- Kathie M. Thomas was a successful Virtual Assistant with a 27 year old practice. She was a VA before the term ‘virtual assistant’ was in use. She sold her VA Business in March 2021, before retiring from the industry.
- The founder of A Clayton’s Secretary, established March 1994, she pioneered the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia. The network was formally established in April 1996. Prior to establishing her business she had a background of 23 years’ secretarial/administrative experience in the corporate world, working for CEOs and MDs as well as project groups.
- Kathie also has experience as a Trainer and Coach and began her business teaching others how to use Microsoft Office products in 1994.
- Kathie has two accreditations in the Virtual Assistant Industry as a Master Virtual Assistant and an Accredited Secretary Online.
- Kathie is a multi-award winner in her own Virtual Assistant business.
- Kathie managed a network of virtual assistants with members in 11 countries and was moderator for two well-established VA chat forums which have over 10,000 virtual assistant members collectively during the years of her business.
- Kathie is an industry leader who frequently speaks at public seminars and workshops throughout Australia about working virtually. She was also a Steering Committee member of the OIVAC for 3 years and was Master of Ceremonies for the inaugural industry awards presentation at the Convention in 2006.
- Kathie is currently President of the Australian Virtual Assistants Association (AVAA) and is also co-founder of the Australian VA Conference (AVAC)
- As a VA, Kathie has had some interesting experiences, including playing hostess to performer Tim Ferguson for a full day whilst supporting the Meetings Industry Association of Australia and meeting some very well known and interesting people. Other clients have included: The Pratt Foundation, Roz Hammond (actress), Paddy Spruce, Robyn Henderson (well known professional speakers), Hilary Henshaw (singer and actress) and a variety of membership based groups in various industries.
- During 2006 Kathie undertook a study of the Proverbs 31 Woman and recognised that this is what many women are seeking – to be at home with their families, whilst contributing to their family income.
- Kathie is author of several ‘how to’ books about the Virtual Assistant Industry and working at home, and with articles published in many business and Christian magazines over several years. Her most recent books are titled “Worth More Than Rubies: The Value of a Work At Home Mum” and “It Happened By Design: A Series of God-Incidence Stories“.
- Kathie has twice been nominated for “Australian of the Year” – 2008 & 2009.
- Kathie is listed in “Australia’s Who’s Who in Women” editions 2009 -2018.
She has authored several blogs. Here are some of them:
Dandenong Ranges Nature Photography and
Virtual Assistant – THE Blog are the most active blogs. The VA Blog has been the highest ranking VA blog listed with Technorati.
Other blogs I add to periodically:
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Kathie’s expertise as a virtual assistant is on display at Flying Solo, an online resource brimming with small business advice. Read my articles here. |
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Hear Kathie’s recent radio interview on Radio LightFM here. | |
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See Kathie’s recent HBB TV interview here. |
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Front cover story in Business Mums Magazine. |
This clip was created on the Mother’s Day weekend in 2008 and is also available at youtube.com
