Donna Ballard
Snapshot:
Industry / Sector: Community Services, Education, Not-For-Profits
Education Pathway: University
Mid Coast Connection: Lives on the Mid Coast
The Blurb:
Donna Ballard is the CEO of Taree Universities Campus, where she blends community connection with education leadership. She also volunteers at the Festival Coordinator for the annual Wingham Music Festival. Donna’s success has been built on her ability to reach out, ask for help, and build strong networks.
Her story highlights how collaboration, community engagement, and creating the right team can drive both personal and professional growth in unexpected directions.
-
Many of our Human Library participants are happy to continue sharing their insights beyond these videos. Whether it’s a chat over email, a phone call, or even a visit to your school or group, they may be open to offering further advice and perspective.
Every person’s availability is different, so we’ll work with you to find the best way to connect.
Click the link below to get in touch — we’d love to help you
-
Current Role: CEO of Taree Universities Campus, with active involvement in local community initiatives.
Career Path: Non-traditional route into education sector; has developed her leadership role through community engagement and networking.
Key Skills: Community connection, networking, team building, resourcefulness.
Challenges Shared: Transitioning into education without formal background; learning to seek guidance instead of flying solo.
What She Loves: Working with a skilled, collaborative team; contributing to both professional projects and local volunteer efforts like music festivals.
Advice to Younger Self: Don’t try to do it all alone—broaden your network and ask for help sooner.
-
“There’s always someone that can help you.”
“Finding those right people just creates a really good culture.”
“I could have learned a whole lot more by just speaking out to people.”
“If you’re working with the right people, nothing becomes too much of a strain.”
-
[0:10] Intro
Hi, thank you for joining us for the Human Library video series. In this series, we interview people from the local community and hear their stories.
Today we met with Donna Ballard, she’s the CEO of Taree Universities Campus. Today she told us all about her skill of community connection and reaching out to people for support and networking.
[0:37] What does your professional life look like at the moment?
Yeah, my professional life at the moment is based around education, and that’s not something that I thought would be falling my way professionally—but I’m really pleased that it has. And tied in with that is a real connection to community, which I really love. So I’m very happy with my professional life at the moment.
[0:57] Can you describe a skill that has helped you get to where you are in your career?
I think there’s many things that you have to overcome as you go through your career, but the first one that comes to mind is—when you’re stumped with trying to find an answer to something or feeling a bit overwhelmed—I’ve always just found someone to reach out to. Someone to be a guide, I guess, in that respect.
Not the same person in every situation, but you can usually find someone around you—whether that be a family member, a friend, or someone in the community—that is an expert in the area that you’re seeking an answer on. Or they’ve probably been through something similar. And if you can reach out to that person, you’re not left on your own trying to find a solution. There’s always someone that can help you.
[1:45] Can you tell us about a specific time where you’ve used this skill of reaching out to help you achieve a goal?
Yeah, I actually had to do it in relation to the job that I’m in. I remember when I was interviewed for the role, of course a lot of the questions were based around education and my knowledge in that area. I haven’t come from a teaching background, I haven’t worked in a university, so I didn’t have any of those skill areas.
So in the interview, I just responded by saying that I would be reaching out to others that had expert advice or I’d be looking for information online to respond to anything where I might get stumped along the way. And that opened up lots of doors, because there were other centres opening up around the same time, and it created some really strong connections that I still rely on now. So yeah, I just think you can always find someone to connect with.
[2:36] What is one of your favourite things about the work you’re doing at the moment?
One of my favourite things at the moment is that we have an incredible team of people—both in my work life and in what I do outside my work life. Outside my work life, I volunteer to do a music festival once a year. And I think in both of those respects—in the volunteering work and in my professional life—there’s just an incredible team of people that can pick up and run with the ideas or the intentions of what we want to do, according to our strategies.
Again, it’s about each person being able to work to their strengths. They’re probably people I’ve reached out to in the past, and I know that they’re the right people to bring into the team to create that, I guess, holistic approach to things. So you end up with a really well-rounded, shaped team that can respond to various things in various ways—because nobody has all the skills for everything. I think it’s really important to get the team members in the specific areas that you need, and everyone can then play to their strength.
Finding those right people just creates a really good culture. If you’re working with the right people, nothing becomes too much of a strain. You’re coming into a project or coming to work and doing what you love—it’s not like you’ve really got to push anything hard uphill. It really just all falls into place and floats along really well. So it’s really important to always have the right people in the right place at the right time.
[4:00] If you could give your younger self just starting out one piece of advice, what would it be?
It still comes back to that same theme: I should not have tried to do it all. I was trying to fly solo and trying to be a very independent woman when I was starting out in my career. I could have learned a whole lot more by just speaking out to people that were experts, and broadening my circle a little rather than just relying, I guess, on immediate family.
I came from a very small village of about 100 people, so that wasn’t really in my skill set—to know about reaching out and broadening my horizons and going further. And I think if I had known that when I was younger, I would have had more confidence from the start and not been so questioning of my abilities and not been so shy.
Please note: All content is correct at the time of recording.
