Lisa Groom ~ Rainforest Rambler

Lisa Groom ~ Photo by Jennie Groom © 2017

Yes, I am related to her, I’m proud to say!

Lisa Groom, like most of the descendants from Arthur Groom, (who co-founded Binna Burra Lodge, QLD) is creative, visionary and adventurous!  To add to that, she also possess the qualities of a caring nature, the strength to survive a cancerous tumour in one of her fallopian tubes and the skills to run a successful business.

Lisa grew up living and breathing her parents business ‘interNATIONAL PARK tours’.  As the name suggests, they run tours for small groups of people who like to ramble in nature, explore local food and culture in a sustainable way through National Parks and wild places around the world.  Lisa’s first hurdle when she took over the business late in 2001, was the September 11 terrorist attack in New York, she had a group just about to travel there and it was a lesson in how to be flexible in the world of business and travel!  Lisa is grateful for her 6 office staff and 17 tour guides, who helped to take over the running of the business and 29 tours while she was recovering from Cancer.

To keep her extra busy and connected to family history, Lisa has also been a Director on the Binna Burra Lodge Board for the past 8 years.

Lisa has always been an inspiration to me, especially when I visited in the school holidays as a child, she was fearless and grounded from growing up in the rainforest and I was too worried about snakes!

I find her life and world of tourism fascinating and visiting her this week was no expectation.

Lisa’s favourite quote is ….. Sometimes the path isn’t clear but it often leads to the best views!

 

 

http://www.parktours.com.au

 

 

The Hon. Margaret Nyland AM ~ Lady of Law

Photo by Jennie Groom © 2016

 

not from the highland

but born and bred in Adelaide

….this is Margaret Nyland.

 

fondly known as ‘Judge‘

by her colleagues

she put at ease

the nick name stuck and won’t budge

she refers to them happily

as her family.

 

After 19 years as a Judge for the SA Supreme Court

retirement was sought…

 

but alas, a retirement disorder

a high responsibility was in order

for this law practitioner

to be the royal commissioner

into the child protection system

that had too many errors to list them.

 

after a two year process,

the 850 page report went to press

the report hit a raw nerve

with the content and title

….’the life they deserve‘

 

 

Paula Nagel AM ~ Elegance in Education

Photo by Jennie Groom © 2016

If Paula Nagel looks or sounds familiar to you, it’s because she has been deeply involved with journalism and eduction in Adelaide as well as interstate for many years.  Her first public exposure was on ABC Television’s current affairs program “This Day Tonight” as the first female reporter in 1967.

Paula stayed with the ABC for 21 years fulfilling a number of different roles, in particular producing education and arts programs.  Every so often you can hear her on Adelaide ABC radio with Peter Goers.

Life after the ABC saw her being head-hunted for many executive roles and Boards. Ironically for a time she had her own headhunting company, NBC Resources specialising in and Board appointments.  Paula has been involved with more than 15 Boards and Committees and is still active with many including the University of South Australia and recently became the first non-Muslim, on the Board of the Islamic College of South Australia.

I first met Paula in 2004 when she was Chairman of Eduction Adelaide and thus started a long tradition of my photographing this elegant silver haired lady who stands out from across the room at many and varied events, including when she was awarded the “Woman of Distinction in Education” in 2006 at the Asia Pacific Business Women’s Council.  This is my all time favourite photograph here of Paula Nagel!

Now, in her later years, Paula is embarking on a new education in elegance and make-up aimed at 60+ women, stay tuned for further developments!

Shivani Gupta ~ Passionately Passionate

 

Photo by Jennie Groom © 2016

Shivani Gupta is a Passion Activator, she helps you find your true passion and ways of bringing it into your working life.  With first hand experience at changing professions to accommodate her passion, Shivani knows the keys to unlock a more fulfilling future.

Shivani has a Bachelor of Engineering and started her working life as an engineer for BHP.  As a leader at BHP, she became instrumental in encouraging women into leadership roles and consequently won the Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year award.  This  soon became her passion and eventually she started her own business mentoring, coaching and public speaking, gathering an MBA and a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) along the way.

Shivani says there are seven key areas in life and we should be satisfied mastering just three of them, most people have family as their number one passion in life but like me, Shivani is happy to admit work is number one but it doesn’t mean she loves her family any less.  Shivani’s message to women is it’s ok to love your work!

Shivani along with five other business women in the Hunter Valley Region established Friends of Barefoot College Australia (FBCA) in Tilonia, India.

