The Work Stuff
I've lived in Sydney my whole life and grew up 20 mins away from The Missing Link office. My parents actually met back in the 80's while both were working for an IT company on the same street where The Missing Link is now.
When I was young, I wanted to be a psychologist or a vet, but my first job was as a check out chick.
I started at The Missing Link just over three years ago and I feel like I've found my niche. I was looking to change industry after spending a few years working in hospitality and, to be honest, I wasn't sure what I wanted. I had some interviews at other places, but I remember walking away from my interview with Karen (our GM) knowing that The Missing Link was where I wanted to be.
I started on reception and moved into a finance role within my first six months at the company. My biggest highlight has definitely been my jump to service delivery for the security division near the end of 2017. It was a big risk that I have never looked back from.
I’m currently a Service Delivery Coordinator for the Security division. It sounds clichéd, but what I love most about my role is the teams I get to work with every day. Our service delivery team is like my second family. I'm also lucky to work closely with our consultants, who are a formidable force of super intelligent monsters – scary, but in a good way. Their passion and skill are awesome to witness and be a part of. Plus, they know how to pick locks. That is cool.
The women at The Missing Link inspire me. Specifically, those who have forged the progression path before me (Rebecca Ney and Clare Burman-Reynard in particular), starting on reception and working hard and smart to get into the awesome roles they're in now. That's insane to me. I feel lucky to be surrounded by intelligent and passionate women who work hard to get what they want.
Honestly, I don't know what the future holds from a career perspective, but I know it will be in the cyber security industry. It's exciting to be part of something that's constantly evolving.
My attitude to life has always been to seek out challenges and see where they lead me, and not stress too much about having things set in stone. It has done me pretty well so far.
The Tech Stuff
I love technology and it breaks my mind every day when I reflect on how much it has changed our lives. It's hard for me to imagine a life without my phone giving me access to almost any piece of knowledge I might want, within a matter of seconds.
My favourite piece of tech is noise cancelling headphones. And it blows my mind that we can now have things like a VR experience in our own lounge rooms. PlayStation VR is on my tech wish list for sure.
Duolingo is one of my favourite apps. I use it to brush up on the languages I studied at uni. I've also recently started learning Japanese on there too (so I can head up the Tokyo office when it opens *cough*). Spotify is another favourite, I'm pretty much always listening to music. I also like to listen to true crime podcasts when I'm driving home from work.
The Fun Stuff
When I was young, I was a serious bookworm and one of my goals for 2019 is to pick up this hobby again. I was, and still am, a massive Harry Potter nerd - I queued up at 6am at my local Borders to get the final book and I read it all within one day.
If money wasn’t an issue, I'd be flying into Japan, it would be the dead of winter (I'm talking sub zero temperatures), I'd be surrounded by cats, drinking yuzu sake and watching Lord of the Rings.
I'm cat obsessed. If you want a video of a cat doing anything, I've probably got it. I think I was probably a cat in my previous life before I rebooted as a human.
Fun fact about me, Barack Obama follows me on Twitter. Yes, the real one. I have no idea how, when or why this happened, but I don't question it!
On the weekend I can usually be found drinking long island iced teas or trying (and failing) to keep my indoor plants alive. I've killed an air plant, which is supposed to be essentially unkillable and doesn't even need soil to survive. Do not ask me to plant-sit for you!
The best thing about living in Sydney is that it feels like a million places blended into one. I really love the inner west, there's so many bars and pretty much any cuisine you could want to try. It's where I spend most of my time.
To end on a more serious note, I love getting to know people and trying to understand how others see and experience the world. I get a real thrill when I find a common ground with someone that I wouldn't expect. It's pretty rare with billions of people all experiencing the universe in their own unique ways.
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