Meet Téa La: CLAN NCP Scholarship holder and Osteogenesis Imperfecta Community Development Officer
Interview taken 26th July, 2022.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Tea, she/her pronouns, and I recently graduated from a bachelor of biomedicine at La Trobe University. Something about me is that I love trying new things and pushing past my boundaries, so you’ll always find me doing different things; whether it's cycling, hockey, climbing, yoga, even kintsugi. Now I’m not very good at these things, because I’ll always divide my time rather than focusing on one hobby, but I’ve always been a very active person. So that in combination with my deep sense of empathy for people has led to my career aspirations as a physiotherapist. Currently, I am a 2021 New Colombo Plan Scholar for the Republic of Korea and I’ll also be embarking on a personal and professional journey to the Republic of Korea and Indonesia as well.
What motivates you to work hard?
Health is a very intricate part of my life. As a biomedicine graduate, an amateur athlete and previous exercise mentor, I have seen the transformative effects it has intra- and inter-personally. My compassion for people has grown as I involve myself in the community, travel to foreign places and work and meet all sorts of people with unique stories. I want to build a career in physiotherapy where I can work alongside people making a small and yet impactful difference in their lives.
How and when did you start working with CLAN, and what motivated you to do so?
At the beginning of the year I attended a national summit held in Canberra for all of the New Colombo Plan scholars who are yet to embark on their journey, and it was a jam-packed day full of seminars. I vividly remember that in one of the seminars that I sat in, Dr. Kate Armstrong was one of the guest speakers. She spoke about what CLAN is, what motivates her, and CLAN’s five pillar approach, which really resonated with me. She was so engaging to listen to and truly an inspiring woman. At the time my plan was to go to the Republic of Korea and I hadn’t considered another location because I didn’t know that I could, so I put my focus elsewhere. I later found out that I could go to a secondary location, and that’s when I immediately remembered the seminar I attended and quickly got into contact with Kate, and eventually secured an internship with CLAN.
What is your role within CLAN?
I am an Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) Community Development Officer. My focus is on community development, regional networking, project governance and landscape analysis. I’ll first be interning in the Republic of Korea and then I’ll be relocating to Indonesia and put my focus on OI there. I’ll also be focusing on a lot of projects relevant to Wishbone Day which is celebrated internationally on May 6th every year.
How are you feeling about your upcoming trips overseas?
To be honest, it’s only just sort of hitting me now because I’ve had some obstacles in planning for my trip, so I’ve been very focused on and stressed about those. I don’t think it’s hit me yet that I’ll be going overseas, but I’m excited! I’m more excited than nervous. I know that I’ll see things that I wouldn’t have expected, but I’m very open minded about that and I’m very accepting, and I’m just genuinely very excited.
Tell us about the New Colombo plan and the opportunities this has provided you.
So the New Colombo Plan scholarship program is an initiative by the Australian Government which aims to build upon people-to-people connections between young undergraduates and communities in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as create diversity and deepen knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region. I have been fortunate enough to be awarded the scholarship. Most scholars are completing a semester of their degree overseas as well as doing some language training, internships and even partaking in mentorships. Personally, I am learning Korean and doing an internship with CLAN. This opportunity has also allowed me to connect with a diverse professional network, which includes CLAN.
What was the most inspiring moment within your work with CLAN thus far?
I don’t think I have one singular inspiring moment; I am very new to CLAN so I’m excited to see what’s to come, but so far I’ve been lucky to attend the seminar where Kate spoke, have continual meetings with Kate and Cath who are both truly inspiring and powerful women and also attended a UN high level political forum event, which was very eye opening. All of these experiences put together - there’s always something to take away from them. I don’t think I can pick one moment.
What is some advice you would provide others who would like to get involved?
Don’t be afraid to push past your boundaries and your comfort zone. Sometimes opportunities come when you least expect them and when you expand upon your network and your world. Make that connection, contact that person, be active. You never know - I didn’t think I could get the internship with CLAN, but one email allowed me to make that connection, and here I am now! So don’t be afraid.
What projects are you currently working on, or preparing for?
I’m still very new to CLAN, but one that I’m really looking forward to is the development of child-friendly rights flyers in different languages for the OI Community. There isn’t currently one for Indonesia or Korea, so I’ll be working alongside Jo Ragen, who founded international Wishbone Day, to get an idea of what we want on the flyer and then I will translate it into each language and hopefully that will be released for Wishbone Day in 2023. That’s something I’m really looking forward to.
How has working with CLAN, or seeing CLAN’s work, shaped your worldview?
I think I was quite ignorant at first to what was going on around the world and working with CLAN and seeing what CLAN does really opened my eyes to some truths about the world and what people have to live through. I’m a very emotional person and so at first I was quite shocked, but it now motivates me to want to learn more about what is going on, about how people in different communities are impacted, and to work harder. I’m excited to learn more as time goes by.
What are your goals for the future?
In my career I want to be a physiotherapist; I’m not sure what specialty yet, but one that I’m leaning towards is neurological physiotherapy where I’d be working with patients who have sustained injuries or any sort of neurological pathologies related to their physical health. I’m so interested and intrigued by the human brain and how it’s connected to our body.
I also know that I want to do something related to the work that CLAN does. I don’t know if that will be involved in my physiotherapy work or perhaps on the side, but I know that it is something I want to focus on.
What is your top must-read book?
Probably Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. I think it’s set in the late 1960s or early 1970s, and the name is based on a Beatles song, which I think is really fun - all of the songs they mention are from that era, which I love. I would describe the book as a ‘coming of age’, dark romance, which isn’t for everyone, but it’s so emotionally captivating. It talks about love, death, life, and the struggles one goes through as an adolescent and young adult and the adversities faced, but the triumphs as well. I really enjoyed that book.
