More About Briddy

Creator-Curator

“Life is a blank canvas — relax, let go, and freely create your own script to add value to your life and others.” Briddy

My life is about learning, resilience, creativity, adaptability, and pursuing ideas to concrete fruition. What I create in this life is to share with others. I am a qualified urban planner, applied linguist, tertiary and high school teacher. I am also an investor, artist, and online business owner.

The 1970’s

I was born in Melbourne, Australia, a member of a large tribe with six siblings. Childhood memories include making boats in the backyard, setting up shops, searching for tadpoles at a pond in a local park, drawing, and riding my red dragster bike around the neighborhood. I recall my mother's words in those days “ Come inside for dinner.” Our lives were free.

My school teachers instilled a love for reading, art, history, geography, global culture, and writing. I have random memories — I never liked sitting on the mat and listening to the afternoon story in primary school. I would walk over and choose a different one to read in the corner as my teacher read too slowly, and often I was not interested in the book she selected. I preferred action, crime, adventure, and sci-fi books. My favorite book was “Harriet, the Spy.” I remember starting my first journal, like Harriet jotting down observations in the playground and the classroom.

The 1980’s

The eighties were great hairstyles, fashion, and cool dance moves. I wanted to be a high school teacher. However, after finishing school, I studied Urban and Regional Planning at Melbourne University. At this time, the university was a vibrant, creative campus.

I believe the city is the story of people’s lives. I worked as an urban planner in the local council and then joined an architectural, engineering, and landscape architecture firm. My favorite projects were economically and environmentally sustainable. I worked on a project designing an office building around a tree. I specialized in land swaps for ecologically sensitive land to be gifted and protected by the Government in exchange for land development rights for residual non-sensitive land. Environmental decontamination and inner-city rejuvenation were also my interests. I still wanted to be a teacher, and I journaled and painted in my free time.

The 1990s

At this time, a few foreign property investors asked if I was interested in training them in cross-cultural business communication. This led to a new career in Asia, designing a national curriculum in Business English for Second Language Learners.

I also started Taekwondo -training every evening and studied Buddhism, Qi-Qong, Asian Art, and the Korean language. Throughout this period, I enjoyed three months a year annual holidays and traveled around the world. I continued to journal, collect jewelry, and paint.

The Millenium

I returned to Melbourne and formalized my teaching career by gaining further post-grad qualifications as a “mature age” student. I set up a language school with a colleague in the city. They were fun days of creating dynamic course curriculums and teaching international students from around the world.

I also worked in the Middle East and specialized in educational technology supporting sound pedagogy. This was handy when COVID hit with remote and hybrid classes. I am also very interested in positive psychology and introduced workshops for my students and integrated the theme in all lesson designs.

Despite my tech proficiency, I love face-to-face teaching and learning as a collaborative, cognitive, and social process for young people — a community of inquiry. I would prefer if tech supports rather than drives learning. I enjoy flipped learning and student-guided synchronous conversations to build meaning-making and deeper thinking.

Diversification of My Interests

Investment

A pivotal point in my life was standing in front of the Fearless Girl statue in New York, realizing she was a symbol of female empowerment and not afraid of the bull (the bull markets). This random trip down Wall Street, New York, removed my investment fear. I avidly started an engaging independent learner journey to improve my financial literacy. I became a successful investor on a meager teacher salary. Schools must teach financial literacy or personal finance to young people in high school.

Jewelry

I shared my curated collection of ethnic jewelry from my travels and set up a global online business. I believe ethnic jewelry connects women over time and place, and across cultures. It is a commonality that rises above differences in culture, religion, socio-economic status, nationality, or race.

Art

I love to create multi-media art using traditional symbols, patterns, and motifs. I research the meanings of the symbols in mythology and incorporate these in my designs. The one below is an abstract of the evil eye — a symbol throughout the Mediterranean region.

Writing

Now, I’m moving from journalling private thoughts to sharing my writing on Medium, setting up a blog, and hoping to generate another income source as a free-lance writer. Concurrently, I am designing a curriculum for an ESL course for healthcare professionals planning to migrate to Australia, Canada, UK, and the US. I take time to read and support the Medium Writing community, curate jewelry, and, time permitting — I like to paint.

Medium

Enjoy more of my stories here or in my Flipboard Magazine.

Join Medium for $5 a month to write your own story. $2.27 goes directly to the writer (me). I will spend it wisely on a cafe latte in my favorite coffee shop, pretend to be JK Rowling, and be inspired to write more.

Briddy is an Australian writer enjoying freedom in her Feisty Fifties. If you enjoyed her writing — sign up for her email list so new stories go direct to your mailbox. She looks forward to connecting with other writers and readers around the world through Medium. Twitter handle is @BriddyBrigid.

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