Business, farming and professional women gather to hear from the women who shape our community.
AIM (Acknowledge, Inspire and Mingle) Breakfasts began 10 years ago after Libby Dowling, her sisters Bernadette and Marg McKenzie and friend Faye Swann attended a rural women’s conference in Canberra.
Inspired by the experience, they returned home and organised a series of low-key events for farming women.
They were joined by Tracey Holgate, Michelle Cobb, Dierdre Poll and Samantha Ridley, and the breakfast series, which is regularly attended by about 100 women, was developed.
Last week’s speakers were children’s author, Jane Carroll and ‘accidental politician’, Suzanna Sheed.
Jane was inspired to write while living overseas with her husband, an obstetrician.
An English major and teacher, she assumed writing stories would come naturally but quickly realised that wasn’t the case.
Jane recalled first learning, then teaching the craft of writing stories.
Eventually, the couple moved to Wilcannia in western NSW, a place “where death is close to life”, and where funerals are a normal part of a child’s existence.
There she taught the Indigenous children to share their stories in a book called Wilcannia Kids.
In stark contrast, former lawyer, politician and retired Moira Shire administrator, Suzanna Sheed, told her story of a widowed mum who ran as an Independent, to get attention for an electorate that was ignored for too long.
With just 29 days until the 2014 Victorian election, Suzanna nominated for the Seat of Shepparton.
No-one was more shocked, and scared, when she won the seat.
“But we got investment no-one imagined we would … it wasn't because I was such a skilled negotiator, it was because we truly had been left out for so long,” she said.
The next AIM Breakfast is on May 30 at Yarrawonga-Mulwala Golf Club. Tickets are $25. For more information go to Yarrawonga Mulwala AIM Breakfast Series on Facebook.
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