17. Annabelle Chauncy OAM: From university student to School for Life Founder

Every leadership role has it’s own hard yards or challenges and in this episode we’ll be delving into what exactly it’s like to found and run a non for profit organisation in a country like Uganda.

In this episode I’ll be speaking with Annabelle Chauncy OAM.

While Annabelle grew in up in rural New South Wales and completed a Bachelor of Arts/Law at Sydney University. Her passion lies in developing and implementing strategy, governance, business development, fundraising and speaking to promote the work of the Foundation School For Life.

She has won far more awards than we can fit here but amongst them is the Medal of the Order of Australia, the Paul Harris Fellow and the Women of the Future Award.

In this episode Annabelle shares:

• The moment she was stuck in Kenya during an uprising
• How this experience inspired he to create the charity 
• The hurdles of building schools by using local construction who would strike and wanted to be paid daily but wouldn’t be reliable
• The moment they realised they had to understand the local community and go slow and be empathetic and listen if they wanted to succeed with the local community
• How having a good team allowed them to move forward faster 
• The time a local politician demanded a bribe to allow them to go ahead and how they handled it
• Overcoming the imposter syndrome that comes with raising a big NGO without any mentorship
• The problems that occurred when she brought in technically skilled people who were not culturally aligned
• Why she initially had difficulty being a leader and a mum

Key Quotes

“You think it’s gonna be a straight line to success. Its bumpy its up and down, it’s wild.”

“Never did I find myself in deeper imposter syndrome moments than when I was surrounded by the wrong people.”

If you want to find out more about Annabelle and School For Life:

Head to their website here: https://www.schoolforlife.org.au/

Their social media.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/school-for-life-foundation/?originalSubdomain=au

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/schoolforlifefoundation

Also, I have attached the link to the fabulous mental health first aid course that every manager should do if they get the chance. https://mhfa.com.au/ 

You can also follow Annabelle on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annabellechauncy?originalSubdomain=au

If you want to find out more about what Wayne does, check out his business via the website: 

http://engage4performance.com/

 

Or you can follow him on socials:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-reuben-engage4performance/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.