How we got here.. 

I have been legally blind my whole life, adapting myself to suit my environments and the expectations of being a family member, partner, student, and employee. I completed a degree in graphic design, but when I struggled to find work in the industry that was accessible and supportive, I turned to a retail job at a local home store. I stayed in that job for eight years, quickly forgetting my creative drive in favour of a role that had become stable, monotonous, and easy to adapt to my vision impairment.

When that workplace closed down at the start of 2020, I was forced to seek new employment. As the pandemic hit, I leaned into my previous volunteer work with Australia's first legally blind fashion designer Nikki Hind, which led to part-time employment in 2021.

This social media work rapidly grew as more of Nikki’s networks expressed interest in utilising my keen eye for detail, passion for social media, and organised administrative skills. I learned new skills, programs, and services as I went, based on client needs. Eventually, I became a sole trader with up to eight clients at one time and began training a friend to work alongside me.

Training someone else to become a confident virtual assistant soon became the most rewarding part of my job, sparking the idea that other people with disabilities needed a place where they could learn the skills required to take their employment opportunities into their own hands, all within an inclusive and accessible learning model.