Palladian of the Month
The Palladian Student Reps are excited to introduce a new initiative for Mac.Robbians, Palladian of the Month! This initiative hopes to help students gain insight into the eventful lives of several Palladians and allow students to obtain perspectives on different career paths.
Palladian Student Representatives
Palladian of the Month
Sandra Mannas Wolf
We heard that you lived many years overseas as an expat. Tell us about that?
I married a German working for the German Foreign Office, who was posted to Melbourne in 1987, so I knew that we would be posted around the world and I would eventually have to leave my job as a patent attorney. We moved to Munich, Germany in 1993, then Bandung, Indonesia in 1996, followed by Busan, South Korea in 2000. The longest posting was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 2002 to 2012. We decided to stay on as self-funded expats because our daughter was thriving at the British international school there. In each of these countries, I had to reinvent myself to keep myself occupied, from being a mother to being a performer. I returned to Melbourne in 2020 just before Covid hit.
What do you think are your greatest accomplishments?
I think the first was having the courage to move to Germany straight after I finished at MacRob to learn German at the Goethe-Institut for a year. It made me grow up fast, and allowed me to learn a second language to a high competency level, close to native speaker. I had burn-out during my final school year due to various personal reasons, so my scores were not high at all. This is important to know, as I still achieved more than I ever dreamed I would, as you will find out…
The next accomplishment was obtaining my honours degree in chemistry (organic), as it was extremely difficult with maximum contact hours, and included subjects that I detested, such as physical chemistry. I also got glandular fever during third year when I was doing my double chemistry major, so had to go part-time the following year to catch up. Throughout my degree, I knew that I wanted to be a patent attorney, so I even took legal studies as a subject in first year. That didn’t help much as it comprised one term relevant to me, the other two terms covering the Constitution and sociology. I had so many contact hours with the science part of my degree – botany, zoology and chemistry – that I hardly had any time to do the massive amount of reading about Marx, Weber et al. At the end of my honours year, while waiting for a job offer from a patent attorney firm, as a back-up plan, I sat the IBM and public service exams and went to many job interviews, including at major banks. I often got asked, “You’re a scientist, why are you applying with us?” I would simply answer, “I’m an analytical thinker and well-organised and believe I can fit into your establishment.” I got offers from every single job application, including the patent attorney firm I chose. This firm was actually looking for a mechanical engineer, and they narrowed their search down to a male mechanical engineer and me, a female chemist, in a male-dominated profession. I took 4 years to qualify as a patent attorney, and was the 6th female to qualify in the profession’s history.
Once I qualified as a patent attorney, I made time to get my voice classically trained in Melbourne with a reputable voice coach. I have performed in Germany, Indonesia, South Korea, France and Malaysia, the latter being the place I became an established performer, singing the anthems in various languages at many embassies’ national days in front of thousands of diplomats, ministers and VIPs (very daunting singing a cappella, and you can’t get a word wrong with anthems!), performing in contemporary opera, musical theatre, and finally as a solo artist with my own band with a broad repertoire – Brecht/Weill, jazz, humour, classic pop, disco and more.
My best accomplishment was my daughter. It took 6 years and a miscarriage, but I never gave up hope. She is a successful 25-year old working in London, after doing a science degree in psychology in Wales. Having lived in several countries with mixed-marriage parents and being exposed to children and their parents from all walks of life gave her the courage to follow in her parents’ footsteps. The hardest thing was to let my only child go…
And my most recent accomplishment was as president of a Soroptimist International chapter in KL. For 10 years I worked in this international NGO for professional women, which supports underprivileged and disadvantaged women and girls. We did fund-raising and created projects with the aim of attaining most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Some example projects: we paid experts to carry out workshops for orphaned girls to teach them how to spot predators and how to best react to survive; in 2020, I personally delivered 6 laptops to the teenagers of a remote village in Borneo with the support of another organisation, and we risked our lives when our small village boats capsized in pitch darkness and we had to walk for hours through river and jungle, knowing that snakes, crocodiles and spiders surrounded us, but we only focused positively in the present, on every step we took, keeping our spirits high until we got to our destination, soaking wet and exhausted.
