Without the endless efforts of the people below, ESNLC would not be possible. Whether part of the committee, staff, volunteers, supporters or partners we appreciate all the time and energy and kindly direct your correspondence to these people.
Committee of Management
ESNLC activity is supported by group of representatives from the local community, who provide governance through overseeing the organisation’s performance. The Committee of Management (COM) meets ten times a year. Their key role is to develop and monitor strategic planning, associated policies and financial matters. If you live or work in the City of Port Phillip and would like to share your skills and experience for the benefit the organisation, we would love to hear from you. The first step is to apply for ESNLC membership, which is available at $1 per 3 year membership.
Greg is a local journalist and owner of Edunity, a social issues publishing company. For over a decade he edited the Council’s Divercity magazine. He now produces TWiSK, a popular weekly newsletter about the arts, music and community in St Kilda and surrounds. He has been a regular participant at the ESNLC since 2004.
Juhee has a Bachelor of Commerce and is a qualified Chartered Accountant, and brings a balanced and focused view of financial matters to ESNLC. She combines her skills in financial analysis and forecasting with her long-time love of volunteering in her community to help the residents of the City of Port Phillip have access to all they need to thrive.
She began her career in external and internal audit, where she worked with businesses to minimise their financial and operational risk. In her current role in the energy sector, she helps Australia achieve its Renewable Energy Target by analysing the financial and commercial viability of renewable energy projects.
Her hobbies include health and fitness, cricket and reading.
Penny has been involved with the ESNLC for over 30 years teaching yoga. She didn’t realize it was this long until a student reminded her that that’s how long she’s been coming to class. She has been on the committee for about 28 years.
What Penny loves about the house is the diversity of students/people that use the centre; people that perhaps may not feel so comfortable and welcome in many other places. This makes it a true centre for the whole community.
Penny works at the Queen Victoria Market in retail and teaches Yoga in other places locally too.
Lynne has been actively involved in a variety of community activities for a number of years. She sees the importance of the local community being the focus point for many people to establish relationships and networks that help to enhance our society.
She was involved with Neighbourhood Houses when they were first being established as part of her Welfare Studies within the local rural community. Lynne had always intended to become more involved again. Her changing work situation has now enabled her to do this at ESNLC.
Lynne moved to Elwood over ten years ago and has also been involved with the establishment of a community garden, called “Poets’ Garden” that has enabled her to combine her interests in gardening and networking into the wider local community.
Karen has an MBA and Bachelor of Science (Honours) and set up Elwood Kitchen Library after completing the City of Port Phillip Environmental Leaders course in 2021. Wanting to launch a business that benefitted both the community and the environment, Kaz partnered with us to launch a library that follows the principles of a circular economy. She has spent many hours creating our amazing Kitchen Library which provides members with access to kitchen appliances, cookware, bakeware plus fabulous zero waste party & entertaining packs.
Karen is an experienced marketer, working in senior marketing positions across retail and FMCG, and is passionate about sustainability and empowering the community to live more sustainably.
Ruth has a Bachelor of Education, has been a Student Welfare officer but now dedicates her life as a Feldenkrais Practioner for movements solutions. Ruth also is an expert in Reiki, Reflexology and Pranic Healing.
Ruth has volunteered in different organisations and brings a wealth of knowledge in community development. She has a deep interest in supporting people and organisations who love sharing good will in our local area and community.
Jeff has been a Port Phillip resident for the past 3 years. As a Human Resources professional he has over 15 years’ experience, across a number of industries and in some of Australia’s largest organisations. He is passionate about building environments to ensure that people can succeed and where objectives can be met. Jeff looks forward to transferring his skills and experience to the ESNLC, in particular, Business Partnering, workforce planning, policy design and talent development.
Jeff is excited to be on the Committee as he values the importance of building strong ties within the local community, and supporting people with their aspirations for health, wellbeing and personal development.
His hobbies include spending time with his family, health and fitness, and following the mighty Saints!
Staff
All of our staff work part time or casually and pride themselves on delivering the best support for all participants and the community. Our staff aim to deliver quality and inclusive learning programs using the Community Development model.
Sheryl has been a bookkeeper for over 11 years working both in employment and as a contractor. She works one day a week at ESNLC. Sheryl and her husband are now empty nesters along with a cat and a dog. Being active, walking, travelling, crafting and seeing live music make her very happy. And she’s just a little more excited by spreadsheets and balance sheets than she possibly should be!
Melanie is a qualified Social Worker with a very varied history. She began as a family therapist in Hobart then moved to England where she worked with the voluntary sector. She then moved into training, writing the education material for the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors as well as delivering the diploma of Welfare to international students. She volunteered with ESNLC to do a research project on how the City of Port Phillip recruit and celebrate volunteers. Melanie loved being at the ESNLC so much she applied for the Education Coordinator position. She loves meeting new people and seeing the regulars at the neighbourhood centre making work fun and interesting every day.
Georgie joined the team at ESNLC in September 2021 and has a background in marketing within the legal and eCommerce sectors.
She is currently studying Health Promotion and Public Health at Deakin University and is passionate about creating healthy, happy and engaged communities.
When she isn’t working or studying, Georgie loves getting outdoors and seeing what Victoria has to offer as well as traveling overseas whenever she can.
