WNA tribe
THE POWER OF
LOVE, CONNECTION & BELIEF
A
sense of belonging was
something that Alison
Rogers was cocooned
in from the moment
she entered the world. Although not
conscious of it, the stories from her
parents, grandparents and older
siblings confirmed it throughout her
early years. Born of older parents with
a decade between her and her closest
sibling, Alison grew up with much
attention around her. At the
time her father was a leader in
an old scholar’s type club, a title
that usually was reserved for the
more mature member, certainly
not one having a baby. So even
in public circles the much-
anticipated arrival was felt. These
early years of soaking up love
and support, of people believing
in her purpose for being, is
something that Alison credits her
values, strength of character, self-
worth and resilience to, enabling her to
achieve much throughout her life.
Alison’s passion for life, people and
achieving potential unfolded early.
An active, curious, gregarious and
determined nature meant Alison
seemed to breeze through life. Alison
appreciates her mothers’ input and
support in nurturing her love of music,
sport, and in particular athletics,
academic pursuits and books. School
work came easily, and once again, love,
support and belief were present from
many of her teachers. Alison is sure this
helped shape her enterprising spirit
and self-belief to propel her sense of
ambition and accomplishment. By the
age of 16 she was involved in a home-
based business in direct marketing
and gave some of the adults involved
a run for their money. She worked in
Child Care outside of her school hours,
involved herself in peer support, netball
coaching, and youth leadership in her
local church.
During college, whilst pursuing a
budding athletics career, Alison
discovered Olympic Weightlifting
“Love, is such a
coveted yet mostly
misunderstood
emotion”
Her boyfriend at the time was very
accomplished in this sport and
encouraged her to take it up to
improve strength and speed for her
sprinting. Very soon a love for this sport
developed and by her late teens Alison
was ranked number 1 in Australia and
Oceania and soon after 34th in the
world at a body weight of 52kg, lifting
some 80 odd kilograms above her head.
Never being content with focussing on
her own achievements Alison quickly
became involved with coaching young
athletes and refereeing competitions
and was responsible for producing
the sports association newsletter. She
assisted with new branding, securing
a respected cartoonist to design the
clubs t-shirts. This involvement saw her
recognised for her contribution to sport
with a Junior Sportswoman Service
to Sport Award and she later secured
a role as Weightlifting Tasmania’s
Development Officer.
Long before she knew it, Alison’s
underlying principles and her chosen
life’s work would revolve around
serving others, bringing people
together and inspiring those around
her to live their life well….. and
so began a trajectory that saw
Alison have an integral part in
some of the most impactful areas
of peoples’ lives and it very often
involved people falling in love!
“Love, is such a coveted yet
mostly misunderstood emotion”
says Alison, with a sparkle in her
eye! “The need to love and be
loved, have a sense of belonging
and connecting deeply with
others is something crucial to
our survival. Yet, often, people can
actively prevent or remove this from
their fellow human beings”, she added.
“I’m determined to create and hold for
people a place where they feel safe and
included and ultimately really love the
space they live in, from a physical point
of view with their home and work place,
but also from an emotional perspective,
by really loving their own heart and
soul, and outwardly with regards to
their role in their community and the
world at large.”
At the age of 23 Alison had purchased
her first “bricks and mortar business”.
It was her employer’s relationship
consultancy! Her introduction to this
industry was neither planned nor
expected yet she discovered many