INTHEBLACK December - January 2022 - Magazine - Page 37
Left: Jenifer Austin FCPA.
Below left: Flour is a staple
of the food basket provided
to refugees, and the current
tensions in Ukraine have
had an impact on the supply
chain and on costs.
Images courtesy UNRWA
EARLY INFLUENCES
Born and raised in Launceston, Austin
comes from a line of strong, driven
women. As a student, she loved the
certainty of maths and went on to
earn a bachelor of commerce at the
University of Tasmania in Hobart, with
the goal of becoming an accountant.
After graduation, her first career role
was as a senior auditor for the Tasmanian
Audit Office. She would return to the
Tasmanian Parliament two decades
later, working with the Public Accounts
Committee for the Legislative Council.
Both government-based roles gave Austin
solid technical experience and enhanced
her communication and negotiation
skills – strengths she would make
continued use of throughout her career.
During a stint lecturing in accounting
at the University of Tasmania,
Austin discovered she had a love of
training and teaching. This led her
to study for a bachelor of education
degree, as well as an MBA.
Working as a classroom teacher gave
Austin the satisfaction of witnessing
“light bulb moments” among her
students, and knowing she had
contributed to the new knowledge they
had just gained. In education, as in
humanitarian work, capacity building
has been a powerful motivator for her.
NURTURING THE NEXT GENERATION
Teaching and lecturing took Austin on
short trips to Malaysia and Singapore,
sparking a yearning to become immersed
in a culture by living in it rather than just
passing through. When her children were
aged seven and five, she took the plunge
and accepted a job in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), lecturing at the Higher
Colleges of Technology, migrating there
with her family. They would live there for
the next 10 years.
Back then, the Dubai stock exchange
was just opening up, and the UAE
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DEC 2022
JAN 2023
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