Imagine my surprise today when I opened my mail! I wrote the following and will be sending it out tomorrow.
Melbourne, Australia, January 7 2008. It was announced today that Kathie M. Thomas, founder of "A Clayton's Secretary" and pioneer of the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia has been nominated for the Australian of the Year Awards 2008.
Thomas has assisted hundreds of women, in Australia and overseas, to establish businesses at home so they could be present for their families, just as she has been. Late last year she launched her new book "Worth More Than Rubies: The Value of a Work At Home Mum" to further encourage and assist women worldwide in their desire to return home.
"I have no idea who nominated me and it was a wonderful surprise to receive the letter and certificate in the post this morning" she said. "I expect it is because I've made myself available to women worldwide and helped them to do what I've been doing for the past 14 years. I'm very grateful to whomever it was and would like to publicly thank them."
Virtual Assistants (VA) are primarily people with past corporate office experience who bring their skills into a home office and provide the same sort of support to clients via virtual means. The VA industry was birthed after the Internet entered the business scene in the mid 1990s. Thomas, who was already operating a secretarial business at home prior to this technological change, was quick to adopt this new technology and was soon approached by many other women who had found her website and wanted to work at home. A new network was formed and membership now spreads to 16 countries with the majority of members being mothers at home.
"Working at home isn't something that everyone could do" Thomas said. "Many experience feelings of isolation and depression. But for those who have excellent office skills and need to be home for children or aged parents, it's an ideal way to keep those skills and still have an income. I manage a discussion forum online for all our members so they have the opportunity to mix and mingle with others without feeling like they're totally alone.
Interested readers may find out more about "A Clayton's Secretary" at
http://www.asecretary.com.au.
About Kathie M. Thomas
Mother to 5 now grown daughters, Kathie continues to work as a Virtual Assistant and provides VA coaching and training to many would-be VAs. She is also an author, blogger and public speaker. You can find out more about her at
http://www.kathiethomas.com.
You can see my photo with the certificate at
http://www.vadirectory.net/pressreleasejan08.htm
Cheers,
Kathie M. Thomas
Founder of "A Clayton's Secretary" nominated for Award
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