Erika Samonte joins us full time in the library. Erika was born in the Philippines, but moved to Australia when she was two years old. After graduating from university, she worked a variety of jobs in retail and the arts, before deciding on a career in the Library and Information Services Industry. In July 2015 she joined the SMSA library as casual assistant at the SMSA, becoming full time in February 2016. Erika mostly enjoys reading contemporary fiction and her favourite author is Haruki Murakami. Her hobbies and interests include travel, art, ancient history, eating dessert and looking after her pet rabbit.
Stephen Elliott has worked as an economics teacher in a boarding school in the bush. When the school’s librarian joined the army and left, Stephen was asked to fill in. He enjoyed it so much, he got the appropriate training and worked as a teacher librarian in schools for over ten years. Stephen became an SMSA member after leaving the school system to teach IT at Sydney Water. Over the years, through the friendliness of the library staff (particularly Cecile), Stephen became a very regular user. These days for fun, he travels with his wife when he can, swim laps very slowly and plays golf badly.
Kylie Campbell is the SMSA Membership and Administration Assistant. Kylie has a background in visual arts and has worked for several Sydney cultural institutions. She joins us straight from a stint at the Art Gallery of NSW and the Powerhouse Museum. She loves to read anything off beat and quirky, and has recently become a Margaret Atwood fan. You can find Kylie at all your member events, taking photographs, wearing handmade necklaces, lots of brooches and day dreaming about the Canadian mountains.
2016 is almost at the half-way mark(!!) at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, and has seen three new permanent staff members join the SMSA team.
Erika Samonte and Stephen Elliott join Kathy and our team of casuals in the Library, and Kylie Campbell has already begun to make her mark on Level 3 as our new Membership and Administration Assistant.
Discover what brings them to the SMSA — and be sure to say ‘Hi’ next time you see them!
SMSA (Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts)