Tanya, Small Voices Forum Co-Driver return to about us
Introduction
Hi, my name is Tanya Bell. My small family is made up of myself, my husband of five years and our son and baby daughter. We have lived in many places and travelled extensively over the past ten years and have now settled, here on the beautiful island, to bring our children up close to family and within a small thriving community.
Motivation
Small Voices Forum came about after sharing an upsetting experience with Kelly and both of us deciding we had a choice, to sit back and allow these unfortunate experiences to keep happening or to speak up and do something about it. So here we are, doing something about it!
History
After giving birth to my son I chose to study to complete my Certificate III in Children’s Services and from there I ran a Family Day Care Home, which I operated from our home in South Australia until February 2008.
In addition to this I also resumed studying for my Bachelor of Communications which I hope to complete in 2010 and from there undertake a Diploma of Education. I am also a regular contributor to the Bribie Weekly, part of the Quest Newspaper Group, I run an online book club and am in the process of writing my first novel.
I have a passion for learning and have spent a good deal of my time since having my children reading every child care manual I can get my hands on and researching alternate education programs such as Montessori, Steiner and most recently the Suzuki Method.
Working Life
Before moving to Queensland my husband and I ran a successful small business for three years in which I managed all administrative and book keeping duties including advertising, marketing and promotion.
Previous to having children I worked in Hospitality and Retail, fashion retail being the most recent which involved managing 15 young staff in a flagship retail environment in Adelaide, taking on leadership roles such as South Australian Staff Trainer and in 2004 I was awarded young retailer of the year for South Australia.
Hospitality is where I started my working life, completing a traineeship with a hospitality recruitment agency and I then moving on to work as a Personal Assistant to the Managing Director of Bite Foods, a thriving chain of gourmet sandwich stores in inner city Melbourne. I was with Bite Foods for four years and in my time there I had many roles, starting with the PA role I then moved into management, firstly in the cafés and then the catering division; where I established a large customer base and developed a promotional system that returned continually increasing growth and profit margins.
Signature
I am excited to be involved in this forum and passionate about the future of Australian children, I would like to see parents given the voice they deserve and be heard by the wider community, our councils and government agencies. I look forward to working with Small Voices to bring about positive change.
Thank You.