20-year-old Shekana and her mother were driving past the WISE Employment Devonport office in early 2020 when her mother suggested they should explore the offering. Shekana had been lacking in confidence, was struggling to find work and experienced overwhelming periods of anxiety.
“Communication has never been my strong suit and I struggled to hold a conversation with someone,” says Shekana.
She met with WISE Employment Consultant Jessica to chat about where she was at in life and where she wanted to go. “When I first met Shekana, she was very shy and didn’t have much self-confidence. She experiences quite a bit of anxiety and took a little while to warm up to me,” adds Jessica.
Shekana was already working at a tomato processing factory, but she only really saw this as a source of income, and not much more. She wanted a job that was more than just money; a job that would give her the drive to get up every day and do her best.
Her real passion lay in animal and wildlife conservation, so she began a volunteering role at Wings Wildlife Park in Tasmania – a family-owned park home to 150 different species of animals, including Australian native wildlife, birds of prey, meerkats, farm animals, monkeys, fish and reptiles.
Soon after, she landed her ‘dream role’ at Wings – a two-year paid traineeship in September 2021. Jessica shared the good news that Shekana could tap into government wage subsidies which made her transition from the tomato processing factory to Wings an easy one.
“Shekana was pretty much equipped herself from day one – I just helped her with polishing her resume, setting up a uniform, boots, and getting her from A to B,” says Jessica.
Wings Wildlife Park has a lot of visits from carers and their patients too, so Jessica helped her walk through some possible scenarios and encounters together.
“She’s grown so much in confidence. I see that every time I go out there to visit and check in with her,” says Jessica. The pair still catch up every fortnight, as well as regular phone chats when needed. Jessica strives on having an open-door policy, where her customers can confide in her.
Shekana has now also taken on encounters with the public, including one-on-one ‘walk through’ information talks with the wildlife. This was a big step out of her comfort zone, especially living with anxiety, but it has helped increase her communication skills immensely. She is also responsible for the morning feeds and cleaning out enclosures for the Tassie devils, snakes and macaws.
“Loving working with animals was the obvious part – but all the people I get to work with too have been a big bonus. I’ve made some great friends,” explains Shekana. She says working with them side-by-side each day has helped build her confidence steadily.
She has also moved out of home for the very first time and is enjoying the financial independence. “Having this job means a lot to me. It gives me a sense of purpose,” says Shekana.
After her traineeship, Shekana hopes to further her education in the wildlife space and one day get into zookeeping – especially with bird and reptile species.
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