Every month at our Monthly meetings, we will feature membership interviews. What a great way for members to get to know each other especially as we are from so many diverse backgrounds and countries.
In August we heard from Allison Troth, Partnerships Manager at Destiny Rescue and Jenny Nola, Deputy Vice President of Country Women’s Association of Victoria
ALLISON TROTH MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR.
After leaving school in South Australia, Allison studied Journalism at University and began a career working in Rural Press. Allison became bored with covering parochial stories. A position as media advisor for a local member of parliament launched her into Federal Politics.
Beginning as the Media Assistant to John Hewson, as leader of the opposition. Allison’s career continued to develop.
When John Howard became Prime Minister, Allison became an advisor to the PM and joined the “West Wing” of Liberal Party politics. She travelled extensively to pave the way for the Prime Minister at conferences and forums throughout her 20’s.
Whilst in Canberra, Allison met her husband Dean. At the time, Dean was working on the opposing side of politics to Allison. Although this might not have seemed a promising start for romance, Dean and Allison eventually married. They have 2 teenage boys, Raphael (13) and Asher (15)
At 31, Allison had enough of politics and travel; she entered the world of Non-Profits. There was a real contrast between planning projects worth millions of dollars from her past life to a $20,000 project for her new position at Anglicare.
A stint at her “Dream Job” as Multicultural Affairs Advisor for the Victorian Parliament kept Allison focused until she saw a small advertisement in the newspaper for a position at Destiny Rescue, an Anti- Trafficking NGO. “It was meant to be,” says Allison. As the Partnerships Manager of Destiny Rescue Allison channels her media experience and a lot of passion into the rescue of children into the brothel industry in Australia and overseas.
Allison’s professional experience coupled with an inquisitive mind and a genuine love of engagement with all she meets, makes her the ideal choice as our RPM Membership Director.
JENNY NOLA
Jenny grew up in Linton, rural Victoria where her family had a history serving with the Country Women’s Association (CWA). Jenny said,” I’m genetically pre-disposed to serve. Rural life was community focused and there was a time when her grandmother started the CWA in Tubbut. This is a small community nestled between the Snowy River National Park and the NSW bordering East Gippsland.
Jenny’s ambitions focused beyond Linton where she was born and in the 80’s she came to Melbourne for work. With the freedom of city life and promise of new adventures, Jenny took 5 months to backpack around Asia including Srinagar, Pakistan, Nepal and Thailand. It was on one of these occasions that she travelled on the roof of a bus; a fantastic experience except for the chances of being “garroted” by overhanging electrical wires that were strung across the roads.
It was time to return to the workforce in Melbourne at TELSTRA. Here Jenny met husband Steve whose work involved Corporate IT. Through their careers, Steve and Jenny have had opportunities to travel. Their most recent adventure in 2019 was the thrill of following the Tour de France by helicopter in the Pyrenees Region. This culminated in a Venetian family reunion to celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary. The family settled in the Essendon area with their 3 sons, including twins.
Jenny was drawn to serve with the Essendon branch of CWA in 2012. This group had an aging membership so Jenny volunteered to eventually take up a leadership role. In the background, a firm friendship was building between Jenny and JF (Jenny Foster) with common interests such as children, school committees and various opportunities to volunteer together.
With JF’s encouragement, it seemed a natural progression to join RPM. Jenny also serves as Deputy State President of the CWA. She believes that there are opportunities for Rotary and CWA to collaborate on Australian and International Projects. Therein lies the power of combining these two important organizations.