Michelle Crawford
Chief Conversationalist • HR Guru • Entrepreneur • Public Speaker • The Ultimate Mum
Michelle is the amazing brain behind Being More Human. 20 years of experience providing guidance, leadership development, recruitment support and strengthening the culture in organisations across 20 industries has shown her one truth – modern businesses are losing their humanity. After seeing the world and meeting people from all walks of life, Michelle chose to dedicate her life to helping businesses in Australia to become more human in the way they operate and their culture.
Michelle has brought a team of human resource and organisational development experts together to increase humanity in the workplace through kindness, psychological consulting and deep, transformational change for organisations, teams and individuals.
Michelle has been recognised amongst the community and industry for her profound contribution both to the corporate world and to her much loved charities, however perhaps one of her proudest achievements is the award she has received for being the world’s best mum… she even has the mug to prove it!
Michelle’s credentials include:
- Masters in Social Ecology (Organisational Development)
- Bachelor of Social Science (Human Resource Management & Human Relations/Communication)
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
- Lifetime Accreditation in LSI and GSI (Human Synergistics)
- Accreditation in Managerial and Executive Wellbeing Survey (MEWS)
- Qualified Coaching and Performance Consultant (Chris Howard Training)
- Certification in Myers-Briggs
- Convener of the Newcastle Network for the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI).
Jim Porteus – FCPHR
Specialist Mediation & Performance • Mediator & Meditator • Empty Nester • Professional Musician
Put simply, Jim helps professionals to make hard decisions easy…yep; he’s pretty handy to have around! With a strong 23 years in the HR industry and a solid education, including in business, dispute resolution and mediation, Jim works with companies and professionals to help overcome any difficult human resource or people related matters.
It can be challenging for managers and leaders to have difficult conversations with staff members. Jim uses dispute resolution, meditation and training identification to help leaders, professionals and managers to overcome any issues with their people and come to appropriate conclusions.
While Jim is a hard worker and focused on helping local professionals and leaders to become more confident in the way they assist the people they oversee, he also manages to fit in 40 gigs a year at local venues as a professional musician. You may have seen him out and about over the years in the many bands he has played for, including Rabbit and Heroes.
Sheri Locher-Davis
Human Possibility Officer • Recruitment and Retention Specialist • Payroll Whiz • Therapy Dog champion
Sher is a detail-oriented, responsible and committed Human Resources Professional with a get-it-done, on-time and with a high-quality spirit. When Sheri gets into a job, she want to knows everything. What can we do? How can we do it? The devil is often in the details, so Sheri makes sure to be precise and detail oriented. Sheri strives to build her reputation at work by keeping open lines of communication with teammates and people in different functional roles to find out what they know and how best to work with them.
Sheri uses positivity to make work a pleasant place to be, building an atmosphere of fun. Her energy and passion for fun come with her in my day to day life. Sheri takes pride in doing a little bit of everything. In addition to her career, Sheri has had the opportunity to train her dog as a therapy dog with the Delta Dogs program where we create a positive experience for people in nursing homes, schools and hospitals.
Vanessa McDonald
Intern Extraordinare • Go Getter • Artist • Student of Life
Wherever Vanessa goes she is eager, curious, and motivated, to be involved, to see change, to inspire others, to take risks and has a ‘give it a go’ attitude. Vanessa believe’s that everyone has their part to play in making the world a little lighter and brighter.
Over Vanessa’s early career as a student, volunteer, employee and activator, she has contributed and participated in many different initiatives spanning from being a City Ambassador for Newcastle Now, sitting on committees for the Institute of Managers and Leaders and the Empower Network for The University of Newcastle, to studying at Sydney School of Entrepreneurship, and being an Inaugural Ma & Morley Scholar and Ambassador.
Amongst all of this Vanessa loves learning new things through her Internship with Being More Human where she gets to work on social media, blogs, events, and marketing. She loves being able to apply her skills and creativity to new challenges and being a part of the Being More Human brand that aligns with her vision to make the world brighter and lighter.
Nicci Richman
Leading Light Training & Performance • HR Coach • Empowerer • Keen Explorer
When Nicci isn’t adventuring with her beautiful family, she’s sharing her passion for strong cultures and HR systems with businesses across the east coast of Australia. With 15 years of experience in the industry and an education that she has continued to grow as the business world itself has evolved, Nicci is passionate about creating a strong foundation for people in modern businesses.
Nicci’s HR career had its foundations in social research consultancy, working on employee engagement surveys and other survey tools for multi-national organisations. This insight into how research supports organisational change led to her passion for working with businesses to develop and support the strategies that enable a thriving workplace culture.
Fascinated by workplaces and the many people in them, Nicci’s role at Being More Human is to share her extensive knowledge, creativity, a listening ear and open understanding through coaching and training sessions and to help businesses to become the best they can be on the inside first, so they can better provide for their customers.
A rarely found Novocastrian who loves the winter months (she is originally from Tasmania), Nicci is determined to help other businesses discover the values and elements that will allow them to become more human.
Toni Knight
Human Potentialist • Hypnotherapist • Mental Wellbeing Coach • Coffee Connoisseur
A successful and highly regarded counselor and hypnotherapist, Toni’s ultimate goal is to eradicate anxiety worldwide and enable every person to enjoy true mental wellbeing.
Toni is one of those amazing people that make you sit back and wonder just how she does it. She has spent more than 20 years building the confidence, calm and capacity of people, learners, teams and organisations. Toni’s passion is to give others the strengths, values, mindset and skills necessary to enhance their success both at work and in life generally. A specialist in helping people to manage stress, anxiety and high performance, Toni facilitates workshops for teams to assist them to enhance their wellbeing and performance and has implemented a Peer Support for Mental Health Wellbeing Program that actually gives people the power and confidence to help distressed colleagues, family members and friends around them.
Toni’s passion for working with us at Being More Human comes equal to her love of laughing, writing, talking, listening, reading, coffee drinking and spending time with her darling family. She shares that every day is “more fun than virtual reality, historical dramas and BMX combined.”
Lisa Mills
Health Nut Wellness & Coaching • Energiser • Mover & Shaker • Yogi
Lisa describes her part at Being More Human simply as giving people the opportunity to shine at work and in their personal lives.
Lisa motivates, inspires, empowers, teaches and encourages professionals to build their physical and mental strength to help them succeed both at work and in their personal lives. She approaches holistic health with the belief that people can achieve the goals and aspirations that they never thought possible by changing their mindsets and through holistic wellbeing. Using 24 years of experience to guide her very successful approach, Lisa helps our client’s to understand the blocks that are holding them back from thinking and feeling the way they want, and works with them to develop a tailored approach to overcome these obstacles in the easiest way possible.
Lisa believes that our bodies were made to move and that we need to celebrate and embrace what they can do as opposed to what they look like. That’s why you will probably find her doing sun salutations at yoga, dancing to her favourite tunes or treating herself to some decadent dark chocolate at a catch-up with friends.