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Five Questions with Liesha Northover

Corporate Hippie, Australia

Connect with Liesha

Liesha chose to be interviewed in a hammock.

Photo by Kalen Emsley on Unsplash

Kalen Emsley

Photo of Liesha Northover sitting next to statues on the steps of an ancient building in Baktapur, Nepal

1. What is your job title?

I am an independent contractor and my job title with AAIR is: AAIR Executive Officer. I also have other job titles for the different roles I hold with other clients.

2. Tell us about your role with AAIR.

I first started working for AAIR when Josie Palermo was President back in 2009. It was a very different world back then. I’m not sure what had happened in the time immediately preceding Josie stepping into the President role, but records were somewhat scarce and scattered. My first task was to collate a handful of spreadsheets from various authors and identify the AAIR membership. My second task was to maintain the existing website and begin working on a design brief for a new website. We are now onto our third website since I began almost ten years ago, and don’t they just keep getting better and better! Yes, that was a statement not a question.

I’ve now worked under three Presidents, one Acting President, two Secretaries, one Acting Secretary, and three Treasurers—at least I think my math is correct—and I’m still here.

The Association has seen so many changes since those earlier days in terms of systems and processes, policies, procedures, information management, portfolios, strategic planning, communications, website and social media channels. I feel proud to have contributed to much of this growth and development, and I look forward to the Association continuing to thrive and offer value to its members.

3. Where did you work before AAIR?

I started my career in the higher education space as a desktop publisher in the Curriculum and Program Development department at Box Hill Institute. In the seven years I worked at the Institute, I was also an editor, sessional teacher, and ultimately PLR1 Coordinator, where I managed the development of learner and trainer resources at the Institute. I also co-ran writing workshops for the teachers.

From there I moved into my beloved role of APQN2 Administrator at the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) under the leadership of David Woodhouse. During this time, I also did some consulting with other quality assurance networks, namely the Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, and the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education.

At the sad closing of AUQA, I had a short-lived position with TEQSA3 as the International Liaison Officer, before going completely solo and running my own business from home. AAIR is one of my clients. I love my laptop lifestyle, as it affords me the flexibility to lead a well-balanced life.

I’d love to connect with you on LinkedIn.

Come find me!

1 Premier Learning Resources
2 Asia-Pacific Quality Network
3 Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency

4. Tell us something about yourself outside your working life.

I love writing, gardening and traveling. While I love creative writing as a hobby, I also find it creeping into my work.

Writing
I regularly attend a local writing class to keep my creative brain engaged and entertained. I enjoy writing and have had a few things published over the years, though not so much recently. In class, I’ve learned new words like assonance, consonance and alliteration. This year I’m discovering other poetic devices, such as euphony, metonymy and paradox (The hurrier I go the behinder I get). I love the written word and enjoy reading as well. What’s on my bedside table right now? Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss.

Gardening
Having recently moved from a city block to a country block I thought, ‘what do I do with all this land?’ I know, enrol part time in a horticulture course! And so, I did. Now on top of enjambment, stanza and epigram, I’m learning words like Tristaniopsis laurina, Rosaceae, lanceolate and pinnatifid. The brain swells!

Travelling
My international travelling career began at 21 years young when I moved to the UK for a couple of years and travelled extensively through Europe and Scandinavia. My love of Asia was born while working for APQN, and all my travels during that time—and most of my travels since that time— have been in Asia and the Middle East, with the occasional Pacific Island hop.

I’m working my way towards eligibility for the Travelers’ Century Club, and I’m progressing well. There are two criteria that I especially grasped hold of:

  1. ‘After consideration as to how long one must have stayed in a country or territory to qualify, it was decided that even the shortest visit would suffice — even if only a port-of-call, or a plane fuel stop, provided that you disembark from your aircraft, ship, or vehicle and set foot in the territory.’
    That gave me one extra country that I wouldn’t normally have included.
  2. ‘Although some are not actually countries in their own right, they have been included because they are removed from the parent country.’

Therefore, Tasmania is also included in the list as a separate country! Bazinga! Thanks to you Tassie 😊 I’m nearly halfway there.

5. Complete this statement: In my role, I can’t operate effectively without…

…my Nespresso machine, coffee pods and milk frother! I would be equally lost without the AAIR membership and the dedicated team at the top, the Executive Committee.

Photo by T.H. Chia on Unsplash

T.H. Chia

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