My mother taught me to recognise words from an early age and read to me often. I became an avid reader myself and I have not stopped this simple, yet world-encompassing pleasure. Writing was always there in the form of letters, diaries, erratically-written journals and story-telling. I studied Italian language and literature and this love of the written word has never left me.
Over 25 years most of my work has been the development and running of hospitality businesses in Mildura, in North West Victoria. This work has been in collaboration with my family and my husband, Stefano de Pieri. Our businesses have included the Mildura Grand Hotel, Stefano’s restaurant (still operating), Dining Room One (now The Mildura Bistro), The New Spanish Bar and Grill, Avoca Paddleboat Restaurant, 27 Deakin The Good Food Store (now Stefano’s Cafe), Stefano’s Preserves and the Mildura Brewery (sold in 2017).
My experience is broad and includes work in hotel front reception, functions, restaurant and cafe front-of-house, retail, hospitality training, beer, wine and merchandise sales, recruitment, marketing, and public relations. By necessity, in family-run businesses you need to learn a range of skills. My strengths are analytical, organisational and people-related.
Throughout my working life I took breaks to explore other areas of interest such as life- and still-life drawing, the study of sociology and an intensive English teaching course called CELTA. This study led to a year of teaching the basics of English to adult refugees from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka .
Stefano and I were founders of the Mildura Wentworth Arts Festival from 1995 which then became Arts Mildura. This organisation grew to encompass a suite of five festivals including the Mildura Writers Festival.
Since 2016 I have been a part-time student of professional writing and editing at RMIT. I look forward to working with like-minded people who need my skills for creative, text-based projects.
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