“I’m one of those people who has been at Ulton for a literal lifetime. I’m part of that club now.”
Finance Manager Tamara Raines is coming up to 19 years with Ulton. Looking back on her nearly two decades with our firm, she recognises how much has changed (apparently, our Christmas parties are a little tamer these days), and equally, how much of the good stuff has been kept alive—like the workplace friendships that kicked off in her 20s and continue today.
As it turns out, Tamara’s journey with the firm all started with a post-it. Back then, Tamara was working at Norville primary school. One morning she arrived at work as usual and was greeted with a yellow note stuck to her computer screen. In big letters, it read: “See me about Ulton”.
The note’s author was Jennene Ward, wife of Ashley Ward. After Jennene’s referral and a successful interview with Ashley, Tamara joined the team. Unbeknownst to her at the time, this was a team she’d come to lead, eventually stepping in as Ashley’s successor.
That’s not to say Tamara’s career growth happened in a straight line, rather the opposite. Over the years Tamara would bounce between a handful of different teams within the business, lending her talents to admin and payroll, bookkeeping, and even QA for a brief stint.
Exposure to these different arenas certainly had a hand in shaping the well-rounded skillset Tamara has today. However, she’s the first to say that the most powerful shaping force of all has been the people she’s had a chance to learn from.
“When I think about the kind of manager I want to be, my mind goes to the people whose management style I want to draw bits and pieces from. I think of people like Cris Kajewski, Kylie Wright, Ammie Cauchi, Hannah Curran, and Mark McLean,” says Tamara.
Just like Tamara is inspired by her mentors and peers, she herself is a source of inspiration to so many others. And while she’s collected a number of admirers in her time—team members she’s taken under her wing, budding netball enthusiasts she’s shown the ropes, colleagues she’s always made time for—there’s no questioning who claims the title of ‘biggest superfans’: That one goes to daughters Avery (9) and Peyton (12).
As a single mum, Tamara spends a lot of life running around after her girls. Like their mum, they absolutely love netball. Both girls play club-level netball, and Peyton’s already taken it a step further, being selected for the Bundy School Girls team, the Bundy Rep team (which Tamara manages), and more recently, Australia’s Indigenous netball team, The Budgies.
“The team is made up of 12-year-olds from all over Australia. The team has an opportunity to go over to Fiji or New Zealand towards the end of the year, so that’s really exciting,” says Tamara.
On top of the thrill of travelling overseas to play sport, the trip also promises the experience of a different culture—something Tamara is keen for her girls to immerse themselves in.
“It will be a great opportunity for them to experience Indigenous culture that’s different from their own and just see how other places in the world embrace Indigenous culture,” she says.
That same drive to include and embrace shapes Tamara’s work closer to home, too. She sits on the primary school’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) committee, working to build and strengthen relationships, respect, and opportunities within the school community. At the time of writing, she’s also in the process of helping get the First Nations Round up and running at the local club netball association.
“As a parent, I’m trying to equip them with the skills to handle whatever comes their way, and at the same time I’m trying to change things so they don’t have to,” she says.
Tamara’s drive to foster belonging and create a world where every person’s story is embraced flows into another one of her passions: history.
“For as long as I can remember, I have loved history. As a kid, I’d stay at my nan and pop’s house, and my favourite part was sitting with them and listening to them talk about the old times and share all their stories from the past,” Tamara says.
As Tamara grew, that curiosity for history grew with her. She was on Ancestory.com mapping her lineage before most of us had heard of it and had she not found Ulton, she likes to think she would have ended up working in the registry of births, deaths, and marriages, keeping everything documented and preserved.
From exploring her own family tree, she learnt a lot about the lives of her ancestors—the good, the bad, and the stranger than fiction.
“If we’re travelling through a town and I know we have ancestors in that town’s cemetery, we’ll stop and visit,” says Tamara.
“Everyone has a story and it’s nice to keep that memory, and that person’s story, alive,” she says.
On her days off, Tamara often heads off to local cemeteries with her camera, taking photos for people who post requests on the Find a Grave website. It’s a small way to help families who can’t visit their loved ones’ resting places.
“If I ever won the lottery,” she says, “I’d put a flower on every grave I visit, just so each person is remembered.”
“Coyote Ugly."
“I’ve been told by colleagues in the past that I would make a great private investigator. So maybe, ‘PI’?”
“A medium rare steak, mashed potatoes, roast pumpkin, and pepper sauce. For dessert, pavlova—but instead of the classic fruit topping, I’d have grated peppermint crisp chocolate and cream."