Background Experience
My degree in Botany led me to a job at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, correcting the Index Kewensis database. This work, therefore, developed developed my meticulous eye for detail. Then I moved on to Authors of Plant Names – another database – which RBG Kew published in 1992 (R.K. Brummitt and C.E. Powell). Working with both databases gave me experience in the processes involved in a publication.
Then came a major shift as I moved to Australia where I took up freelance work with CSIRO Publishing in Melbourne. I worked in-house for a couple of years on their botanical journals (Australian Journal of Botany, Australian Systematic Botany and Australian Journal of Plant Physiology).
My final move, to the Northern Territory with a young family, meant that I became adept at juggling family life and freelance copy-editing for various government departments and publishers.
I developed a primary school library. Gradually I took on admin work, and then organised annual fundraising dinners and tearooms and the annual ‘Christmas Cake Bake’.
For a change, in 2011, I took to teaching horticulture to long-term unemployed youth up to 25 years of age. Finally, when the programme finished, I took a job in a very busy secondary school providing a variety of PA services to senior academic staff. In addition, in my spare time, I returned to botany again and in 2013 I published A Primer of Botanical Latin with Vocabulary with a colleague and friend Alex George AM, reprinted in 2015.
Now
… I am also the editor of bi-monthly The Top Ender Tri-services Magazine, which has just been re-designed. I have a wealth of experience in a variety of fields. Furthermore, I’m good at juggling tasks and keeping deadlines. Also, I enjoy meeting people, and I enjoy solving problems. If you need a hand – contact me and we can fix something up for you. For more information, check my LinkedIn profile and read my testimonials.
In addition, I volunteer for the Council of International Schools, helping Visiting Teams support schools seeking accreditation. I have visited schools in South Korea, China, Japan and Thailand. I sort out the admin for a VT and liaise with the school and the hotel on the members’ behalf, as well as edit and format the documents that are generated.
