Five ways to become a change maker
At WellBeing, we often talk to women who have risen above the normal demands of work and family to create something meaningful for their communities. Here, we share five ways you can become a change maker and make your mark on the world.
At some point in our lives, we might have felt the motivation to elevate our passions and skills to change things on a global scale. But what does real change look like? Where do you begin? How do you find momentum?
We speak to Katherine Peereboom, an everyday inspiring woman who has created change for the disability community.
Katherine created a change-making tool to assist people with a disability to better communicate with emergency services. She is currently working with Microsoft to create the worldwide platform Global Voluntary Disclosure Project (GVDP).
It was her three disabled children who drove Katherine to work with global partners to develop GVDP. She has spent the last five years training law-enforcement agencies across the eastern seaboard of Australia – free of charge and without any assistance – on the nuances of interacting with disabled people.
Katherine’s key steps in being a change maker
Step 1: Find your purpose
“Find what drives you, and something that you are really passionate about,” Katherine shares. “Finding my passion has been the most important thing. I have had an extensive corporate career, which I loved, and I found those roles fulfilling but it didn’t fill me with passion until I created the GVDP tool.
“I have three profoundly disabled children. They are my inspiration, motivation, what gives me the determination to tackle these changes and continue in my pursuit.”
Step 2: Identify a need
“Making sure there is a need is so important to the success of your endeavour. Is there a need for your idea in the business landscape? Is there a niche?” she explains.
Katherine knew from her personal experience and her own family that there was a need for the tool that she created, but she relied upon a lot of research to pinpoint exactly what her audience needed. Then she went to work delivering it.
Step 3: Have a plan
“Create a business plan that you can action. You need to know where you’re going, so that you know what the next step is all the time,” Katherine shares.
Step 4: Listen to the community
“For the sector that I support, one of the key things has been listening to the community. Listen to what their needs are and the problems that don’t have a resolution. Actively listening to and engaging with the community has been vital to be the change maker I needed to be,” she says.
Step 5: Expect obstacles
“When you are bringing anything new to the market, there are always going to be obstacles. They come in so many different forms – it could be investor rejection. It could be engaging suppliers who let you down and don’t understand your vision,” she says.
“It’s important to always come back to purpose. If you understand what your purpose is, the market that you’re serving and why it is so critical, it gives you the passion to carry on no matter what.”
In the end, it was the passion and love for her family that drove Katherine to create GVDP. “Making the world better for my children is key. The world is a scary place. We cannot be there for our children all the time. The training I’ve developed has literally saved lives,” she shares proudly. “I’m happy to go outside of what I do if it will change one child’s life.”
Katherine, we thank you for your incredible work in the community. It is stories like yours that inspire The WellBeing Women of the Year Awards. The WellBeing Women of the Year Awards aim to give women in business and women in the community a platform of acknowledgment and celebration.
