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Natalie Nona @ NN Consulting Where did you grow up and tell us a bit about yourself? I grew up in Brisbane. My Aboriginal heritage stems from my father’s side. My poppy is a Saunders from Dalby (South West Queensland) and my Nana was a Bell from New South Wales (Koori). Although I have grown up in the city I have always felt a strong connection to my people as an Indigenous Australian, and extremely proud of my cultural heritage. I have since married into the Nona family, my husband is both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Badu Island, Western Torres Strait). We have four children together. What made you decide to go in to business? I have worked extensively in the public service and in particular, management mentoring, human resource management and finance. I recently accepted a redundancy, thinking this was the perfect time for me to make a change. I then decided to combine my work and educational knowledge with my cultural knowledge, and as a result have formed NN Consulting. What are the main aims of your business? The business is divided in to several different segments providing HR / Training/ Recruitment
and management support across Indigenous Organisations, Government, Corporate and Small Businesses. A key focus for the business is to empower and strengthen the Human Resource function of the business to better help the Community Organisations perform better at the coal face. The services Community Organisations are vital to our people, so we help work with the organisation to ensure best HR policy and practice combined with management support. HR is at the core of any organisation. It is important that you have policies and processes that help value and support staff and management, provide sound recruitment processes so you get the best person for the job, and empower your staff to make ethical choices – through Code of Conduct Training, Inductions etc. We also work with managers on how to manage difficult employees, communication styles, and performance management processes. We believe a well supported Organisation will mean happier staff, staff retention and strong collaborative relationships between managers and employees. Having a strong cultural background, we tailor our services to work with both Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander cultures. What type of Educational background do you have? I have grown up in culture, albeit in a city sense. My husband has further taught me Torres Strait Islander language (Kala Lagau Ya) and Broken English. I have also undertaken training in Cultural Awareness. My formal qualifications include, over a decade of work in this industry, a Bachelor of Business Management and Leadership. I am a qualified Trainer, and Return to Work Co-ordinator. I am a perpetual student, with plans to undertake a Masters in Business Administration in 2014. What are you future aspirations for the business? Our hope is to empower Indigenous Organisations and support Indigenous employment opportunities in both Government and Corporate sector. A key focus for us, is on facilitating growth and opportunities for
Indigenous Australians. We hope to be able to work with larger corporate companies in the future, focusing on Reconciliation Action Plans (RAP), in particular the mining industry. Our aim is to see a stronger focus on RAP outcomes to see Indigenous employees progress in to management roles and beyond. I also hope to inspire other Indigenous people to grow business for our people, combining culture, knowledge and education. How can you be contacted? We are committed to working with all organisations. We service areas from Brisbane, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast and Ipswich. Areas outside of this we can also work with through on line technology, and travel in as required. The first point of contact is on 0411 260 185 or natalie@nnconsulting. com.au. More information about NN Consulting can be found here www. nnconsulting.com.au Page 1