How a chance conversation at work changed my life

It all started in the most unexpected way. I was working in the print department at Officeworks in Port Macquarie when a customer recognised me. He knew my dad through the local progress association and was also a member of the local Rotary club. They were seeking applicants for RYLA, and he thought I might be a good candidate.

RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Award, is an intensive leadership program for young people aged 18 to 28: a week of workshops, team challenges and personal growth. I accepted the invitation without really knowing what I was in for. That decision changed everything. From the moment RYLA began, I was hooked.

Finding my Rotary home

When I finished RYLA I knew I needed to find a club, but which one? I wanted to work with youth and bring a young adult’s perspective to what was, at the time, deemed an older person’s game. That really needs to change.

Along with friends I had made at RYLA, we were invited to Hastings Rotaract. We joined, and little did we know it was one of its last meetings: the club was about to fold as members moved on. That left an opportunity. I was asked whether I would be secretary. Always up for a challenge, I accepted, and that was my first Rotary board role.

I eventually became president and grew the club by more than ten members. With my members, we hosted the third annual Mental Health Ball at Panthers Port Macquarie, welcoming 150 patrons and raising over $4,000 for youth mental health and homelessness through YP Space.

A new chapter in Newcastle

Life led me to move from Port Macquarie to Newcastle, and I took a six-month hiatus. Then a Rotary member in Maitland who had heard about the Hastings Rotaract turnaround asked whether I could help a struggling Rotaract club there. I accepted in an interim capacity, rebranded the club, widened its membership reach and connected it with the community and nearby Rotary clubs.

It was at this point that I received my first Paul Harris Fellowship for the work with Hastings Rotaract, one of Rotary’s highest honours.

When great became incredible

District members invited me to facilitate at RYPEN, the weekend program for secondary students. Running group activities and inspiring the next generation was such an experience that I came back the following year. That led to an invitation onto the RYPEN District Committee for District 9660, and I now chair RYPEN for the district. The program has gone well enough that we now run two camps a year, doubling how many young people it reaches.

This is when I joined this club. It meets online twice a month on Microsoft Teams, which is remarkable for fitting life around Rotary, and it actively encourages members of all ages, backgrounds and locations to join. That is the whole point of an online club. I am now the club’s secretary, and its technology chair, looking after the website and our social media.

I also sit on the District Technology Committee, helping modernise how we connect across a district of more than 100 clubs and over 2,000 members, and I am the district’s IT officer.

Where that has led

For 2026-27 I am District Public Image Chair. The job is to change how Rotary’s story gets told across District 9660: rebuilding district and club websites, overhauling the social media presence, modernising the databases behind it all, and running the training so clubs can do it themselves rather than depending on one person.

The site you are reading is part of that. So is the district help portal, the RYPEN website, and the fortnightly district newsletter.

For young leaders, and anyone curious about Rotary

This is not a publicity plug. It is pulling the curtain open for young people who do not know what Rotary is or what it can offer, and it is only scratching the surface.

Rotary offers something genuinely rare: real opportunities to lead meaningful projects, develop real-world skills and create tangible change in your community. Whether you care about community service, mental health, youth development, the environment or professional networking, there is a place for you.