Meet Our Career Ambassadors

Nishi is a centre manager at Lollipop Early Learning Centre at Woden Community Service (WCS). She has been in the early learning industry for more than 22 years. She started her career as a biology teacher for primary and secondary students. A few years later, she studied the Bachelor of Teaching in Early Childhood Education in New Zealand. Nishi worked in New Zealand as an Early Childhood teacher for 15 years. She then moved to Canberra in 2015 and has worked in two different community organisations to build experience in the community sector. She now has management role in the community sector. A big focus of her work at the WCS, is to support children and families experiencing vulnerability. She has initiated projects with families and children throughout the year to collect funds for programs like The Little Pantry which supports people in need. Nishi is proud to be part of an organisation that supports the community and has provided the opportunity to progress in her career.

I’ve worked in the private sector as well and seen the difference. When somebody says ‘community sector’, the first thing that comes into my mind, is team and togetherness. You’re not alone. There’s always support. There’s always someone to look after you and support you.

Penelope is the Client and Community Engagement Manager at the Women’s Legal Centre ACT. She joined the Centre in early 2022, after nearly fifteen years in the Commonwealth public service. Before that she worked as a sessional tutor teaching children’s literature and creative writing and wrote a newspaper column about children’s books.

The opportunity to move into the community legal sector aligned with her values. In government she had worked mostly in human rights, with a focus on women, children, older people and disability rights. She worked on projects to address abuse, violence or inequality. Being able to use the skills she developed in government to help the Centre achieve its vision that women are safe, strong and in control of their lives has meant the world to her.

There is space for a really big range of skills. There’re opportunities that you might not think about. It’s not all about direct client service, it’s not all about specific social work or psychology or legal skills. There are places for pretty much every skill to help organisations serve people better and become better organisations.