A quirky thing I discovered about Shivani, which I love, being into numbers and all, her birthday is on the 24th of July, ’24/7′ and this is her husband’s nickname for her as she in ON 24/7 and I doubt he would ever forget her birthday!

http://www.barefootcollege.org

https://askshivani.com

Women Leaders – Talking the Talk

Photo by Jennie Groom © 2016                            L-R Rebekha Sharkie, Nick Xenophon Team, Kerrynne Liddle, Liberal Party of Australia, Hon. Kate Ellis MP, Australian Labor Party and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Australian Greens

Last night I attended the 2016 Election Q+A hosted by Women in Media at the Advertiser and listen to the above women speak on politics and being a woman in politics. You may know that this topic is close to my heart and my recent work so I just had to feature them as today’s Wednesday’s Women.

The panel of women was diverse with two women running for the Senate and two for the House of Representatives and across the two major and the two (major) minor parties.

My recent exhibition “let us be up and doing” showcased women from South Australia who are former politicians but had achieved a major milestone, like first or longest. Last nights panel, if all elected, would still be ground breaking; Rebekha Sharkie would be the first woman to win the seat of Mayo; Kerrynne Liddle would be the first Aboriginal woman from South Australia to enter the Senate; Kate Ellis will continue as an MP, her 13th year and Sarah Hanson-Young will continue on as a Senator, her 9th year.

I chose last night as a good night to start my petition, “A Plead to Lead by example, Respect from the top down. Politicians quit bully behaviour.” In the footsteps of Mary Lee who travelled the colony (SA) in 1894 gaining 11,600 signatures for her petition to give women the right to vote, I plan to do the same with the above petition as I travel my exhibition around SA in the coming months. I was very pleased our leaders last night started off the handwritten petition with many of the media women signing on too. If you would like to sign the petition which will be presented to State and Federal Parliament, you can either catch me on the road or sign the digital petition here….

 

https://www.change.org/p/jennie-groom-a-plead-to-lead-by-example-respect-from-the-top-down-politicians-quit-bully-behaviour?recruiter=560241578&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

I wish all the women all the best in the election, be up and doing!

Natasha Howell ~ Ms Milky

© Jennie Groom 2016

This is Natasha Howell, she’s a milk-lady!

I had just finished photographing a building in Stirling last week when I saw Natasha delivering milk into the cafe I was in. “Yay” I thought “a woman doing a job I had only ever seen men doing”.  I watched her and the staff in the cafe have a friendly chat, like I imagine they would every morning.  I then seized the moment and asked to photograph her to show women around the world the variety of work choices they may not have considered.

Natasha started working in the Milk industry 14 years ago with her partner at the time but she was mainly in an administration capacity.  They were contracted to Lion Nathan delivering all things dairy and juice into an array of businesses in the Adelaide Hills area.
Over the past 6 years things have altered, the partner has moved on and Natasha has fought to keep going on her own.  Now days she packs, drives the truck and delivers herself with the help of two young lads.

When asked by her friends why she didn’t just sell the contract on, she says “I can’t really think of a good reason to give it up, I’m certainly not sick of it yet”.  In fact, she quite enjoys the physical challenge and she appreciates the friendly contact with all of the different shop keepers.  She is the first to say she doesn’t have the muscle mass of a man but she works very hard and gets her job done, enjoys it and brings smiles to the faces of the Hills folk.

Taryn Brumfitt – Entirely Embraced

Photo By Jennie Groom © 2016

Women around the world take comfort

From the epiphany presented to Taryn Brumfitt

Finding her post baby body hard to face

Taryn resolved it to be a  surgery case

She booked in for a tummy tuck

Then, the epiphany struck….

“How can I teach my daughter to love her body

When it’s mine, I need to embody?”

A Body Image Movement started

Her previous life departed

A before and after photo went viral

The movement caught in a spiral

A book launch

A happy body stood staunch

A documentary to be made

Women embracing their bodies portrayed

Well, get ready to stare

At the films premiere

Be proud of your body, dress up in lace

Taryn’s film is called ‘Embrace’

‘Embrace’ premiering at Sydney Film Festival on June the 12th, in Cinemas from August

http://tix.sff.org.au/session_sff.asp?sn=Embrace

Ronni Kahn ~ Waste Warrior

Photo by Jennie Groom 2011, thanks to MoAD for Permission.

If you believe good food shouldn’t go to waste, then you will appreciate Ronni Kahn’s mission.

I had the privilege of meeting and photographing Ronni for an exhibition at the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD) in Canberra in 2011.  Ronni and the whole crew were moved to ‘feel good’ tears as she told us her story.

In the process of questioning the purpose of her life, Ronni visited a friend and mentor in South Africa, and went to visit an aids clinic in Soweto her friend had set-up.  As they travelled through the city her friend mentioned she was responsible for electricity in Soweto.  To this news, Ronni thought “Wow, what must it feel like to know you have made an impact to over 1 million people?”  Once she saw the Aids Clinic, Ronni knew her life would never be the same, she knew she wanted to make a significant contribution to society.

