Vicky Ballard

Kate Onyekaonwu
Kate Chinyere Onyekaonwu is one ambitious lady and a role model for women in her country. The eldest of four brothers and two sisters, Kate was born in the early sixties in Aba, the Hong Kong of Eastern Nigeria. She has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a master’s degree inIndustrial Relations and Personnel Management (IRPM) from the University of Lagos. (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 3.4.)

Kencho Dorjee
Kencho Dorjee is an ambassador for her country, epitomizing the kindness, helpfulness, spirituality, and open-heartedness of the Bhutanese. You may not be familiar with Bhutan, that lofty magical kingdom high in the Himalayas between India and China and that’s why, if you are lucky enough to set foot there, or send your well-traveled clients to its alpine meadows, fertile valleys, high passes and ancient dzongs, you will be luckier still to know Kencho. (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 3.3.)

Beryl Ley
Just about everyone who joins WITIA has come in contact with Beryl via email at one time or another – so who is Beryl Ley – what drives her to be the dedicated Vice President and major player of this Alliance? Twenty-five years ago, Beryl, Don and their children, gave up the English winters for never-ending Queensland summers and have never had a moment’s regret. Although England will always hold a special place in Beryl’s heart – she really does call Australia “home”.
(Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 3.2.)

Gabriella Ribeiro Truman
While WiTiA members & friends were participating in our own knitting project for African AIDS babies, another WiTiA member was thinking on the exact same lines! You might say that travel was in Gabriella Ribeiro Truman’s blood from before her birth in New Jersey, U.S.A. Taking into account that her Portuguese father and Italian mother met while working for TAP Air Portugal, and that her father later owned Maptours, a tour operation to Portugal, Madeira and the Azores, her apple didn’t fall far from her parents’ tree, even though she thought she was headed for a career in journalism. (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 3.1.)

Simone Allène
Born in London of French and Malaysian background, I have, thanks to my parents, inherited two sets of “wanderlust” genes with the result that both of my careers have taken me all over the world, and around it several times as well. My education was mainly in London at a French school as well as in France and at the University of Perugia in Italy, allowing me to become fluent in English, French and Italian. I spent 12 years working for several financial institutions.
(Full story in WITIA WORKS! 2.9.)

Judy Gardner
Judy Gardner was born in Katoomba, New South Wales after the Victory in Europe and before the Victory in Japan, making Judy the victory in between. Her family moved first to Sydney and then to Newcastle where her dad was able to find more work. She completed her schooling and got her first job at the age of 15. While accounting was not her first choice, she fell into it anyway and eventually worked for a large supermarket chain, Coles, in the pay office. (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 2.8.)

Helen Wragg
Helen Wragg was not cut out to be a travel agent. She found little satisfaction in booking the same old vacation and business travel, and the job got to be tedious and bland. For Helen the adventure of travel was to be found in the unexpected gems that come from delving behind, underneath, above and around the usual tourism offerings. PR was her proving ground, where she started out working for several companies and then became Community Relations Manager for one of Melbourne’s leading independent schools, an association that she still retains only now it is to coordinate the school’s group travel.
(Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 2.7.)

Lyn Bickerstaff
Lyn Bickerstaff, wife of Nat, mother of Caryn and Gavin, grandmother to Caitlin (10) and Tyler (8), and visiting parent to five cats and three dogs, is a busy woman with a head for numbers. Over the years this has meant calculating rates and budgets, toting up sales, managing reservations, being accountant / manager / treasurer / owner, reconciling bank statements, sorting out the debtors from the creditors, controlling cash flow, remembering her golf handicap and keeping track of international cricket scores (not to mention actually understanding the sport!), a preoccupation that borders on fanaticism. In her spare time, she is retail travel manager for Bateleur Travel in Johannesburg. (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 2.6.)

Bonnie Braga
Bonnie Braga recounts that her grandmother, born in Macau of Portuguese descent, bore 23 children by two husbands, of which 17 survived. Perhaps it was a sign that life on a larger-than-usual scale would be in the works for Bonnie. Survivor number 15 was Bonnie’s mother, born in the French Concession area of Shanghai, and there Bonnie entered the world with her two brothers. It was a world of privilege – her father, Shanghai-born himself, was the Portuguese Vice Consul. But Mao had a revolution in the works, and people with Portuguese passports either had to leave China or become stateless.
(Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 2.5.)

Joan Diamond
Originally from Chicago, Joan Diamond has lived most of her life in Southern California. She graduated from Hollywood High School and went on to study at CAL, LACC, USC, UCLA and CSUN (University of California at Berkeley, Los Angeles Community College, University of Southern California, University of California at Los Angeles and California State University Northridge.) “Enough with the acronyms!” she must have said, and finally graduated with a B.A. (maj. Eng.Lit., mnr. Irh. Ptry.) (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 2.3.)

Marilyn Lynch
Marilyn Lynch was born and raised in Castlemaine, Central Victoria, Australia. She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Geelong campus of Deakin University, majoring in Journalism and Literature. Since all journalists, writers, and young Australians are hard-wired to do their coming-of-age on the Continent, it was natural that Marilyn spend the next two years working and traveling in Europe. There she picked up an incurable chronic disease, one quite common among fellow Australians - travelitis. Life simply wasn’t much fun if she couldn’t live out of a suitcase now and again. (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol.2.2.)

