Old Grammarian Amy Smith Visits the School

Last week, Merton Hall "old girl", Amy Smith, was invited back to speak to the attendees of the AGSA (Alliance of Girls Schools Australia conference) 

Amy started her corporate life in Australia at Telstra, then moved to London in 1993 where she worked for just over a decade running creative advertising agencies and building brands such as Sony PlayStation, Virgin, Nike, Revlon, Honda and is now the General Manager of Jenny Craig, Australia & New Zealand. 

Amy is energetic, creative and has the drive and imagination to achieve anything. She is a champion of change and revitalising businesses through giving organisations a sense of purpose, vision and momentum. She loves getting businesses and people in touch with their strengths and helping them to unleash their full potential on the world.

Amy was at the school to speak to the topic: "Anything she can do, I can do better".

She started by thanking the school for the confidence it instilled in her, and the belief that "she was capable of anything, but she would have to work for it". 

"The first real intimacy is with your girlfriends. We need to teach girls how to handle conflict without losing friendship. Silent treatment is not the answer. Acknowledge competition and show our girls how to be competitive but not fight for the small stuff. Ambition can be healthy. We need to see ourselves as more, not lacking. We need to teach girls to force themselves into those rooms. 

People often bring down the girl in the spotlight. We want to celebrate girls’ success not hide their skills." 
She went onto to reveal her top 10 tips for life:

Amy’s Top 10 Life Lessons

 1. The more you do the more they expect. 
2. Just because you can does not mean you should. Learn to say no. 
3. Get everything in writing. 
4. Relationships rule; don’t burn bridges with people. 
5. You get what you give out; walk and talk with integrity. 
6. Perfection is the opposite of self-acceptance. 
7. Coffee is not a substitute for sleep. 
8. It is not about winning or losing. 
9. Enough is enough, take a break. 
10. You can child-proof areas of your house and life but they still get in. 

She summarised by saying that as educators the best lesson we need to teach girls is how to deal with conflict and as women we should celebrate our skills and celebrate them in each other. She was an inspirational and down to earth speaker with a sense of humour who kept everyone totally engaged, including the men in the audience!