Nine years after leaving her stable New York City life behind and heading to Australia ‘for a year’, Graduation Officer, Tiffany Voll, has never been happier or felt more successful. Here’s why.

1. In a nutshell, my job is to…
Calm down anxious graduands and graduates. A big part of my job is looking after our email account and I make sure that the students receive clear and concise answers to their questions, and offer any help or support needed.

2. My definition of success is…
Happiness. If I go to bed each night happy and wake up happy, then I know whatever I’m doing is working. I’ve never felt more successful as I do now, due to the rare fact that I do not have the Monday blues – ever!

3. This year I want to…
Travel outside of Australia. I know it’s wishful thinking due to COVID-19, but a girl can still dream. I’ve travelled internationally every year since the early 2000s, but it looks like that streak might be over.

4. The scariest thing I’ve ever done is…
In 2011, I left everything behind in America (a stable job in NYC, my family and friends, my condo) to move to Australia ‘for a year’. I moved over with no job, no place to live, and knew about two people. That goes to show that the scariest things you do are usually the most rewarding – here I am, nine years later – an Australian citizen, heaps of mates, and at the best job I’ve ever had.

5. As a kid, I was…
Super active. I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in the summertime, I was out of the house at 8am and back at 8pm, riding bikes, playing kickball, rollerblading, jumping on the trampoline – constantly on the move!

6. My guilty pleasure is…
RuPaul’s Drag Race. I watched 10 seasons in two months last year – I promise I do have a social life.

7. I’m scared of…
Those fish pedicures where the fish nibble on the dead skin on your feet. I am terrified of fish in general, especially when they are in schools.

8. The most important thing I’ve learned in the last five years is…
If you’re not happy, do something about it. I was working at media agencies for 13 years and had no passion for it. I left three years ago for university life, and honestly that was the missing piece of my happiness puzzle.

9. If I had the day off today, you would find me…
On a nice day, I’d be out exploring and geocaching (a really fun scavenger-hunt type of thing) and if it was raining, I’d be on the couch, wrapped up in my fluffiest blanket, binge-watching Parks and Recreation or 30 Rock.

10. To me, the best thing about the Macquarie community is…
I love how willing everyone is to offer a helping hand, no matter what department you come from. This has proven especially true in the past few months when dealing with COVID-19, where staff from all over the place have joined forces to work on priority projects with the ‘students-first’ motto in mind.