B2B with a Twist Publication - Work • Stay • Play October Edition Work Stay Play Autumn 2018 Edition | Page 16

EXTRAOR
W
Kerry Harman
When asked to write about my life it became
the most difficult thing to do.
I asked myself “why”? I realized that as an
individual it is hard to see what you have
achieved, because we get so caught up in
life itself, that we see our lives is just normal,
not extraordinary.
Life deals many curve balls and it’s how we
meet those challenges and the decisions
we make that set our path for the rest of
our life.
I was born in Wollongong, eldest of 4 and
the only daughter, and raised in the belief
that achievement was only hindered by you.
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My aspirations were in politics, public
speaking a passion, believing in good and
the good of people, a romantic at heart, and
a fervent believer in always giving back.
At the age of 19 I travelled overseas, busked
my way around Europe eventually I headed
home to a position in the ABC working in
the personnel department. During my time
within the ABC I met my first husband and
my direction in life changed.
My husband accepted a 3-year contract
to work for a bakery as a bread vendor, he
lasted 3 months, the outcome was that I
would have to take over the contract and
resign from the ABC. Life was brutal, in
this male orientated industry the physical
hardship and the alienation from fellow
workers became an every day occurrence.
I am five-foot-two-inches tall and my area
was Central Sydney and Kings Cross. My
start time was 1am, packing a four-ton
truck, leaving at 4:30am, arriving at 5:15am
for my first point of call, Town Hall, where
I unloaded 22 crates of bread down two
flights of stairs every morning. The toll
on my body in the first 3 months was
indescribable. My son of 6 months old
would be dropped to me at 6:30am, so
with him on my back I would deliver bread
until 8:30am, drop him off at day care then
finish my run at 12:00pm, collect him, look
after him for the day and the cycle would
start again. everyone was hurting from the hardship of
the previous break-ups, was challenging to
say the least. However, I’m proud to say that
we had an amazing 21 years where we met
challenges together, achieved an amazing
business through hard work, passion and
love for each other.
This life experience, although hard, set me
up for who I am today providing me with
the knowledge of running a business. It
gave me the courage to work out of my
comfort zone, the skills for sales, and it gave
me the confidence to know that if I set my
mind to something I would achieve! Two years ago my life had an extraordinary
change, when my husband of 21 years
was diagnosed with brain cancer. It was a
time when all my strength and love for this
person provided me with the courage to
keep on going to maintain “normality in life“,
when there was none . We knew that time
was in a spiral and that the end result was
never going to be a positive one, I ensured
that his dignity was paramount in the last
months of his life.
Over the next 10 years I became a single
mum, went to university to study Bachelor
of Business, whilst working for a major
corporate company as State Sales Manager,
National Sales and Marketing Manager.
During this time, I met my second husband
and life again set a new path.
With four children of his, one on my own
and our foster child, life was certainly busy.
Travelling everyday to Sydney, maintaining a
house, trying to establish a family unit, when
In 1990 I commenced a small catering
company called H&H Catering in which my
husband Alan would work on weekends
whilst holding his fulltime job as GM for a
major food company. Within two years
the business became viable enough for
Alan to leave his job and work full time, we
then purchased cafes, built them up then
sold them. By 2016 H&H Catering became
a major player on the Central Coast,
with 2 restaurants, catering for Wyong
Racecourse, our side catering all of which
employs approximately 40 staff both casual
and fulltime.
The question is “am I an extraordinary
woman” or have I just had a remarkable life
where I have met so many people along the
way that have had the same dreams, vision
and passion for what can be achieved, and
I have been the lucky one, in which they
have chosen me to move on the same path
as themselves.