Feature
The two of us:
Shirley Lam and Jenny Lui In this feature of Torch, we highlight some of the many dynamic duos in our community. Carey alumni and current Carey parents Shirley Lam (Chiu, 1994) and Jenny Lui (Chiu, 1998) are not your average business partners: they are sisters, best friends, and selfdescribed soul mates.
Jenny
We came to Australia from Hong Kong when I was eight and Shirley was 12. Our parents worked really hard to give us a really comfortable upbringing, including going to Carey which was a privilege. We were always happy at home, always laughing and we were very supportive of each other. Shirley and I have quite a big age gap, but we always had things in common and found things to keep us connected. I’ve always known that our relationship was special, but it has become more apparent as we’ve grown up that we’re really in sync. Our parents fostered it in us when we were young, they really made us work together as a team and make sure we were always looking out for each other. I know how lucky I am. I have always been inspired by Shirley’s optimism and strong sense of self. And I know she always believes in me – even when we were young and she was teaching me how to ride a bike, she believed in me so much that, with little instruction, she pushed me down a hill! And it worked – that’s how I learnt to ride a bike! She’s always given me the confidence to know that I can achieve anything, big or small.
I
loved Carey and I was so grateful that I was aware of how good the experience was while I was there. I just felt like I belonged. I had lots of good friends and some really great teachers. I have such beautiful memories of 28 | Torch
Carey Donvale, especially of the creek that runs behind the school. It was completely different to what I experienced in Hong Kong, and it was a really fun and relaxed environment. Both Shirley and I sent our kids to Carey too, and the PE teacher, Adrian Cresswell, taught all of us! My kids and I were also taught by Revd Gerry Riviere too. It’s great to have that connection and I think it says a lot about the culture that teachers stay that long. After I left Carey, I went to the University of Melbourne (just like Shirley), where I did Commerce and Information Systems. I got a graduate job at Computershare and loved working there, but I always wanted to work for Auscrown, our family’s business. Our parents wanted us to go out and explore on our own a bit and
have some outside world experience before joining the company.
S
hirley and I are actually really different people with really different personalities. But we complement each other. The things that she‘s great at, I‘m not and the things that I‘m great at, she might not be as good at. You need different approaches and perspectives to make good decisions, especially in business. We also know that we can work together even when things get tough – it‘s when things go wrong that a partnership gets tested. It requires a lot of trust. At the end of the day, despite our differences, our morals and beliefs are the same. The way we treat our customers, our outlook on life, what we want for our children – it’s the same. That‘s what makes us a good team.
