What position do you hold at Letz Live? What has been your career path so far?
I started my career at a boutique advertising agency in Sydney. It had all the ingredients for a dream job, but it just didn't get me out of bed in the morning.
After less than a year, I threw it in and took off overseas to rethink my goals and career plan. The last destination I visited was India - the perfect place for life assessment!
While I was there I realized that travel is the only thing that really makes me tick, and If I could make a career out of inspiring others to go abroad, I would be pretty content.
Within a week of being home I heard about a Marketing job going at Contiki, and started working for them two weeks later. I met incredible people and learned a great deal, eventually discovering that I wanted to narrow in on more philanthropic ways to travel. This lead me to my current role as the Content and Partnerships Manager for Letz Live.
What do you most enjoy about your role?
I have been allocated the task of developing Letz Live's volunteer programs. In the short time I've been with Letz Live, this has already taken me to a sustainable farming project in Panama, an orphanage in Vietnam, and school based projects in Nicaragua, Indonesia and Cambodia.
I still have to pinch myself that this is actually a job. It sounds clichè, but the best part of visiting these places is the people I meet; people who have dedicated their whole lives to the betterment of others. It keeps me grounded and inspires me to be a better person.
Did you volunteer or work abroad? If so, where and what inspired you to go?
My life has been a bit reversed and I never really found the time to do a working holiday or gap year. As soon as I left school I bought a house, settled down, and decided I would travel when I was an old lady.
By the time I reached 23, my curiosity got the better of me and I finally did some backpacking. It didn't even occur to me to do a volunteer trip or a working holiday until I was making it my career!
When I visit Letz Live's projects, I am positively overwhelmed by how selfless and compassionate our volunteers are. Some of them stay for months on end and love every second of it. I like to think I am volunteering vicariously through them!
What do you most love about Letz Live's programs?
I don't do any customer service, but I love watching the level of attention every single person gets. I often overhear the team talking about "Jim's Grandma" or "the job Suzie got when she returned home".
I have no idea how they know everyone so personally, but they manage! And that starts right from the beginning, ensuring they find an overseas experience that is perfect for them as an individual.
We also make sure that someone in the team has visited every program personally. This way we know exactly what their unique needs are and can personally vouch for the experience. I think that makes us very unique.
Any tips for someone considering their first experience abroad?
Put your phone away! My Grandma just spent 6 weeks in Europe and took an iPhone loaded up with apps so that everything was planned and easy. She even had an app that she could speak into and it would translate into the local language for her!
This was great for her, but I think anyone young should relish the opportunity to get lost and confused. Ask people for directions, use sign language where you need to and enjoy the ups and downs of being somewhere completely foreign. You will learn so much more, and probably end up in unique places with interesting people that your iPhone could never have planned for.
