Here’s a brief overview of my entire life so far.

This is the silly goofy version that gives you a sense of my personality and what’s important to me…

• I grew up in Western Australia, near the small town of Pinjarra and regional city of Mandurah.

• Born in 1986, thanks to IVF technology. I am proud to be one of the early IVF babies in Australia, and that there are now so many families who have benefited from this amazing technology which was still considered very controversial when my parents bravely took a chance on the treatment.

• I grew up watching my parents run their small business during very challenging times. They owned a hardware store, so I guess it makes sense that these Nutts sold bolts for a living. (Get it?!) As a result of the difficulty of running a small business, our small family later experienced the stress and hardship that comes with losing a business to financial overwhelm. This experience shaped the rest of my childhood and gave me a lived experience of financial disadvantage that allows me to deeply empathise with all of the many other Aussies who have, or who are currently experiencing financial insecurity and stress due to cost-of-living pressures.

• I’m the world’s proudest big sister. I consider my little brother to be my life-long best friend. And he agrees that he is MY best friend, and that that’s really nice for me! I’m endlessly proud of him and it makes me happier than anything to see him thriving.

• I am very proudly neurodivergent. I am Autistic and I have ADHD. I was late-diagnosed in my mid-30s, but once I had this formal validation of my neurotype, suddenly EVERYTHING made sense about my personality and life in retrospect.

• I’ve worked since the moment I was legally able to, and before I embarked on my post-study professional career, I had a bunch of weird and random jobs: Doing laundry at a country vet clinic; counting the number of people using boat ramps on public holidays for research by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure in WA; Woeking in a warehouse preparing bulk textbook orders for schools; sealing envelopes for a university’s mailroom; washing cars, scooping ice cream on Mandurah foreshore in summer; selling wedding dresses in a bridal store; exchanging foreign cash at a currency exchange office… and then some more regular gigs like working at Boost Juice, Kmart, David Jones, cafes and a bar.

• I studied at Curtin University in Perth where I completed a double degree, BA International Studies (Asian Studies major), and BA Media and Info (TV and Journalism). While I studied, I also started my first small business, a jewellery business featuring comic book decoupage and video game themed cross stitch. It was decently successful for a hobby business, and was featured in some magazine and fashion festival events!

• I was made redundant from my first job out of uni, thanks to the GFC. I worked at an American-owned international college and experienced my first restructure when the business had to make changes to staffing resources. This event prompted me to move to Melbourne; I travelled to Melbourne on a $99 Tiger Airways red eye flight with two suitcases and a credit card, and fell in love with the city immediately (literally before I even made it through the big french fries and light up tunnel on the Tulla Freeway!)

• I enrolled in a Master Degree at Swinburne University when I moved to Melbourne - but I dropped out early with a Graduate Certificate when I found work at a social inclusion organisation called InfoXchange, started volunteering teaching English to migrant communities, and started a small freelance multimedia and website production business. I also started my own online magazine called Thelma, which helped me to make loads of new friends and experience Melbourne’s incredibly creative community.

• I once wrote, produced and performed my own comedy show at Melbourne International Comedy Festival because an ex-boyfriend was a comedian and told me he was funnier than me, so I held a grudge and did my own show just to prove to myself that I could. It went ok. Two weeks of daily shows, and I only TOTALLY bombed out on one of them.

• My corporate career began at CPA Australia, and I’ve since worked at a number of large corporate businesses and non-profit organisations, where I’ve developed a diverse range of practical problem solving, project management and governance skills. These include Netwealth Superannuation, Australia Post, AGL Energy, Officeworks, Beyond Blue, and Kids Under Cover.

• I met my partner, Alex, at work and we’re now married and share a home and a life together. We got married locally in Cheltenham amongst our family and friends, and I was walked down the aisle by my dog. I kept my embarrassing surname, despite this opportunity to escape all of the “Nutt” jokes, because: feminism.

• I have a 12 year old dog who I adopted as a 7 week old puppy, and I adore more than anything.

• I’m an active member of my community and participate in a range of volunteer activities, and opportunities to connect with people however I can.

What else do you want to know?

Honestly, the whole autism thing makes me a total over-sharer and an open book, so you’re welcome to ask me anything and I’m always the first to out myself for something embarrassing!

For example, once as a kid I got my entire leg stuck through the wheel of my pushbike, through the spokes and had to be rescued with a wire cutter. I once got stuck at Flinders St station with my undies exposed because the seam of my op shop skirt came apart. And now that I’m in my late 30s, sometimes I grow a weird long hair out of my eyebrow.