Ask Steph

Righty oh . So I eventually tracked down some candidates from the lists that are available : there are 6 candidates standing for Goldtstein (the electorate where I live.) I've reached out via email to the people that get no airtime from the media, probably because they don't have the same budget as the big parties . Which is weird, because I could have sworn I lived in a democratic country with an independent media ... But never mind.  Below is the responses of Naren , from the  Animal Justice Party.  Naren's profile on the ABC's  website : http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2016/guide/gold/ What are your parties policies in supporting small local businesses to expand interstate, and internationally.  I am a small business owner myself Stephanie. My office is in Elsternwick and I employ three people. I'm in support of policies to help small businesses grow. What is your personal stance on tax incentives to promote local employme...

I've been here 6 years ... I've chosen to become an Australian citizen, and now in a couple of weeks time  I will vote for the first time in federal and state elections. I've done the local elections couple of years ago. Honestly was not impressed with who won, so I moved. That was a joke, we didn't move because a labor thug won our ward, there were a lot more pressing and urgent reasons why we sold the house and moved. But yes, as you can tell, I don't have much time for the labor party.  Here's what I've learned in these 6 years ( for my fellow dual nationals ) :  1) There are many more choices than liberal or labor, the media however goes to great lengths to ensure you don't hear about them.  2) Liberals and labor stand for very little beyond points scoring and keeping power. There are very few debates of substance , and if you want to know what they stand for you're going to have to do a lot of your own leg work.  3) Labor is ...

This is another gratitude post. And this one is a soppy, sappy, love fest for my Mom. My mom is amazing. If anything, my mom is the poster child for resilience. I have never met anyone quite like Cynthia Gaddin. Except perhaps for my friend Maxine Hearn, whose bravery in the face of the hurdles life throws up at her, reminds me often of the strength my mother has. My mom quietly gets up every morning and carries on with her life, facing all the same troubles and demons that leave her exhausted every night.  My Mom gives of her time, her energy and her love to anyone in need. Her daughter (thats me ! ) and both sons have been recipients several times over in the past of her last bit of cash, food, or any other resource that we may have needed along the way. And her grandson is bestowed with everything that Granny could possibly give him in love, attention, guidance, support.   She has very little herself very often, and yet , she will still give to those that...

Not to brag ... Oh who am I kidding, I'm bragging ;) . My Ice Breaker speech went excellently well I thought.  I prepared, practised over and over, even tweaking which stories about me I wanted to tell and how I would tell them.

Yes - World Environment Day is a thing. And it's happening today. Started by the UN, and hosted by a different country each year, this years hosts Angola, turn the spotlight onto poaching of endangered species : good on them !  You can read all about it here on The Global Citizen :  https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/most-poached-animals-world-environment-day/ If you're after a more specific bit of info about WED ( that's World Environment Day, not the day of the week ;) ) then go to : www.wed2016.com ( although be warned the website is a hit of jumble of TMI , and bad content management - but it is rich with suggestions on practical ways you can help today and all other days of the year)  And last but not least - the project closest to my heart : Breaking the Brand - saving Rhinos by tackling the demand for horns in Vietnam -  are still running their Pozible campaign to raise cash to pay the photographers for some new ad images. The campaign r...

Recently I did a round of visits to some clients North East of Melbourne's CBD.  While waiting in reception at the third company that I visited , I took out my iPhone, and proceeded to share up to the business Facebook page a photograph that I had taken earlier that morning at the first client I had visited.  Now, most of my clients are printers, and they almost all invariably have an old Heidelberg, or some other older antique piece of print history somewhere onsite.  The picture I had taken was of a really old original printers tray displayed in the reception area. It's not something you see very often. It was (at least to me anyway) a beautiful piece of history.  While I was  typing in the text and comments to go with the picture, waiting in reception at client number 3, they came out to meet me and saw me on the phone.  My client started laughing and said something about not playing on phones, and being present in the real world. To which I replied with...

This is a gratitude post ... Fair warning , there is no soppy , sappy , feelings here today ( although I do have those, and I do post about them when I'm feeling soppy and sappy... And there nothing wrong with feeling soppy and sappy ..,I'm just not in that head space today...ok?)  Right - moving right along  Today - I am grateful for this beauty :  That which you see there is the saver of my sanity. No mere washer or dryer, or washer dryer combo ... That is a washer dryer combo WITH time delay.  I cannot even begin to tell you how awesome it is , that as a super busy working woman, with side projects , network meetings, lots of countrywide travel, I can come home to tumble dried laundry , which is just finishing up as I walk in the door.  Sure - I have to load the thing in the morning, sure I a still need to take the laundry and fold and pack it away when I get home - but hells bells - it is so much easier to have clean clothes when you ...