, trips to school and sports with my 4 great kids, assisting on the farm and contributing on committees on a local, regional and state level. For 8 years I also had the great privilege to work as PA to Maggie Dent , she is a wonderful role model for diving deeper into ones self, and great friend to boot!
In 2015 after a 12 year break from Council and feeling that I had both the time and passion to invest in my community, I nominated for Council again and have been the President since that time working tirelessly to improve the community for residents and visitors alike. I also hold a number of Board positions that aim to improve the communities in both the Great Southern and Rural Western Australia. I believe that community is very important and with declining populations in the regional areas, it is more important than ever before to ensure there is innovation from and empathy for those that live in the bush. I am a strong leader who brings passion for building social and economic sustainability to rural communities. I simply love where I live!
Deciding to do this photo shoot was in itself a challenge – timing is everything, it is definitely not something I would normally do. But having a bit of a personal crisis at the end of 2018 which made me question both my attractiveness and worth, something about the call out for women in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond, to be involved created some intrigue, it was also shared by a dear friend of mine and I thought: why not me? I’m a mad Brene Brown fan, my favourite quote is: “I want to be brave with my life. And when we make a choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage, or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time!”
So I chose to step out of my comfort zone and participate in the project, Sharon was fabulous and I was quite gobsmacked at the results, it has given me the opportunity to see myself in a new light.
Now in my mid fifties I feel fitter than at any other time in my life – I have really prioritised my health, and although not everything in my life is so easy to fix I feel I am heading in the right direction.
I now recommend that people take an opportunity to get professional photos taken – as mums we too often have many, many photos of our kids and families…. but few good ones of ourselves.