Maryanne has worked with the Roomers group across the last three years as guest artist and occasional facilitator, and is now stepping into the role of ongoing facilitator. Maryanne is a writer, director and producer who loves working across diverse contexts and with diverse individuals and communities. She also enjoys being a creative matchmaker–bringing together the talents, experiences and journeys of all involved in a project or process in exciting and unexpected ways. Maryanne has worked across the arts, community and public sectors, including time as a Radio National producer, artist in residence at Malthouse Theatre, and a team member of reviews into the mental health of several large-scale public organisations. Maryanne is a local resident of St Kilda and the mother of teenage twins.
Teachers
Our wide selection of classes and courses are taught by these wonderful people, who work tirelessly to bring high quality learning to the centre.
Vivien is an experienced teacher who has taught literacy to adults with an intellectual disability and English as an Additional Language. With more than ten years’ experience in this area, Vivien has embraced the opportunity to be abreast of the industry by taking a Cert. IV in TAE. Vivien has been teaching since 2006 at our centre and is passionate about training adults from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Her aim is to create a friendly learning environment in which her students can develop not only language abilities but also confidence to communicate in a conversational or written manner. Vivien is currently teaching pre accredited and accredited training.
Vandana has worked in community sector for over 15 years as an assessor & teacher of ESL & ICT for adults. She strongly believes, as a teacher, we all learn something everyday which she enjoys. Vandana completed a Masters in TESOL from Monash. In addition, she holds a Masters degree in Business Administration. Her passion is to work with people of all ages and backgrounds, which includes teaching in primary school.
Outside work, Vandana enjoy going for long walks, travel countries, painting, reading, & embroidery. All these with a cup of coffee gives her pleasure.
Penny has been teaching Gita Style Hatha Yoga at ESNLC for over 30 years at ESNLC. Penny graduated as a Gita Yoga teacher in 1989, she originally did the course because she just loved the yoga practice taught at Gita Yoga and simply wanted to do more yoga. Throughout her career as a yoga teacher the Progressive Yoga Relaxation, the Hatha style of Gita Yoga combined with the Esoteric and philosophy classes became a constant in her life. Participants love her gentle form of teaching and she has many loyal followers.
Monica has been doing yoga off and on since she was little and she has had some great teachers along the way and one at CAE said, “My job is to make you love yoga so much you want to do it in your own home”. Monica’s formal training was at Gita which used to be in Abbotsford and was one of the first yoga schools in Melbourne. Along the way, she’s done yoga retreats and taken classes and workshops from others to continue to learn and grow. Her aim is to have an inclusive class so that if you’re just starting out you can come along and if you’ve been practising a long time you can be challenged as well. A quote which sums up Monica’s thinking right now is “Our mistake is that we think we have so much time.” Come along and find some further balance, strength and peace on Tuesdays with Monica.
Damian has been an Art as Therapy tutor at ESNLC for over 12 years. He has a dedicated class of all abilities students who attend every Friday to create art using different mediums. Damian himself has a background in sculpture of native birds using wood and also specialises in water colour.
Victoriya is an experienced Computer Teacher for adults with EAL. She has an extensive teaching experience in delivering Information Technology and related courses to university students in Europe. She is a Ph.D. in Information Technology. She has an excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities, good communication and team-working skills. She always shows her enthusiasm at helping students to do their digital journey. Victoria is an acknowledged Computer teacher for a Russian-speaking Community in Melbourne.
Jesicka joined the ESNLC team in 2019 first as a volunteer EAL assistant by way of a returning to work after starting a little family. Jesicka was then appointed EAL beginner teacher in 2020. Jesicka’s teaching style is dynamic and all her students say they learn really fast because she gives them confidence.
Volunteers
ESNLC could not operate without the dedicated contribution of our many wonderful volunteers. There are some amazing volunteers that have been with us for a long time and many others have moved on in search of their dreams.
Carolyn has been assisting Vivien in the pre-intermediate English class since 2013. A local Elwood resident, she enjoys walking to ESLNC each Monday to work with the wonderful international students on their term projects. Carolyn holds degrees in English and Communications and has produced videos and events. These days she finds volunteering to help students with their English much more fun!
Jeremy has a background in Science and Business. Jeremy is helping out with small changes and updates to the ESNLC website. In his spare time he enjoys playing and watching sport, especially Footy, Cricket and Golf.
I’m Jamie, I live locally and I have only just recently started volunteering with ESNLC after walking past a number of times and wanting to connect more with the community and contribute in some way. My volunteer role is around working on a potential social prescription project, which focuses on engaging with people in the community via a referral from their GP and identifying their needs, and linking them with activities or supports in the community. I’m really excited about the potential for this project to connect people, as there is so much to gain from a sense of community!
I’m really enjoying volunteering in the centre so far and connecting with interesting and kind people who are inspiring the project that I am undertaking.
Please reach out if you would like to chat about the project, I would love to hear what you think!
Karen has an MBA and Bachelor of Science (Honours) and set up Elwood Kitchen Library after completing the City of Port Phillip Environmental Leaders course in 2021. Wanting to launch a business that benefitted both the community and the environment, Kaz partnered with us to launch a library that follows the principles of a circular economy. She has spent many hours creating our amazing Kitchen Library which provides members with access to kitchen appliances, cookware, bakeware plus fabulous zero waste party & entertaining packs. Karen is an experienced marketer, working in senior marketing positions across retail and FMCG, and is passionate about sustainability and empowering the community to live more sustainably.
Supporters
ESNLC Inc is proud to acknowledge the support of the following sponsors and funders, whose contribution to our organisation supports us in the delivery of our service to the delivery of our service to the Port Phillip community, we take this opportunity to thank them for their generous support.
