Biography
Olivia Andersen (nee Gemmell) was diagnosed as profoundly deaf at 8 months old. Specialist doctors told her parents that she would never speak or go to a mainstream school. Olivia’s parents immediately fitted her with hearing aids and enrolled her at The Shepherd Centre.
Olivia attended mainstream schools including Loreto Kirribilli where she completed her Higher School Certificate in 1998. She received itinerant teaching support from RIDBC in her senior school years and was awarded their 1999 Garfield and Norma Barwick Medal for her HSC achievements. She represented her school in many different team sports, gained the Gold Duke of Edinburgh and was the recipient of the School President’s Award for “Outstanding Participation and Contribution to School Activities”. On leaving school Olivia joined Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club and became the second deaf lifesaver in Australia at that time.
After graduating from the University of NSW with a BA in Design and working for marie claire magazine, Olivia lived in London for three years and worked for a fashion / lifestyle magazine which included work assignments in New York and around England. During this time she backpacked throughout Europe, Central America and solo in Africa.
After completing a Business course at RMIT University in Melbourne, Olivia was one of 25 of 500 applicants in the state to receive the Churchill Fellowship award at Government House. In July 2008, she returned from six weeks overseas study to the USA, United Kingdom and Scandinavia. Here she gained valuable, worthwhile experience from existing mentoring and leadership programs for adolescents with hearing impairment.
Olivia believes that deafness attracts the right type of person as a friend. This was certainly the case when she met Thomas, who is hearing, in 2001 - he is now her husband. Thomas has said that one of the things that initially attracted him to Olivia was her strength of character and the way she handled her hearing loss.
At 29 years of age, Olivia is motivated to help young deaf people achieve their life dreams and ambitions and to face the future with confidence and faith. It is for this reason she started Hear For You in 2007. She now works full-time as a Director and Program Manager of Hear For You.
Olivia's motto is: "With the right mind set, anything is possible!"
