Faking it 'til you make it!

For many years I've worked with some very talented people and always left the Blogging to their skilled hands & minds. So for something completely foreign to myself, I am going to start Blogging and use "I" instead of "we", which is a bizarre sensation that I imagine it is going to take some time to get used to (see, I did it! 👏👏👏).

Since 2012 I have been fixated and doggedly working towards building Endometriosis Australia with the primary goal to create change for the next generation of women and those that identify as gender diverse. Over these years, I had a chance to use all my skills and learn a plethora of new ones.

The past decade has been a blur of activity and an incredibly steep learning curve in the technology space. Being a founder of a start-up Not-for-profit, you often start with nothing but your passion and operations are run on a shoe-string which meant learning how to create websites and social media campaigns. My motto has become fake-it 'til you make it!

Now I'm embarking on a new phase and learning a new set of skills that will help me transition to my new additional role as an Endometriosis Researcher. In my previous position, I saw the vital role social media can play for the bankability of small organisations and the opportunity it affords in reaching a large number of people with a small budget.

We can take advantage of this relatively inexpensive resource to develop your online identity. With the development of platforms such as Canva, we can now create an online presence and our own unique brand.

We often only hear all the many negative aspects of social media and the lack of human connection. Social media has been used in some parts positively during the pandemic to keep socially connected when we physically can't. As a researcher, I find this is the perfect opportunity to capitalise on this phenomenon and engage not only young adults but now a broader community with education and research.

Social media sets a perfect backdrop for research recruitment. At Endometriosis Australia, we developed our Research Notice Board, a unique space for all researchers in the endometriosis industry domestically and internationally to advertise their research projects. Endometriosis Australia's social media channels are used to announce projects and recruit participants for various endometriosis researcher projects with a very high and immediate response rate.

This is a relatively new format for research recruitment, so considerations should be considered for potential pitfalls. The opportunity these new platforms afford for educators and researchers new and seasoned to reach a large and diverse cohort should make for exciting and available outcomes for years to come. Today we have more ways to reach people than ever before.

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