“I haven’t looked back. I just needed someone to give me a chance…”
| Michelle’s Story |
By Interchange Australia Marketing Coordinator Ainslie Hiebert
The very first time I saw Michelle was when she jumped in from the crowd at a live performance by Interchange Australia band the Hidden Wonders and started rocking out to an ACDC classic with the band, she belonged there and I knew that we had to invite her to join!
Michelle belongs on the stage! We have watched on as she acted her way through a challenging and hilarious improvised skit with ease and have witnessed her bring the slightly more timid actors and actresses to life, always encouraging others to give it a go and be their best. It’s not often that you meet someone who is able to do that to a whole room full of people, just simply by being themselves.
Most artists are only comfortable in one genre when it comes to music, but Michelle can do anything from an Elton John classic, to some old school rock and over to Alanis Morisset. One of the most valuable skills of a band member even more so than their diverse musical talent is the ability to keep the morale of the group up and encourage others. The greatest inspiration to yourself is inspiring others and Michelle sure is an inspiration to everyone who she meets!
Michelle has had lots of opportunities to perform since joining with interchange Australia, both in an acting and a musical capacity and she has never ceased to amaze her audience. She starred as a guest performer at Stars on Stage Day performance in December 2020, numerous acting roles as part of the Stage Fright Players and she even hosted The Rock Can Show!
Anyone who meets Michelle would know that she is very talented both on and off the stage and off the stage is where we are very excited to be able to help Michelle strive to achieve her life dreams!
Over the years Michelle has found that navigating employment through the NDIS to be quite difficult and often the opportunities available weren’t ones that really allowed her to use her skills and talents.
When Michelle learnt that she could study hospitality at TAFE through the Steps to Success program so that she could learn the skills she needed to be able to work in a café, restaurant or the hospitality industry in general, the only way I can describe it was her face literally did light up. “I’d been holding myself back and given up hope… I thought I was too old for this and I didn’t know there were any other options out there”.
Being the intelligent, friendly and smiley person that she is, it is very easy to see Michelle would suit a customer service role in hospitality, we knew that it was important to do all we could to help get her there.
After learning about the program Michelle signed herself up to TAFE, and is absolutely loving every second of it and even better Michelle is scoring top results in all of her assessment tasks, she has now even taken on additional units. “I love it. Thank you for putting me there, I haven’t looked back. I just needed someone to give me a chance at something new”.
Michelle says the program is really well run, and caters well to the varied needs of the class. “I feel so much hope knowing that Interchange can help me gain the skills I need to find a job in a field I enjoy, and I can’t wait to be able to save some money to spend on my son. Thank you to Interchange for helping me make my own dreams come true”.
We would like to wish Michelle all the very best in the future, and we look forward to sharing her great success!
If you would like to know how you too can join our Steps to Success program fell free to give us a call on 02 4868 6688, be inspired!
