Kim Heironymus, Education Manager at AustralianSuper, was just leaving school when superannuation was made compulsory, so it never even crossed her mind that this might be an industry she would work in. After studying and building a career in marketing, she eventually took some time off to raise her family.

Returning to work, Kim found herself working part-time for HIP Super (who have since merged with Prime Super), and seemed to find her calling. The value she found in engaging with members and helping them understand their super echoed her school-time ambitions to be a teacher.

Moving on to an Education Manger role at HESTA, her passion only intensified. Working with the fund’s membership, primarily women on lower incomes with small balances, Kim saw first-hand how women were retiring differently.

Many of these members worked part-time, as they raised their families, highlighting many of the issues that Women in Super has campaigned for and against – the $450 threshold, super on paid parental leave, and time away from the workforce for caring responsibilities – and the significant impact that they have on women’s retirement.

This inspired some further studies in Financial Planning, and a few more moves around the industry funds, eventually leading her back to an education role at AustralianSuper, where she now delivers education sessions on all things superannuation, alongside employers and unions, as well as through AustralianSuper’s external program.

Despite being a member for almost 11 years, Kim has only recently joined our QLD Committee. Noting that the super industry is so small, she has met ‘so many like-minded, amazing women’ at WIS events over the years, many of whom she has crossed paths with at later points in her career.

Kim has been lucky enough to have had many inspirational women playing various roles throughout her career. One of these former managers would often ask ‘what have you got to lose?’ making Kim recognise that if you really want to challenge yourself, you need to put your hand up occasionally, and get used to being uncomfortable. Attending events, meeting new people and leveraging ‘this amazing, supportive network’ is one way she suggests new members start putting themselves out there.

After a difficult year, Kim has a new-found appreciation for the support of her colleagues and managers, and the importance of being kind, as we never know what anyone else is going through, either personally or professionally.

Defining success as enjoying work, continually learning and spending time with family, Kim’s teenage daughters are coming close to finishing high school, and Kim is sharing in their excitement for graduation and achieving their own goals and dreams, while taking on a new set of challenges – something that slots neatly into her own definition of what a successful life looks like.