Christine Khor's Thoughts on the Telstra Business Women's Awards

Last night was the Victorian Telstra Business Women’s Awards Dinner and it was a huge event with over 600 people.  I was a finalist for the Best Start Up award and it was an absolute honour.

Even though I didn’t win the award I woke up today feeling incredibly fortunate and blessed for two reasons: the first is that I was included in the 29 amazing, hardworking and passionate finalists. 5000 women were nominated but there were only 29 finalists for Victoria.  I feel so honoured that my and my teams hard work is being recognised.

The second reason I am so fortunate is that I love what I do, I love my team and I get to go to work happy every day.

This morning when I told my 11-year-old son that I didn’t win, he said “Don’t worry mum, we think you are the best.  You will just have to practice and work harder next year”.  It is funny when your own words come back to you!

I’m writing this because I want to acknowledge some of the amazing women last night.

To Collette McShane of HIIT Mum who is changing people lives one lunge at a time. 

To Cyan Ta’eed from Envato, who helps people get creative and a big congratulations to Cyan for taking out the main award for the evening!

To Janette Large from Women’s Property Initiative and Janine Mahoney from Safe Futures Foundation, who work tirelessly to support the children and women who are affected every day by domestic violence.

To Lyudmila Fishman who created a business with $60 in her pocket because no-one in Australia would give her a job. 

There are another 23 finalists and winners who I haven’t mentioned and I encourage you look at their profiles to be inspired.https://www.telstrabusinesswomensawards.com/brilliant-business-women/2015-finalists/

On the night before the awards, all the finalists had to attend a media planning session and we were all encouraged to write our speeches.  It was a hard thing to do when you don’t know if you are a winner or not.  Their recommendation was that even if you didn’t win, read your speech to your teams, your friends and your family as an acknowledgement. 

So even though I did not win I still want to say thank you to the people who have got me to where I am today.

They say that behind every great man there is a great woman, well I am lucky enough to have two amazing men behind me (I do like overachieving).  My husband Simon is the love of my life. Together we work as a team, we are raising two confident, loving, sometime obnoxious boys and I think we are role models of what a passionate and loving life can look like.  Secondly, my business partner John Davies who has been my support over the last 12 years. Simon and John have believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. They have supported me when I needed it and told me to “pull my head in” when I needed that too.

Next I want to thank my incredible team. I absolutely love my team. This team loves what they do, they care about Chorus Executive, they care about the people they help get their next dream job and they care about the organisations they represent.  I have an amazing team, but what else would you expect– I am a great recruiter!!!! 

I want to thank the clients and candidates I have worked with over the years.  Many clients have become candidates, many candidates have become clients and many many of them have become friends. So thank you for your support of Chorus Executive and of me over the years.

The major reason I am where I am today is because of my mother – Jenny Khor.  I cannot express how thankful I am to have her as my mother. My mother came to Australia as a 21-year-old to study. She was alone and she came to get an education, to make money and support her family back in Malaysia. She met my father and here I am.  My mother had to work while she raised us, when there was no childcare, baby bonus or flexi time.  But my father was a hands-on father and they raised us together. He worked during the day then when dad came home, mum went off to do night shift.  She was back at work when both my brother and I were only 3 months old.  My mum has been my role model and she has given me all the best of who I am – my passion, my work ethic, my optimism, my compassion and care, my stubbornness, my loyalty and my love of family and friends.

Finally thank you to Telstra and the Telstra Business Women’s Award for supporting and recognising business women in Australia.