Could you share a notable challenge or obstacle you encountered along your journey and how you overcame it?
Apart from proving that I could be a patent attorney in a male-dominated profession, it’s always a challenge moving to a new country. But it’s also so exciting! A new language, culture and customs can be daunting. House-hunting, setting up home, getting locally registered with everything from utilities to schools are part of an expat’s life. One must be very adaptable, flexible and open. There are expat associations that one can join in most countries in the world and they are very helpful and supportive. Getting up on stage and performing is not easy. I will never get over the anxiety or jitters I feel before stepping out. But I never feel more alive having these emotions, so it’s worth it. And it does get better the more often you put yourself out there.
Could you explain how you made the decision to change fields within your professional life, and how this may assist Mac.Robbians who are not yet certain what they would like to do in their professional life?
Becoming an expat forced me to change fields in my professional life. However, I always believe that one should be open to opportunities and that one should also try to create opportunities. Prepare yourself with as many different skill sets as you can. I knew that I could write well enough and draft patent specifications and lesson plans, and could get up in front of an audience to speak or sing. But we should be perpetually learning something new. For example, while still in Melbourne, in addition to getting my voice trained, I obtained my TOEFL qualification so I could teach English overseas if needed, which I did in Munich and South Korea with private students. In Munich, I also worked in the British Consulate General in the Consular Section, solving problems of every kind for British expats via email and phone (and I got to meet Prince Charles too!). I also sang for big private parties around Germany. I started copy editing fiction and non-fiction books for many individuals and companies in 1991 and have been doing it ever since, in all the countries I lived in. I was Malaysia Esquire magazine’s first ever sub-editor. I decided to give Relocations a go, something I’d never considered doing. I showed new expat executives the ropes in KL to make their lives easier transitioning into a new country. I helped them with house hunting with estate agents, contracts, banking and even sightseeing – I was their go-to person for settling in.
The most job satisfaction I’ve ever had, apart from having an appreciative audience, was in corporate training. It combined many of my skills: writing, teaching, lesson planning, organisation, public speaking. I ran one- and two-day training workshops in Singapore and Malaysia for company executives from major companies in writing with impact and speed with quick results – from emails to annual reports. I saw the results immediately! Having returned to Melbourne in 2020, I decided to reinvent myself again as a semi-retiree. In addition to having solo shows here, I’m now a government-authorised marriage celebrant. Once again, I chose a profession that combined many of my skills: public speaking, writing (entire ceremony, if needed), legal aspects (as I’m the representative of the Department of Births, Deaths, Marriages, there’s a lot of legal work involved), organisation and singing.
What is your favourite memory from your time at MacRob?
I absolutely loved the annual choral competition and being in the senior madrigal. The camaraderie was incredible and the performance night was magical. Winning the netball against Adelaide High in 1980 was also a highlight as the whole school watched and cheered (I played goal shooter GS). Funnily enough, I had absolutely no desire to perform on stage in the annual musicals or plays. I would’ve rather died. Overcoming such fears is something I’ve worked on all my adult life.
How do you find that your time as a student at MacRob has influenced your personal/professional growth?
As a shy girl, due to great friendships, I found my confidence grew tenfold in my first year and it just got better over the years. In my final year, I was Oreads House Vice-captain and I learnt to make my voice heard over the cacophony of girls’ voices to make an announcement. I am still close to my MacRob friends, especially my best friend from my very first day at MacRob. She is beautiful and smart and I turn to her even now when I need to talk to someone. It may help that she is a psychologist! I really hope that my life experience provides present MacRob girls with inspiration and the message that they can do anything they want, anywhere in the world. Most importantly, they should not only grab opportunities when they present themselves, they should try to create opportunities, and to do that, they must prepare, work hard and believe in themselves. And just go for it.