Getting My Mojo Back!
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Rose Bryant of Women In Business WA
Lesley Dewar is an author and publisher of Stories My Nana Tells. She was one of some leading Perth career women to participate in Mentoring sessions for Year 12 Girls from Penrhos College, Perth, on February 12, 2013, in conjunction with Women In Business WA.
This blog was written half way through her chemo treatment for breast cancer, at a time when she was experiencing “chemo wall” from time to time. Before the event, she proclaimed “I am getting my Mojo back!” She was adamant that by not opting out of the event, but writing her notes and giving it her best shot, it reminded her of her achievements and there is still much more to come.
It was several months later (by the end of April 2013) that she could really say she had her Mojo back – but this is a very interesting blog post about a woman who continues to inspire and lead.
These notes are a summary of what was used for the table discussion – which allowed the girls to ask many questions about choosing a career.
- Lesley’s background :
- Well, I now I am 69, fighting triple negative cancer and building a new business called Stories My Nana Tells. I have been married twice, divorced once and I was widowed ten years ago. I have two married sons and my daughter died when she was thirty four. Today is my granddaughters birthday. Jade is 28 today.
- Career pathways and progression since leaving school.
- I was trained as a shorthand / typist and did lots of secretarial work until I married. Once I became a single parent, I had to earn as much as a man – so I specifically demanded equal pay for equal work, [Read more...]
Should You Be Your Grandchildren’s Friend On Facebook?
This is an interesting question and it will get a lot of different answers, depending on family relationships and locations.
There are a lot of positives of being a Facebook Friend with your Grandchildren
It helps you keep in touch, especially if they live far away from you: interstate, overseas or in the country. It is amazing how far just a little “Like” click on one of their posts will go, in letting them know you are thinking of them.
Rather than being a way of spying on them, it’s an unobtrusive way of reaching out [Read more...]
Red Helicopter Heroes Rescue Black Cockatoos
MEDIA RELEASE
June 07, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Red Helicopter Flies To Rescue Black Cockatoos
An Australian-first website for families with kids has launched a major project to raise funds of $40,000 in support of the Perth based Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Rescue Centre and to help spread the story of Carnaby’s Cockatoos to children and teachers through 2,000 schools
- at Stories My Nana Tells
The site is the ultimate resource for parents who want to share unique and engaging stories with their children, encourage them to read and help overcome the anxiety of separation.
Children’s author and creator of the website, Lesley Dewar, said the recent launch of the film “On A Wing And A Prayer” had created a highly positive opportunity for parents, schools and P&C groups to join together and use the film for [Read more...]
Dancing With Fred Astaire
I could feel the muscles in my eyelids. When I blinked very slowly, I could feel them connecting to my face under the skin. And in my neck, when I lifted my chin, I could feel the fine muscles all through my neck. It was an amazing sensation.
After nine weeks of dancing lessons, learning Jive, Rock & Roll, Cha Cha and some line dancing – I thought I knew every muscle in my body. I wondered – how come all that exercise hadn’t dealt with every single muscle I owned?
Every Wednesday and Friday night – regardless of the 42° heat – we had stepped, swung and sweated our way through over two hours of lessons in the Baskerville Hall. In the following week we would start Jive again, but this night, this [Read more...]
Dining Out
One night while we were living in Stoneville, I decided to take my Dad out to dinner at a very upmarket Chinese restaurant in our neighbourhood.
We had been there before with friends and I was quite happy to spend $120 – 150 for us to have a lovely dinner with wine, beer, desert, coffee, whatever we wanted. I booked a table for two, for 8:00pm. When we arrived, the restaurant was very busy doing takeaways and a number of tables were set but not occupied. We were on time.
We were shown to a table for two, just inside the entrance to the dining area. My father was seated first, with his back to the room of diners. I was seated opposite him, with a first class view of the staff entrance into the kitchen/ serving area, the rubbish bins into which all plates are scraped before they hit the dishwasher and the repository for all empty bottles.
Suffice to say, I politely and quietly told the young waiter that the table was not suitable; we would not sit [Read more...]
