Aisling Brady, 25, from Brisbane, is a Premium member, and a senior personal assistant at Wiley (she calls herself a guest liaison/support ninja). Here’s her story …
I was born in Ireland and moved to Australia as a child. I spent a majority of my childhood in Sydney before the family relocated to the Sunshine State. After many years in Brisbane, I took a massive leap and moved to Sydney with no job and no plan for what was next. After a few years on my ‘eat, pray, love’ journey, I decided it was time to come back to Brisbane and start kicking some goals.
Growing up, I always wanted to be an actress.
I would constantly put on shows for my family. I went to acting school for many years and always believed I’d be on the big screen one day. I’m not sure when I lost this, but I’m more of an introvert now – and the idea of being on the big screen is terrifying!
I’m a boomerang when it comes to work.
I began at Wiley back in 2010. After leaving to travel overseas on a one-way ticket, they offered me a job when I got back. Not long after, I left again to relocate to Sydney. And here we are again, third time round as the local ’boomerang’ around here. I must be doing something right if they keep taking me back, right?!
I thrive on challenges.
From being temporarily thrown into roles I’ve never done, to having every member of the executive team constantly push me outside of my barriers, everything I do is a test to augment my growth. To some, this may sound daunting, but this is the reason I am where I am today. The best part about my job is that the people I work for and with have my back and believe in me.
I recently had a challenge that threw me for six.
My mum suffered from an acquired brain injury. She had bleeding to both sides of her brain with the main damage done on the left side – the part that controls language. After spending every lunch break and most evenings at the hospital with no idea of what recovery would look like, after six months in the brain-injury rehab unit she is now home. Unfortunately, progress will be slow from here and we’ve learnt to get to know her new personality and communicate with her as best as we can. It’s been tough but it taught me resilience, it taught me to show up every day and be the best version of myself because tomorrow could be different. We lost a mum we once thought we knew but we gained a new mum, who at times we may get frustrated with, but who we now appreciate and get to spend quality time with, something we never did before.
I get asked all the time how I juggle all of this, I’m not going to sit here and say it’s easy. Every day is hard, but I can’t imagine going through life without any challenges. The best part is getting to the end of the day knowing you’ve achieved something, even if it’s just getting out of bed!
On that – figure out what gets you out of bed every morning.
Someone once told me that to discover my passion, I needed to do this. It took me months to figure out what actually got me out of bed. I soon realised it was exercise. Every morning I got up without a second thought to push my body in ways I never knew possible. I thought I was onto something; this is when I began my course to become a personal trainer. It wasn’t until recently that I actually realised physical health, mental health and emotional health are all interlinked and they all affect how you show up at work and in life. This was the thing, my passion wasn’t to become a personal trainer and exercise for the rest of my life. It’s people, it’s educating and implementing the benefits of healthy lifestyles and outlooks on life that get you through every day. It’s how our brain and bodies work and connect to every aspect of what we do and why we do it.
I’m blown away by Cathy Burke, global leader of partnerships at The Hunger Project.
I recently attended my first Business Chicks event, the Movers and Breakers conference, and was truly blown away. I sat next to Cathy Burke at dinner.
While I was being blown away by her stories and what she does, she hugged me and told me she was blown away by my story. It’s this inspirational and supportive community that makes Business Chicks what it is.
It didn’t take me long to realise that you don’t have to have everything figured out by your twenties.
Hell, if I figure out what I want to do at 50, good on me!
I unwind by spending time with my one-year-old nephew. I think it’s the only thing that slows me down. It’s the simplicity of it all that brings me back to earth and it helps me grasp the fact that when you cry, food or sleep will usually fix the problem!
CONNECT WITH AISLING HERE
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