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I was born in Santiago, Chile. My family overcame a few challenges, and as such I believe we became stronger, and this has shaped the person I am today. When I was five, my parents, my three-year-old brother and I came to Australia to live. We left family and friends and all we knew in Chile. During the first year of arriving in Australia my mum was concerned as my brother still hadn't started to talk. Following a series of medical checkups my parents discovered that Cris has autism. Growing up with my brother was challenging at times, however, living with a sibling with autism was all I knew, and as such, was completely routine. Cris's needs demanded much of my parents' time, and in some ways I became creative with keeping myself entertained as a child in these times. I believe I am a combination of both my mum and dad as I enjoy creativity, writing and I also like singing. I am a people person, I'm energised by good conversation and love talking to people.
I met my husband Trent in year 10 at Cedars Christian College. We've been married for nine years now. We got married when we were 21. I became a beauty therapist and also was volunteering as a singer at my local church, Lighthouse, which I've attended since I was 15. We have two children, Jet, 2½ years-old and Tigerlily, who is 14 months old. We have also recently become full-time guardians for my cousin Vivi who is 13. Being a mum has brought out the best, and at times, the worst in me. The range of emotions I can feel in a day is vast and challenging, but I know it is all worthwhile. I am blessed to have a great family network that are wonderful support for me with my kids.
As a mother with a newborn child, and being awake at night to care for them, you often have space while the world is quiet to discover new thoughts and ideas. I had an idea which I felt inspired me to develop during December 2013. I was holding my newborn daughter at the time, it was the middle of the night and I wrote the idea down. The idea included gifting your time to others in the form of skills you have, like making something for someone. This idea continued to grow into a blog-style website called KindMatters, which aims to bring awareness of the great things happening all over the world. We share stories detailing acts of kindness and inspiration, predominantly achieved via our Instagram and Facebook pages.
I recently launched the site, which is still fresh and new. My vision is large. I hope to gather like-minded people together with skills in design, video, editing, journalism and administration in order to build KindMatters in such a way as to spread the vision of kindness far and wide. KindMatters will accumulate and share more and more stories as people feel encouraged to write to us about stories of kindness - those who are doing big and small acts of kindness that are making a difference to others. The website's benefit is double-fold as I am helping to do something that will benefit the community as well as people individually. There is no financial benefit for me. The development of KindMatters and what the site aims to achieve is simply something I want to do for the community.
Being a young mum of 30 years I often find myself having conversations with people from all walks of life. I have noticed that there are many people that don't realise they can do something to make a difference in the community because they don't always value the person that they are or their abilities. I hope KindMatters reaches people's hearts and minds, inspiring them to be encouraged, to believe in themselves and to know there are great things happening in their community and the world. I would love the Illawarra's support by checking out kindmatters.com.au, and, if compelled after reading the content, that people would share it on media forums such as Facebook and Instagram or by word of mouth. I would like to thank Ebony Lewis for all her support in editing, and Ben Pedroza for building the website, as well as my husband's encouragement and design contributions. If you are at all interested or would like to nominate someone with a story to share about the kind things they have done, please contact me at info@kindmatters.com.au.
Information: kindmatters.com.au