An Inspiration to Us All
Louise & CEO, Andrea Jackson
For Louise, life was all consumed with stuff we don’t need to spell out.
It was a tough upbringing for any young woman to survive, let alone dream big. But in 2017 that all changed for Louise. Her 15-year dream became a reality when she did some volunteer work at her child’s school.
It was the catalyst for turning her life around and igniting her passion for early childhood education.
Before long she was employed by the P&C Committee and become a volunteer with NAIDOC. Her pathway was on track.
Then life slammed her and got in the way… again.
Louise explains it: “My early years were surrounded by typical community issues which ultimately meant no sense of direction. It was - and still is - an extremely hard cycle to break. But a close friend of mine once said to me ‘Don’t be a gonna – be a doer’ and that has stuck with me through life.”
Louise became a ‘doer’ when she approached The MaraWay looking for work. We found her some volunteer work with Playgroup Queensland which led to a paid position, and we encouraged her to do some formal training in Early Childhood which included completing work placement at Kindy Zone.
We’ll let Louise pick up the story again: “It was just over half way through the course when I had another family issue. It would have been easy to give up but thankfully my trainer was so supportive and kept in contact with me offering all the support I needed. There was no way she was going to let me quit.”
Today Louise is working in early care, she’s completed her Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care, and went on to complete her Diploma.
“I feel I now have the ability to plan my future. I know I have determination and I can tackle any curve ball thrown at me. Training has given me a level of confidence I hadn’t experienced before. Now I want to help other Indigenous students find their passion and use it to develop their career. I want to be an Indigenous leader and I just want to keep learning!”
It's Louise’s fighting spirit that saw her become a finalist at the 2018 Queensland Training Awards, and the team at The MaraWay were right beside her and her family to celebrate Louise’s achievements on the night.
We’re a little bit different like that.
