Building a professional home (the back-story)

I came to Geneva 16 years ago on a 3-month exploratory trip to see if I could find my path forward in life. After 5 years in multicultural marketing/communications, I had the idea of working for an organisation that combines research with the latest in technology & communications to support actors as they address global challenges. I had no clue which organisation it was or what it looked like.

10 days before my return flight to Sydney, two opportunities opened up at the heart of Geneva. Those two initial gifts multiplied. Each time I planned to go back to Sydney or embark on an adventure in another corner of the world, someone would throw me another amazing project or programme to hold, for a while, in Geneva.
 
I knew I should be grateful, but like a spoilt child, I didn’t feel it. On many occasions, my heart wanted to be elsewhere. At times I felt lost professionally, unsure of the path ahead.

But I’ve taken time across the past 12 months to reflect deeply on how much I’ve learned from everyone I’ve had the chance to work with and the projects/programmes I’ve worked on. From my initial marketing/communication days to academic and applied policy research, teaching, consultancies with international organisations, NGOs, think tanks, a secondment to the UN Secretariat in New York & more.

I now appreciate, without disillusionment, the genuine struggles actors working in international cooperation face, while still seeing the potential and opportunities for collaboratively working to address global challenges.

I am now genuinely grateful for every single person I've met and every experience I've gained – THANK YOU.

It makes me chuckle to think about when I first arrived in Geneva. I was clueless about just how much I had to learn before I could dream about turning my initial idea into action. That initial idea became blurred and buried.

Until last year, at 41, I decided that if I still hadn’t found my professional home, I had better build one.

Together with my super talented & hard-working co-founder & colleagues Erica Moret, Naledi Hollbruegge & Jamilah Bahay—each with their own unique, fascinating & at times comical professional & personal journeys—we’re building an organisation that combines research & analysis with the latest in technology & communications to support actors working to address global challenges: PoliSync Centre for International Policy Engagement.

It finally feels like I’ve found my professional home. I don't doubt there will still be lessons to learn and mountains to climb. But I've come to appreciate that when we have stopped climbing mountains, we might as well pack up & go home.
 
So, join us as we roll up our sleeves and get to work on what promises to be an exciting adventure.