This Year Director of Advancement Paul Galea has been reaching out to IGS Alums to find out “where in the world are they?”
On Wednesdays, Paul shares the words of one Alum living interstate or overseas with our Alum networks on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
“As a local school with a global perspective, it comes as no surprise that many of our students have decided to take their careers and lives to new and exciting places,” said Paul.
“It gives me great pleasure to know where our students have ended up, and of course, that there are IGS Alums on even the farthest corners of the globe!”
Below, Paul shares three WITWATs he’s received this term:
Alexander Miltenyi (2003): New York, New York, USA
“For me, it’s New York or nowhere – as of February 2023, I’ve been living in NYC for seven years and three months.
“In 2014, after completing my undergrad at UNSW, I left Australia and attended Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. When I interview for jobs I tell people that I always had this grand dream of working on Wall Street, but in reality life led me from one chance encounter to another and when the opportunity to move to America arose, I just grabbed it.
“After graduating from business school, I spent three years in investment banking and then moved into corporate development (.e, in-house M&A). Since then I’ve worked for Marsh & McLennan, WeWork, IAC, and most recently iRobot where I’m currently going through the process of selling the company to Amazon. My job is basically to help my company invest in and sometimes buy-out other companies, or (in the case of iRobot) get acquired by a bigger company.
“Life in New York is amazing – but it’s definitely not for everyone (my family all hate it!) I’ve been extremely fortunate to make strong friendships through work, school, and my gym, but the city can be lonely if you don’t put yourself out there. It’s not an easy place to live, but you can get literally any type of food delivered within 25 minutes at 3am on a Tuesday, so it’s not all bad!”
Kesang Choden T Wangchuck (2002): Bhutan
“After IGS, I completed a Business Management Bachelors degree at University of Canberra and returned to Bhutan in 2006.
“I began with a lot of volunteer work as an events manager, researcher and writer, and media management in non profit and spiritual organisations between 2006 till about 2012.
“I joined the Central Monastic Body of Bhutan in 2013 as the Executive Director in a long term turn key project to develop and manage the national heritage of Bhutan. Our office established the Buddhist Art & Cultural Conservation Centre that works with art conservators and monk custodians of the country in the preservation and continuity of Bhutan’s tangible and intangible heritage.
“I am a single mother with three children who are now 19, 14 and 12.
“On the side, I’ve collaborated as editor, researcher and co-author for four publications on Buddhist Art and Bhutan’s heritage. I also write articles for the national newspaper, research society publications and magazines from time to time.
“I am currently involved in assisting with creating the first Hospice in Bhutan that would provide palliative and end-of-life care for terminally ill patients.
“I am based in my home country of Bhutan, but I do travel from time to time for work. I would really like to come back to Australia and hope that my family can visit too.”
Lloyd Connoly (2016) and his sister Mia Connoly (2013): Hamburg, Germany
“Mia and I both moved to Hamburg, Germany in early 2020 and ended up living together and working as photographer and buyer for the same streetwear online store for the following year. Eventually, I got the chance to do an exchange semester in Berlin, after which I stayed there and finished my Economics degree online.
“Since then I have started full time work as a menswear buyer at a large fashion E-commerce company called AboutYou, where I travel to meet brands, see new collections and purchase the merchandise that we will stock at the store. Mia is working as a freelance fashion photographer in Hamburg, travelling a lot and living her best life! We also both often work completely in German.
“We miss Australia, especially our friends, the weather and that easy going Aussie attitude, but we also love living in Northern Europe.
“German culture is awesome and Hamburg and Berlin are both very cool towns. We appreciate how easy it is to travel and how much there is on offer to see and do, plus the culture of music, fashion and truly excellent bars and clubs. As we enter our fifth month of wintery misery however, we question what our poor Australian souls are doing in this freezing place, but for now we are having too much fun to move somewhere warmer.
“Currently we’re working on starting a brand together and diving deeper into our creative careers. Let’s see what happens next!”