Helping create the business leaders of tomorrow

CELEBRATING and educating women is the very foundation of what Loreto College Ballarat is built on.

Mother Gonzaga came to Australia, almost 150 years ago, from Ireland instilled with the educational vision of Mary Ward, who more than 400 years ago was committed to education for women built on ‘the qualities of freedom, justice and sincerity’.

Holding close her faith and these ideals, Mother Gonzaga established Loreto schools in Ballarat vowing to ‘educate the whole child’ so that every girl, despite her background, was given “… a chance of distinguishing herself.” These values are still practiced at the College every day.

The Loreto College dedicated VCE Vocational Major learning space, in the old Little Flower church, is the perfect environment for inspiring future businesswomen and entrepreneurship.

Students study a Certificate III in VET Business Management as part of the VCE-VM course and are encouraged to think outside the square when exploring future business ideas.

In the past few years, we have had students develop products and market them, achieving fantastic results.

It is quite often mentioned ‘once a Loreto girl, always a Loreto girl’ and Collage community are more than delighted when a past students comes home to share their knowledge and experiences with the business leaders of the future.

This year is no exception as the school welcomed past pupil, Ruchi Page from the Class of 2011, to share her story and words of wisdom around passion and self-love through her journey as a business woman, digital creator and advocate for inclusivity and confidence within the beauty industry and beyond.

Ruchi has been a strong voice of change in the beauty industry, advocating for greater shade representation in makeup through the Global Shades movement with Adore Beauty and her Faces of Australia interview series.

It was the second time that Ruchi has given her time back to the Loreto family, shared her knowledge and wisdom once again with Loreto students.

During the last visit she had some wonderful advise to pass on.

“My advice for anyone who is wanting to explore business, in particular the beauty industry, is to pinpoint that defining moment that you know you have passion for. Passion is what will take you to each level,” she said.

“If I could offer one more piece of advice to all of you brilliant young women. There will be moments where you will have to fight to have your voice heard. But I encourage persistence and grit.

“Your gender identity, sexual orientation, skin colour, ethnicity and cultural background are what amplifies you. And you owe it to yourself to let you shine as the world awaits outside of these school gates.”

We look forward to welcoming Ruchi again to Loreto College, and cannot wait to hear her latest business adventures, conquests and words of advice for our future business leaders.

To find out more visit loreto.vic.edu.au.