Ronni had been in the event industry and experienced first hand the food wastage from events.  On occasions, she would hand deliver her left over food to charities and always felt good about doing so but with the concern about food wastage and people going hungry in  Australia she thought there must be a better way.   She then set-up the food rescue charity OzHarvest and had food legislation changed throughout the country enabling her to do this.

Food rescue is not the half eaten sandwich, it’s the food that has never touched the plate!  The food which is left over in the kitchen or on the shelves that wasn’t sold before closing time or the excess food left over from an event, meeting in a boardroom or catering on a film shoot for example.

“Food is so much more than just filling our tummies, it’s about nutrition, it’s about nourishment, it’s about caring, it’s about support”

The second impact of OzHarvest’s contribution to Australia and the world, Ronni could never have imagined is for every kilogram of food OzHarvest rescues, saves 2kg in methane gas and 143 litres of water.  To date they have saved over 15 million kilograms of food that was destined for landfill.

OzHarvest collects good quality food from over 2000 commercial outlets and delivers it to over 800 charities with their fleet of 30+ highly visible yellow vans and has fed more than 45 million meals to people in need across most of Australia.

“In our society and our wonderful democracy of Australia, I think that individuals have the opportunity every single day to find a way in their lives to make a difference” stresses Ronni.  This week is National Volunteer Week and Ronni knows only too well the value of volunteers in our society and the unlimited personal rewards volunteers receive when they volunteer.

“Not a day goes by where I don’t feel moved or blessed by the impact OzHarvest has had.”

It’s no surprise Ronni Kahn was named ‘Australian Local Hero’ in the 2010 Australian Of The Year Awards.

International Women’s Day ~ Week!

Yes, International Women’s Day is so popular it goes for a week, possibly even two! For my part in this celebration, I have an exhibition to show you today, not only one Wednesday’s Woman but 11 of them!  This exhibition is on display currently until the 20th of March, 2016 on the Pillars of Parliament House, Adelaide.

About the exhibition
“Let us be up and doing”  as quoted by Mary Lee, a suffragette who was instrumental in gaining South Australian women the right to vote which also resulted in South Australia being the first place in the world where women could stand for Parliament. This act was achieved in 1894.

Despite these progressive beginnings over one hundred years ago South Australia was the last state to elect a woman into State Parliament (1959) and still to elect a woman head of Government.

In a speech delivered to the United Nations when Emma Watson launched the ‘He for She’ campaign she stated boldly that equality isn’t just a woman’s issue anymore; it’s a man’s issue too. It is true that equality is a society issue and the support of men is needed to help women progress into the future with equal representation in Government. The support of men is needed so the next woman Prime Minister is treated with the respect that such a position merits.

“Let us be up and doing” is a public artwork on view at  Parliament House Adelaide.  It pays homage to our deceased forbears using typographical artworks and exhibits contemporary portraits of a selection of former, female South Australian politicians from a cross section of parties.  “Let us be up and doing.” will remind people that women can and have made significant political contributions with lasting benefits to the entire community and that this is something that is achievable into the future.

Art and Design Concept
Influenced by the portraits of politicians from the 1900’s, we have chosen to step back to what South Australian Parliament could have looked like if women were elected in the early years. The portraits taken in this contemporary age are black and white overlaid with Illustrations of gold ornate frames symbolising a layer of history. They are a mix of oval and arch shaped frames.

Hand drawn typography of a similar era is used over the portraits for names and titles and achievements.  The women look stately, confident and happy, not too dissimilar to Mona Lisa.  This mix of the old and the new celebrates history, the present and brings us into the future.

The Artists and Sub-Committee
Jennie Groom – Photographic Artist, Creator and Project Manager
Maya Graham – Illustrator
Lisa Philip-Harbutt – Project Mentor
Steph Key MP – Ambassador and Advisor

The T-shirt you could WIN!!
A black v-neck t-shirt with the ‘let us be up and doing’ logo.

To win, take a photo of the exhibition at Parliament House, Adelaide between now and the 20th of March and upload onto one of the below social media sites with the hashtag #LetUsBeUpAndDoing

Facebook
Let us be up and Doing

Twitter
@BeUpAndDoing

Instagram
Jennie_Groom

 

Portraits of Politicians on Pillars of Parliament

I would like to announce that my public art exhibition “let us be up and doing” will be back up and doing by popular demand.

Kindly supported by a grant from the Government of South Australia.

On the pillars of Parliament House, South Australia, 7th to 20th of March, 2016

 

LUBUAD Final Invite

“let us be up and doing” website