Interview taken 26th July, 2022.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Tea, she/her pronouns, and I recently graduated from a bachelor of biomedicine at La Trobe University. Something about me is that I love trying new things and pushing past my boundaries, so you’ll always find me doing different things; whether it's cycling, hockey, climbing, yoga, even kintsugi. Now I’m not very good at these things, because I’ll always divide my time rather than focusing on one hobby, but I’ve always been a very active person. So that in combination with my deep sense of empathy for people has led to my career aspirations as a physiotherapist. Currently, I am a 2021 New Colombo Plan Scholar for the Republic of Korea and I’ll also be embarking on a personal and professional journey to the Republic of Korea and Indonesia as well.
What motivates you to work hard?
Health is a very intricate part of my life. As a biomedicine graduate, an amateur athlete and previous exercise mentor, I have seen the transformative effects it has intra- and inter-personally. My compassion for people has grown as I involve myself in the community, travel to foreign places and work and meet all sorts of people with unique stories. I want to build a career in physiotherapy where I can work alongside people making a small and yet impactful difference in their lives.
How and when did you start working with CLAN, and what motivated you to do so?
At the beginning of the year I attended a national summit held in Canberra for all of the New Colombo Plan scholars who are yet to embark on their journey, and it was a jam-packed day full of seminars. I vividly remember that in one of the seminars that I sat in, Dr. Kate Armstrong was one of the guest speakers. She spoke about what CLAN is, what motivates her, and CLAN’s five pillar approach, which really resonated with me. She was so engaging to listen to and truly an inspiring woman. At the time my plan was to go to the Republic of Korea and I hadn’t considered another location because I didn’t know that I could, so I put my focus elsewhere. I later found out that I could go to a secondary location, and that’s when I immediately remembered the seminar I attended and quickly got into contact with Kate, and eventually secured an internship with CLAN.
What is your role within CLAN?
I am an Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) Community Development Officer. My focus is on community development, regional networking, project governance and landscape analysis. I’ll first be interning in the Republic of Korea and then I’ll be relocating to Indonesia and put my focus on OI there. I’ll also be focusing on a lot of projects relevant to Wishbone Day which is celebrated internationally on May 6th every year.
How are you feeling about your upcoming trips overseas?
To be honest, it’s only just sort of hitting me now because I’ve had some obstacles in planning for my trip, so I’ve been very focused on and stressed about those. I don’t think it’s hit me yet that I’ll be going overseas, but I’m excited! I’m more excited than nervous. I know that I’ll see things that I wouldn’t have expected, but I’m very open minded about that and I’m very accepting, and I’m just genuinely very excited.
Tell us about the New Colombo plan and the opportunities this has provided you.
So the New Colombo Plan scholarship program is an initiative by the Australian Government which aims to build upon people-to-people connections between young undergraduates and communities in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as create diversity and deepen knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region. I have been fortunate enough to be awarded the scholarship. Most scholars are completing a semester of their degree overseas as well as doing some language training, internships and even partaking in mentorships. Personally, I am learning Korean and doing an internship with CLAN. This opportunity has also allowed me to connect with a diverse professional network, which includes CLAN.
What was the most inspiring moment within your work with CLAN thus far?
I don’t think I have one singular inspiring moment; I am very new to CLAN so I’m excited to see what’s to come, but so far I’ve been lucky to attend the seminar where Kate spoke, have continual meetings with Kate and Cath who are both truly inspiring and powerful women and also attended a UN high level political forum event, which was very eye opening. All of these experiences put together - there’s always something to take away from them. I don’t think I can pick one moment.
What is some advice you would provide others who would like to get involved?
Don’t be afraid to push past your boundaries and your comfort zone. Sometimes opportunities come when you least expect them and when you expand upon your network and your world. Make that connection, contact that person, be active. You never know - I didn’t think I could get the internship with CLAN, but one email allowed me to make that connection, and here I am now! So don’t be afraid.
What projects are you currently working on, or preparing for?
I’m still very new to CLAN, but one that I’m really looking forward to is the development of child-friendly rights flyers in different languages for the OI Community. There isn’t currently one for Indonesia or Korea, so I’ll be working alongside Jo Ragen, who founded international Wishbone Day, to get an idea of what we want on the flyer and then I will translate it into each language and hopefully that will be released for Wishbone Day in 2023. That’s something I’m really looking forward to.
How has working with CLAN, or seeing CLAN’s work, shaped your worldview?
I think I was quite ignorant at first to what was going on around the world and working with CLAN and seeing what CLAN does really opened my eyes to some truths about the world and what people have to live through. I’m a very emotional person and so at first I was quite shocked, but it now motivates me to want to learn more about what is going on, about how people in different communities are impacted, and to work harder. I’m excited to learn more as time goes by.
What are your goals for the future?
In my career I want to be a physiotherapist; I’m not sure what specialty yet, but one that I’m leaning towards is neurological physiotherapy where I’d be working with patients who have sustained injuries or any sort of neurological pathologies related to their physical health. I’m so interested and intrigued by the human brain and how it’s connected to our body.
I also know that I want to do something related to the work that CLAN does. I don’t know if that will be involved in my physiotherapy work or perhaps on the side, but I know that it is something I want to focus on.
What is your top must-read book?
Probably Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. I think it’s set in the late 1960s or early 1970s, and the name is based on a Beatles song, which I think is really fun - all of the songs they mention are from that era, which I love. I would describe the book as a ‘coming of age’, dark romance, which isn’t for everyone, but it’s so emotionally captivating. It talks about love, death, life, and the struggles one goes through as an adolescent and young adult and the adversities faced, but the triumphs as well. I really enjoyed that book.
