Kaja Holzheimer, Treasurer and Secretary

Kaja first learned Non-Violent Communication (NVC) in 2011, when she spent a month attending all the Brisbane-based NVC training she could find. She continues to access training in Australia and via teleconference, and regularly practices and enjoys deep connection with an empathy buddy.

Kaja has worked in the community sector as a Finance Officer since 2000. She’s currently employed as the sole finance worker for two small organisations, taking complete charge of their bookkeeping, insurance cover, financial compliance and reporting to audit stage. This includes managing the financial aspects of government and philanthropic grants, auspice arrangements, memberships and donations. She ensures compliance with the Associations Incorporation Act for the smaller of these organisations, and engages in the thrilling task of financial policy and procedure development for both of them.

As exciting as writing a policy about salary sacrifice might be, Kaja’s authentic self is more creatively focussed. For three to six months of each year, Kaja indulges in the after-hours singing of opera. Yes, really. In terms of social engagement, this is a particularly fruitful arrangement, as not only does she get to meet a lot of different people through the community sector, she also gets to be a lot of different people (animals, furniture, a sung representation of the weather… whatever) whenever she sings. And not content with merely singing as someone else, Kaja has recently acquired a taste for the writing of speculative fiction, where she can, in fact, make up whole new people. And then, you know, put them back inside her imagination to see what they do.

Through all of this meeting/being/making up of different people, Kaja has developed a deep and abiding respect for personal authenticity. She is particularly interested in the transformative deepening of NVC skills into a conscious way of living, and the connection between this awareness and creative/imaginative processes. She looks forward to further developing and utilising these interests for social change.

Education:
1994 Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Music)
2006 Graduate Certificate in Music Studies (studying Opera Performance)