social impact
Writing is my way of celebrating joy, channeling pain, and recharging the batteries for the next phase in life. It is fuel for the soul to use the written, spoken, and visual word to raise awareness about topics I care deeply about, in particular antibullying, domestic violence prevention and mental health awareness.
PASSION PROJECTS
Outside of spending time with family, writing, and full-time corporate work, one of the things I'm incredibly passionate about is motivating high school students to chase their dreams, no matter what obstacles they might face. I'm an anti-bullying advocate and promoter of gender equity initiatives. At STEM events, you'll often find me key note speaking or on judging panels, encouraging girls to study Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics. I try to raise awareness about what opportunities are out there if they adopt a hard working ethos and are passionate about achieving their goals. I firmly believe that if you aim for the stars and miss, you just might land on the moon!
Starting out life, we were a working class family, living in a council estate during the Thatcher era. There was a small, derelict, coal mine at the top of the street. I've also lived in beautiful Western Australia, which ironically has an economy fueled by the mining industry. Now home is in Sydney's northern beaches, writing every day while also working for one of the world's largest multinationals securing work for over 1 million people daily. I feel blessed to have enjoyed such varied experiences.
Occasionally, I look back on bleak elements of my childhood. Being verbally bullied in the high school corridors was a particular low point. Yet these moments are what made me resilient and an advocate for change today, supporting anti-bullying and mental health awareness initiatives through both my writing and corporate work.
Starting out life, we were a working class family, living in a council estate during the Thatcher era. There was a small, derelict, coal mine at the top of the street. I've also lived in beautiful Western Australia, which ironically has an economy fueled by the mining industry. Now home is in Sydney's northern beaches, writing every day while also working for one of the world's largest multinationals securing work for over 1 million people daily. I feel blessed to have enjoyed such varied experiences.
Occasionally, I look back on bleak elements of my childhood. Being verbally bullied in the high school corridors was a particular low point. Yet these moments are what made me resilient and an advocate for change today, supporting anti-bullying and mental health awareness initiatives through both my writing and corporate work.
Key Note Speaking on Antibullying and Resilience
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I was relentlessly bullied in high school. Verbal taunting as I walked the corridors wore me down, giving me first hand experience of being on the receiving end of this type of negative behaviour. Now, I am a prominent anti-bullying advocate, speaking in various forums and schools about the impacts of bullying and the power of resilience. Magazines such as Now, Kidspot and Girl have featured my non-fiction articles on the prevention of bullying.
For schools interested in booking an author talk, please email me: kellyvannelsonauthor@gmail.com.
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Thank you to St Simon Peter Catholic Primary School in Western Australia for inviting me to spend time with Year 6 student and for the above Year 6 incursion post on your school zine.
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Click below to read the Student Edge news article on 'How to Deal With Workplace Bullying'.
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Thank you Student Edge and reporter Stephanie McKenna for taking time to interview me on RUOKDAY about workplace bullying as part of your work ready and resilience education strategies, communicated in Student Edge news to over 1M students. Student Edge are the largest member-based organisation of high school, TAFE, VET and university students in Australia. Great to see the increasing focus on antibullying strategies organisations are taking to ensure inclusiveness and diversity are embraced. #antibullying #speakout #resilience #ruok
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Northern Territory News put the spotlight on antibullying strategies for parents with my non-fiction article on 'How to beat a bully without using fists'. Click the article to read more ...
Words Worth is a group created for authors, readers and listeners of the written and spoken word, to share ideas that challenge the world. Join the Words Worth group if you would like to be part of an inclusive environment to drive discussion on social injustice with other like-minded artists.
Click the picture above for the full article... Tickled pink with this AusMumpreneur Ambassador guest feature, published after picking up gold at the AusMumpreneur Awards in the category of 'Big Idea - Changing the World' for my work as a prominent antibullying, domestic violence prevention, and mental health awareness advocate, leveraging the power of the written, spoken, and visual word to drive change.
In 2019, a flash fiction piece of mine, written on the theme of kindness, will feature in an anthology published by Lapidus International, a not-for profit organisation in the UK. Lapidus is a warm community of professionals who use words and expressive arts to promote well-being and good mental health. What a great feeling to be able to positively contribute back to society.
Musings from a Writer's Retreat
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On a Winter Writers Retreat in Wales, I was blessed to spend a week with Harper Collins romance author, Tess Woods, and five other fabulous female writers. Every morning we would open a happy pill fortune cookie to inspire our day. On day one, I found these words that sum up my outlook, which is to pursue the dream and live life to it's fullest:
Oscar Wilde, Irish Poet (1854 - 1900) "To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." (Fate certainly raised its head when my poetry collection, Graffiti Lane, landed next to Oscar Wilde on the Amazon UK Bestsellers Bookshelf!) Tess Woods is the author of Love at First Flight, Beautiful Messy Love, and Love and Other Battles. Visit her website for more news of her books and upcoming retreats at http://www.tesswoods.com.au/ |
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Click below to hear comments first hand from myself and the women who were privileged to attend the retreat:
Click below to hear comments first hand from myself and the women who were privileged to attend the retreat:
First Published Poem
This was my very first poem to ever make it into print in a compilation written by UK writers, titled Poetry by Moonlight. At the time of writing this, I was exploring different writing styles and researching the death of a child and the impact of such a tragedy on the family.
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Repudiated Miracle
My child, he is an angel The goodness, clear as glass A smile to melt a hardened heart Features carved into an art My child, he throbs with joy Innocence pure and sweet A hand in mine, clutching life The reason husband takes a wife Each moment there to treasure Diamonds rough and smooth Asleep I see him in my dreams Awake my pain is wrenched to screams Sorrow, my blanket of darkness Anger coursing my veins The Lord, illness delivered Left him enervated, withered My child, he is an angel His breath, a whisper vanished I begged, pleaded, remonstrated A miracle, He repudiated |
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