• Your name:           Cathy Lawley

• Your age group:     46-55

• Your role trade/title within the Building industry:

Manufacture/designer of clay features 

• What is involved in training for your role?

Self discipline, motivation and to be goal focused. I work from home in my pottery studio. Every day when I walk to my studio and put my apron on, I need to have a plan and be focused on what the work is for the day.

• How/why did you get into your chosen trade?

I love to be creative. Since I was 6 years old playing in the mud in the creek banks of my parent's dairy farm. While raising my four children I started attending pottery workshops and reignited an old flame. I have been successfully making and selling pottery now for 26 years.  

• What obstacles have you overcome on your path into and through the Building industry?

I believe in keeping focused on what you really want in life, what your passion is and staying true to yourself and your goals rather than listening to others who would rather that you gave up on your dreams.

• Lessons learned?

There are so many lessons that I have learnt over the past 26 years of working for myself. eg, don't try and ramp everything in one day. Set boundaries around work time. Be realistic. Most importantly, love what you do!

• Why do you think it is important to establish a name and better recognised opportunities for females in Building?

Establishing a name in your industry is very important - it provides you with creditability, you are recognised as a leader and an expert in your field.

• What are your goals for trhe future?

One of my goals is to inspire women to find their creative passion within, by holding Clay Indulgence workshops at my home studio. Inspiration gives us energy to create and in creating we transform our lives.

To own my own Gallery in Maleny or on the Sunshine Coast.

To create large pieces of artwork eapecially designed to enhance the individual home, that will give timeless joy not only to the owners, but also to everyone who comes in contact. 

• How do you effecitvely deal with your workplace culture?

I create a workplace that I feel joy and peace in, where it is tidy and welcoming everyday. A beautiful place of gratitude. This creates the mood to be creative.

• Has there been a role model that you have looked to for inspiration?

In the art world, Johanna De Maine is my role model; she is an amazing cermicists who lives on the Sunshine Coast. Melody Bettie is an author that I have found wisdom and guidence from through her books.

• Cathy's inspirational message:

Stay focused; never give up on your goals and dreams. If you love what you do you will be successful. Stay in gratitude, as Melody Bettie wrote: "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a visoin for tomorrow."