Ana Figueroa
Sometimes life takes us on unexpected itineraries. Ana Figueroa, daughter of a criminal defense attorney in Whittier, California, thought she was headed for a lucrative career at the bar. Following an undergraduate degree in Communications from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Ana took her law degree at Stanford, one of the most competitive universities in the United States. Lawyer Ana started out doing corporate antitrust litigation, successful from the outside but feeling she was in a rut of endless minutiae and paperwork. She switched to the more lawyerly stimulation of trials, becoming a staff attorney at Superior Court for 3-4 years. That’s when the first unscheduled change came to her itinerary. (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol.2.1.)

Leigh St John
Leigh St John lives a life many of us would envy. She splits her time between Australia’s Gold Coast and the USA, works as a Professional Speaker, Presenter/Host and an Author -and often travels with her fluffy companion and co-author of her book, Bella. With the launch of her most recent book, “The Achievement Alchemist – Discovering Your Passion”, Leigh is back in the States from November to February for a range of speaking and media appearances as well as various meetings with companies who are interested in purchasing the book in large quantities as a development tool for their employees.
(Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 1.11.)

Suzanne Campion-Tittoto
Growing up in New York, Suzanne Campion-Tittoto never imagined her life would take her over so many hurdles, finally returning her to her family roots in the Veneto region of Italy. Her first move was relatively easy - with her family at age 14 to Palos Verdes, California, and then to UCLA to earn her Bachelors Degree in Italian and French medieval literatures. While her French has grown rusty, Suzanne says of her Italian, “I’m one of the few people who use my college major every single day.” She was hired by Pan Am as a flight attendant while still a student, following in the footsteps (or contrails) of her mother, Jacquie Campion, also a former Pam Am stewardess.
(Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 1.10.)

Cavell Dorman
Cavell Dorman, founder of World Resorts of Distinction and Director of the company, was born in New Zealand at a time when the Second World War was raging and life was difficult for everyone. Families were split apart but being a resilient lot, Cavell’s parents’ extended family was the support base that provided stability in a difficult time. Cavell was educated in Whangarei which is north of Auckland and at the age of 15, the family relocated to Auckland where her education was completed. (Full story in WITIA WORKS! 1.9.)

Patrick Ashworth
Patrick Ashworth, a native of Cape Town and owner of Ashworth Africa Tours & Safaris, left South Africa at the age of 14 and might never have returned. His parents, British subjects, resettled in England, and Patrick learned a new life of tidy gardens, mediocre weather and fervent support for the Liverpool Reds in the English Premier League. He was educated at Hull University in Yorkshire, getting a BA in History and enjoying his share of the “cheapest beer in Britain.” (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 1.8.)

Ildiko Bayer
Ildiko Bayer, Director of Sales and Marketing for Design Destinations, expresses her boundless enthusiasm for travel in the pronounced accent of her birthplace, Hungary. She came of age exploring the medieval towns and romantic castle ruins along the Danube, loving the famous wines and distinctive cuisine of Hungary, but her free spirit and creativity were at odds with the numbingly grey communist regime then in power. Her father was twice a political prisoner, making it difficult for the family. (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 1.7.)

Anne Isaacson
Anne Isaacson was born in Melbourne, Australia and attended Our Lady of Sion College in Box Hill. She began her professional career as a legal secretary to a young lawyer just starting out, and her six years with him taught her all about the processes - and pitfalls – of running a business. They say that behind every successful man, there’s a woman – in this case, Anne’s fine-tuned coordination of her boss’ office eventually set him on the road to become Australia’s Attorney-General! (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 1.6.)

Ili Matatolu
Ili began her professional career in Fiji as a teacher at the Adi Cakobau Boarding School for girls. While she loved the challenge of teaching, she wanted to get into tourism marketing as a means of creating a better future for the islands. In addition, her independent spirit needed wings (as in aircraft!) and travel was the way to go! She took the leap, and in 1991 won an Australian Government Merit Scholarship to study tourism in Australia. Ili graduated from James Cook University with an Honors Degree in 1994 (thank you, Australia!) and joined the Fiji Islands Visitors Bureau as a Graduate Trainee in May 1995. (Full story in WITIA WORKS Vol. 1.5.)

Jill Powell
Jill Powell hails from a farm in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. She has an authentic "I rode my bike three miles with frost on my eyelashes to catch the bus for 10 miles just to get to high school" story to tell, part of her long roots Down Under. Jill is a fifth generation Aussie, descendant of William Cox, born 1764 in Cornwall, England, who emigrated to Australia and built the road from Windsor across the Blue Mountains - an engineering feat in its time. (Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 1.3.)

Sose Annandale
Born in the Mid 50’s and the youngest of six siblings of Ted and Sina Annandale. Ted was a businessman operating one of Samoa’s largest trading companies as well as finding time to be co-founder and Chairman of Polynesian Airlines for many years. Sina was one of Samoa’s leading farmers and a one term Parliamentarian. Early years were spent growing up and attending primary school in Samoa before becoming a boarder at the Methodist Ladies College in Burwood, Sydney to complete secondary schooling.
(Full story in WITIA WORKS! Vol. 1.2.)