Kathie Thomas
Kathie M. Thomas, Principal “A Clayton’s Secretary”, is the secretary you need when you haven’t got a secretary! Born out of a strong desire to be home with her five growing daughters, Kathie built a home-based secretarial business March 1994 that grew considerably once she took it online in April 1996. Not only did she get clients that were located far distances but she also took under her wing many women who wanted to do what she did – work from home! She now leads a team of over 200 in 16 countries.
Coming from a background of 23 years’ corporate administrative experience, Kathie’s first award ‘Secretary of the Year’ in 1993 presented by the Institute of Professional Secretaries & Administrators, and sponsored by Microsoft, helped her get started and she has won numerous awards since, with the latest being a nomination for the Australian of the Year Awards 2008.
She is a firm believer of being involved in local community as well as the wider community and has served on committees with various associations locally and internationally over the past 14. Her motto is: “I’m a doer not a viewer”. She likes to be in the midst of things rather than just watch them happen.
Simone Morley, B. Pharm, Grad.Dip Herb. Med., Adv.Cert NFM
I am a mother of 9 year old daughter Zoe and 21 year old step daughter Sarah and live with my husband Tony here in Melbourne. I have more than 18 years experience as a clinical pharmacist while also achieving post graduate qualifications in nutritional, environmental and herbal medicine and natural fertility management. I now work as an Integrative Pharmacist and Natural Healthcare Practitioner and have my own clinic which I run from home called The Centre for Wellness and Fertility and where I combine the best of science and nature to nurture, empower, educate and inspire women towards a better state of wellness.
Richard Gijsbers
Richard was a forester before he resigned from the public service to be an information management consultant. Currently he is the co-owner of small business with his wife Glenys which helps organisations with the administrative tasks they can’t (or don’t want to) do.
Richard’s focus is on helping organisations with their strategic projects and information management.
His time as a public servant taught him lots of theory which he is now putting to the test on his own business. It has been a steep learning curve…
Natasha Crestani, Inspired Honey
Natasha Crestani is a speaker and accredited trainer who presents on improving people performance. She has appeared on TV and radio and has spoken in the US. With her past life as an award winning country music artist, Natasha has enjoyed audiences from a young age.
She is a Certified NLP Practitioner (Neuro Linguistic Programming), accredited with the Australasian NLP Assoc & American Institute of NLP. She is a therapist who works with her husband, registered psychologist and teacher, Jason Crestani, to help people create a healthy work/life balance. They set up Inspired Honey to provide innovative solutions for working parents, and small and medium business. Their workshops and coaching involve tips and tricks in time and stress management and goal-setting strategies that actually work! She lectures at various TAFE colleges. Natasha is the author of forth-coming book and a regular contributor to publications.
Visit her site at www.inspiredhoney.com
Lucie Battaini, MultimediART & Tash Hughes, Word Constructions
Lucie and Tash are both examples of what Business Mums can do. They started small, from home with young children and now are both successful businesswomen with waiting lists of clients.
Through multimediART, Lucie has helped many businesses have a unique online presence through website design, email marketing software and hosting. Her clients love her down-to-earth explanations and the friendly service.
Tash uses her professional writing skills for clients’ newsletters, websites, manuals and promotional articles. She runs Word Constructions as a writer and business coach, and Save Time Online as an information portal for busy Australians.
Together, Tash and Lucie understand the need to be professional and attention grabbing online – and how to balance the two.
Yvette Kwei, Magnum IP Legal Services
Yvette has over 10 years experience as a solicitor. Her focus is on Intellectual Property law (including trade marks). Having worked in both Melbourne and Perth, Yvette has worked with a range of large organisations, such as Pacific Brands (Bonds, King Gee etc), CPA Australia and Mayne Health, small to medium enterprises and start up businesses.
Magnum IP Legal Services was established after the birth of Yvette’s first child with the desire to achieve greater work-life balance. This perspective, combined with her career as both in-house legal counsel and working within legal practice has given Yvette a first hand appreciation of the challenges and issues faced with running a business. These experiences are reflected in the practical, easy to understand advice provided by Yvette.
Brenda Thomson, Networking World
Brenda Thomson, is the CEO and founding Director of Networking World, an online directory of business networking resources.
Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts, Psychology (hons.) and a Graduate Certificate of Training and Development. She is also a Certified Internet Consultant.
Brenda has extensive experience in the public and private sector as a HR consultant, workplace trainer, facilitator, senior manager and career development coach and mentor.
Brenda is a mother of two who has successfully balanced work and family life over the past 20 years.
Contact Details
Name: Brenda Thomson
Address: PO Box 184, Mitcham, Victoria, 3132
Phone: 03 9017 5570
Email: brenda@networkingworld.net.au
Dr Prasantha Jayawardhana
Acclique® is a 100% Australian owned accounting software package developed by Dr Prasantha and Mrs Gwenda Jayawardhana (CPA) in 2000 to help Micro and Homebased businesses easily and quickly manage their accounts. Today Acclique® is used in every State in Australia. It was named the 2006 Australian Achiever Award winner for Qld’s Customer Service category for computer software. Contact us on Freecall 1800 260 888 or visit www.acclique.com to find out more.
Nabil Salemeh, ActionCOACH
ActionCOACH Nabil Salameh is no stranger to business. Having over 27 years of business experience has given him the intimate understanding and knowledge of what businesses needs to be successful. His extensive business knowledge in conjunction with ActionCOACH's innovative systems means Nabil can provide solid market proven methods of increasing business profitability and performance. More importantly, his clear communication style and ability to get things done means he is able to teach business owners how to get what they want out of their businesses in a remarkably short time.
For the last 6 and a half years, Nabil has been helping business owners achieve greater success in their businesses, translating into greater profits, a better running business, and more free time out of the business.
To find out more visit www.actioncoach.com/nabilsalemeh