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Sally Lean contributed her story to the second volume of Voices Of Impact: Empowering Stories From Female Visionaries And Entrepreneurs. Photo: Shri Gayathirie Rajen.
Wagga author Sally Lean has contributed her story of overcoming adversity to an international bestseller.
For the second volume of Voices Of Impact: Empowering Stories From Female Visionaries And Entrepreneurs, Sally and 19 other entrepreneurial and visionary women shared their inspiring stories.
The book was released in Australia on International Women’s Day and became a bestseller.
“We woke up the next morning with the news we’re bestsellers in the US international bestsellers,” Sally said.
Sally shared her personal journey of transformation and how she rose up with the intention of creating a purposeful impact in her life and her business.
“The thread of the story is overcoming some of the trauma and things that have happened in my life … and how I moved forward,” Sally said.
“But it was also the learning that I’ve had and now applying that to my new coaching business.
“I work with high achieving teens and their parents to facilitate communication skills, and confidence because some are feeling hollow behind and trying to create a facade,” she said.
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Sally loved riding horses. Photo: Supplied.
Sally first came across the opportunity to share her story on social media and decided to say yes to the opportunity that had risen out of nowhere.
“What attracted me the most about the opportunity was that all the proceeds from the Kindle sale of the e-book are going to Domestic Violence Prevention Centre in Australia,” Sally said.
“Because of the events in my past, it’s a cause that’s close to my heart.
“I thought it was a great opportunity to make a difference as well as be able to build authority for myself in the coaching space,” she said.
The author was given a limit of 3000 words to write her story.
A language teacher by trade, Sally loves the complexity and understanding of how language works.
“We get to be human because we have language. It’s fascinating, right?
“Without language, our brain doesn’t function the same way either.
“I love this new form of expression helping people through language,” she said.
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Sally was an interpreter at the Beijing Olympics. Photo: Supplied.
Born in Victoria in a small country town in the Mallee, Sally moved to Melbourne during high school, where she learned Chinese.
She then moved to Wagga when she was 15 and finished high school at Trinity Senior High School.
The coach pursued her tertiary education at the Australian National University knowing it had the world-famous China Centre, great scholars, and plenty of think tanks for the government.
She completed her Bachelor of Chinese Studies and spent a year in China as part of the ‘A year in Asia program’.
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Sally spent 15 years in China. Photo: Supplied.
“It was a great experience to spend a year in the early 90s in very early China … the early days things were just opening up, but things have changed massively in the 30 years.”
During her years in China, Sally was appointed by Channel 7 as an interpreter for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Sally then pursued her Masters in Education while working in Singapore and completed a wealth of training and development work in between.
She lived and worked in China for 15 years and moved to Singapore for six years and Thailand for one year.
“I said yes to the job in Thailand just before the pandemic took hold around the world,” she said.
“I already was very aware of what was happening in China and I ended up getting stuck in Singapore for a couple of extra months.”
Sally returned to Wagga in 2021.
Voices Of Impact: Empowering Stories From Female Visionaries And Entrepreneurs is available on Amazon, Goodreads and most online bookstores.