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Jennifer Toom-Hicks MemberTalk

On Wed 1st April 2026, member Jennifer Toom-Hicks gave breakfast attendees an insight into her life.

Jennifer was born in Ballarat on Bastille Day 1982, to Peep & Pam Toom who were Estonian, but immigrated to Australian when they were young. Jennifer has an older sister Katherine who also resides in Ballarat.

Jennifer has Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts, both in International Relations. As part of her undergraduate degree, Jennifer had to complete an internship or overseas program, which lead to a 3-month volunteering stint in an orphanage in Nepal. The orphanage was located on the outskirts of Kathmandu, where she would get the kids ready for the day, help them with their homework and English skills, while playing amongst the fields of Marijuana plants out the front. Jennifer said this time was one of the best experiences of her life.

Jennifer loved to travel, including a car trip with fellow volunteers to Lhasa in Tibet, and to the Everest base camp. Jennifer introduced us to 3 types of “Fun” … 1 – True fun, 2 – Not pleasant at the time but great to get through, 3 – Not Fun at all, but makes for a good story. Other travel at the time included Europe and the USA for 12 months.

Jennifer married Mike in the UK 2009, and they have two children Zoe (Year 7) and Nathan (Grade 2).

While juggling visa applications Jennifer worked for the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (which she loved) and then they decided to return to Australia in 2011 and back to Ballarat in 2013, just before the birth of their daughter Zoe. Work was then as an Office Manager at Australia Made, followed by the Victorian Government at the department of changing names.

Jennifer’s title is now “Principal Advisor to the Deputy Secretary, Corporate Services at the Department of Job, Skills, Industry and Regions” … a mouthful but it sounds fancy, making sure our executive focus on strategic direction and high priority work, provide advice and support writing business plans and strategic documents. Members enjoyed her real job description – A professional chaos coordinator and bullshit detector.

Jennifer loves nature and the outdoors, and now enjoys bush walking with the kids, with the bigger adventures they’ve enjoyed being;

  • The Tasmanian Trail by Bike
  • The Mundi Biddi by Bike (Zoer was 7mths old)
  • The Flinders Ranges section of the Mawson trail by bike
  • The Grampians Peak Trail
  • The Great Ocean Walk
  • Paddling the Glenelg River
  • Walking the Little Dessert National Park
  • Burchill Trail (this past weekend)

Jennfier joined Rotary as something meaningful she could do for herself, which involves contributing to the community.

We love having you as a club member and appreciate your volunteering commitment Jennifer.