After graduating from Law at The University of Queensland, I took a role working on international crime for the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, particularly people trafficking. A secondment at AusAID led me to an eye-opening role in Cambodia as Project Advisor for the United Nations Development Programme.
I later worked as a human rights lawyer for the International Bar Association in London, where we identified emerging international rule of law concerns, including in Poland, Singapore, Iran and Fiji. On arrival in Fiji, (after a long day of work and two 13-hour flights), I discovered the Fiji government had vowed to deport me, so I spent seven hours sitting in Fiji airport waiting to fly on to Brisbane where we conducted the visit remotely. Newspapers around the world reported that I had been arrested and deported!
I also had the opportunity to visit Iran twice where I found the attitude to women very challenging. One particular incident involved a man planting himself directly in front of me while I was speaking with my colleagues. Women are often treated as though we are invisible, which is intensely disempowering.
After tiring of the jetlag, I transitioned into the charity sector, and am now an interim CEO and charity consultant. As an interim CEO, I lead charities that are facing challenges, transitions, or crises. For example, I led the high-profile charity Fawcett Society—the UK’s leading gender equality charity—for a year through a merger consultation. I was regularly quoted in major newspapers and interviewed on radio and TV about all things feminism-related, which was great fun. I loved the work we did there but was frustrated by the equalities sector’s puritanical streak.
The NGO and charity sector is a wonderful place for a career at any stage, but it often suffers from misunderstanding and underestimation. A move into the sector needs understanding of the fundamental focus of the sector on impact, rather than profit, and learning into the sector’s additional regulation and practices. Working internationally adds additional complications—especially in areas such as human rights, which are not as universally shared as we might like. You need to bring patience, respect, cultural sensitivity and a lot of self reflection to international work.
After my eighth interim CEO role, I am currently working as a consultant to charities on areas such as strategic planning, governance and crisis, and am increasingly working on the issues that affect the whole sector. I was excited earlier this year to start on a podcast (For Impact: the charity podcast) funded by the Benefact Group, which is giving me a great platform to raise awareness of the challenges facing the sector—and how they could be overcome. I live in Gloucester with my English husband and two children, and we travel at every opportunity to make up for the loss of it in my work!
Felicia facilitating a strategic plan with a grassroots charity
Felicia and her family traveling in Jordan