Do You Play An Open, Generous Game When Networking?
For the past couple of months, I have had about eight games of Words With Friends (electronic Scrabble ®) on the go at any one time on my iPhone. Thinking about playing Words With Friends (WWF) has led me to thinking about networking, because networking needs strategic planning, as does this game. You need to network with people with whom you are comfortable; can trust and with whom you can work to each other’s mutual benefit.
When you request an “ad hoc” opponent with whom to play WWF, it will probably be a stranger and may well be someone quite experienced in the strategies of the game. As you play with different opponents, you begin to see individuals have their own ways of approaching the game of word building.
One strategy is to make lots of very small, very tight moves; words of only two or three letters at a time which make it [Read more...]
Is Social Media Helping Or Hindering Your Productivity?
The major complaint about “Social Media” is that it either wastes your time or it is not effective for business. Like all activities within your business, the use of Social Media needs to be structured and focussed. You would not spend thousands of dollars on advertising without carefully deciding on your target market; the actions you want them to take and the words you use to attract their attention. Using Social Media for business is exactly the same, but with much less cost.
We have a wide range of Social Media resources for business at our fingertips – and these are my favourites (although [Read more...]
Media Update – Contact Details for WA Govt MLA and MLC
To assist anyone who wishes to contact various Members of the Western Australian Government regarding issues that concern them, here are some useful links.
When sending emails or written correspondence to Members of Parliament, it is good etiquette to use their correct titles of office and any other suffixes that are appropriate for them individually. There are correct forms of address when contacting your (or any) Member of Parliament, depending on their role in the Government or Opposition and in which house they sit.
How Do I Address A Member Of Parliament?
The Premier and the Cabinet.
Each Member has an email address (to their official office) listed along with a link to their individual websites through which you can send a personal message to The Premier and each Cabinet Minister.
Their Office Telephone Numbers and Fax numbers are also listed.
The Premier of WA and Cabinet Ministers
All Members of Parliament
Members of the MLA (Legislative Assembly) are in the lower house and from which Government is formed. Members of the MLC (Legislative Council) are in the upper house and review of legislative bills put forward. Members of the current Government are drawn from both the lower (MLAs) and upper (MLCs) and the various Shadow Ministers of the Opposition are similarly sourced.
This list has some excellent options, such as being able to collate:
- email addresses
- websites
- office locations
There is a range of search options available as well as the facility to print off mailing labels.
These links provide valuable information about the processes of Government in Western Australia and we request you respect the offices of our Elected Government Members.
List of All Members of Parliament of Western Australia
Why are we providing these links?
Because Stories My Nana Tells is a passionate supporter of conserving our unique native forests and wildlife and this will be a way to help you contact your local Member of Parliament and the Cabinet to express your views.
Channel 10 Perth News Broadcast after interviews at Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Rescue Centre in the Perth Hills on Jan 16, 2012
Channel 10 News Items at Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Rescue Centre Jan 16, 2012
These links to the offices of Elected Politicians have been sourced from the official website of the Western Australian Government, with the expectation that should any changes occur within the Government of the day, the websites will be updated accordingly and the information should remain current. Leaving this website to use any links means you accept that this website has no control over the information provided on external sites.
Interview With Ben (age 10) About Saving Forests
Today, we had an interview with Ben, aged 10, a school boy in New South Wales who is doing a project on rain forests and the need for conservation. Ben sent me his questions by email and we hooked up with Skype, so he could record the interview.
I would like to share his questions and my answers with you – along with some of the photographs I sent to him by email for his project. The questions were all set by Ben and I simply answered them as I saw fit. His mother was present during the interview and was very pleased with the information Ben received.
1) How can we best preserve our rainforests?
It is very important that we understand the depth of their bio-diversity and that habitat is not just trees. Many people overlook little things about habitat: it is the fallen leaf litter and the decaying logs in which the lizards and the beetles live, as much as the beautiful butterflies in the tree tops.
I have been to Cairns in Northern Queensland and to Sabah in Borneo, to visit rainforests and to try and understand how we can ignore their value as part of our environmental health. [Read more...]