Hello Angela and everyone.

I'm based in Melbourne, Australia and began my business in March 1994. Prior
to that I'd been working as a PA to senior executives for around 20 years.
I began working at home to be there for our five daughters - the eldest one
was just reaching highschool and no longer eligible for After School Care
Programs here and I didn't want her home alone or on the streets.

So I was in business when the VA industry began globally (and I founded it
here in Australia), adopted that term fairly quickly - by that time I
already had a small team of homebased operators like me around Australia
with a member in the US and it's just gone from there. Today I have a team
in 16 countries - we just opened in Brazil this week with a LinkedIn
connection!

My first degree contacts are less than yours Angela but still sizeable and
I'm just over the 5Mill mark for total connections.

I do welcome invitations to linkedin@... but please do introduce
yourself and say where you found me - I don't accept canned invitations from
names I don't recognise - too many people are so keen to just add numbers
and I like to know I'm thought of as a person.

Looking forward to getting to know you all.


Kathie M. Thomas, AFAIOP, MVA, ASO, VA Coach & Trainer
Award-winning "A Clayton's Secretary"R est. 1994, Virtual Assistant Network
The Secretary You Need When You Haven't Got a Secretary!R
http://www.vadirectory.net VA Network
http://www.vatrainer.com VA Coaching & Training
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kathiethomas LinkedIn Profile
http://worth-more-than-rubies.com Launching 20 September @ Dymocks, Collins
Street, Melbourne
***************************************************************

Join me and a community of successful Internet women at Wonderful Web Women


-----Original Message-----
From: linkedin-pa-ea-va@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:linkedin-pa-ea-va@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Angela Garry
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:20 PM
To: linkedin-pa-ea-va@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [linkedin-pa-ea-va] Welcome - and a brief intro

First of all, welcome to those who have already joined this group.

I'm Angela, based in Derbyshire in the East Midlands in the UK, and have
been a P.A. since 1995. In my current job, I'm P.A. to the group's Managing
Director, and am also the Project Co-ordinator where I am in charge of
several recruitment databases and the group's various websites.

I began working in admin during summer vacations whilst I studied for a
degree (1987 onwards), and started full-time work as an Admin Assistant in
1991 after graduating. I've worked in various roles in the water industry,
an environmental regulatory body, two universities, an engineering firm, a
seaport and two management consultancies, and have spent the last 12 years
working directly for Chief Executive / Managing Director / Deputy Vice
Chancellor roles.

My current employers are CNA International (www.cnainternational.co.uk), and
in my spare time I'm in a band (www.myspace.com/mainstreetuk).

On my LinkedIn profile, I've got over 2860 first degree contacts, and am
linked to approximatly 6.6 million of the 14 million LinkedIn users. My aim
is for this group to be a place where PAs, EAs and VAs and all others in
Administration can learn, share, help each other and grow.



Angela









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