The Careers and Outreach department Speaker Programme began with Heathfield old girl Philomena Poetis, who flew in from Munich to talk about From Music to Entrepreneurship.
Philomena was excited about returning after 10 years, especially as Mrs Diaz, her house mother and with whom she still keeps in touch, is still at Heathfield. It is a testament to Heathfield’s pastoral strength that Philomena describes Anita as her second mother. Philomena told the girls she arrived at Heathfield at sixteen years of age, with very little English and a desire not to be pigeon holed as just a girl who sang. Heathfield made her realise she could be academic, and she combined the things she was good at and enjoyed to study Music, Politics and Sociology at one of the top universities in Europe, Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich.
Philomena recently founded Munich Members, an organisation that works on projects that combine creatives, financiers and politicians to achieve social impact. One of her projects is to increase the number of homes in Munich; she has been responsible for bringing the Mayor of Munich, investors, architects and building innovators together to solve this problem.
The Careers & Outreach Prefect and Head Girl Team gave Philomena a tour of the school and she enjoyed seeing the developments but it was good to hear that the feel of the school remained quintessentially Heathfield!
“The current students had a great evening, especially as operatically trained Philomena ended the talk with an aria, which left most of the girls speechless with tears (of joy!) in their eyes.”- Mrs Rushi Millns, Department of Careers & Outreach
