"I always seek to understand how people tick..."

1. Primary School: Bankstown Primary in New South Wales, Australia. I grew up in Punchbowl, a suburb in south-west Sydney on traditional Bediagal land. It’s a very ethnically diverse suburb, a perfect place for my Italian immigrant parents to raise their family. It’s where ex-Prime Minister, Paul Keating grew up and, where my brother Vince Sorrenti, started his career in comedy.
2. High School: Bankstown Girls High School in New South Wales, Australia
3. University + major: Sydney University Bachelor of Education. UNSW Masters in Cognitive Science (Cognitive science is an integrative degree bringing together insights from Psychology, neuroscience, Linguistics, philosophy and AI to inform what we know about thinking and learning).
4. Class/Personal photo and story behind it: This is a photo of my all-girls high school year which had some notoriety for being the class with the most number of students that scored at the highest levels in the school certificate and then went on to university in an era when not too many girls in our area did. I am still grateful to some special teachers who broadened my world, gave me extra books to read, introduced us to feminism and politics and challenged us to demand more of life. I’m also grateful for the brief period in Australia’s history under Gough Whitlam when free, university education was available for all. It gave me the opportunity for higher education that this daughter of southern Italian migrants may not have got otherwise.

   

5. In school I excelled at: Talking and bringing people together. I always asked too many questions. I learned early that I learned best by talking to others, bouncing ideas around the room, surrounding myself with people smarter than me and stealing the best ideas!
6. In school I struggled with: Attention. I was curious about everything, wanted to be part of everything. I was easily distracted and too often under enormous pressure to get assignments completed on time.  I was also a poor athlete. PE was the only thing I ever scored poorly in.
7. After school you could find me: In the library or daydreaming about the boy on the bus – still don’t know his name.
8. Troublemaker or Teacher's Pet? [groan] Teacher’s Pet. I have poor eyesight so was always at the front of the room. And I loved school – As an Italian girl I was not given the same freedom my brother was to go out or play in the street, so school was my whole world outside of home and family. My teachers were my mentors. My school friends were my best friends and still are today. I was the nerdy kid that could always be relied on to have her hand up and break the silence.
9. You'd be surprised to learn that in school I... was the Melbourne Cup bookmaker– every year it was the one thing that got me into trouble for organising the bets and sneaking out of class to hear the race.
10. In high school people thought I would grow up to be a: Teacher. It was interesting that in places like Bankstown we had few professional mentors. If you were at all academic you dreamed of becoming a teacher or a doctor or a banker, engineer or nurse. We had no idea of the career possibilities available to us in the wider world.
11. Favorite teacher/professor and why: Miss Thomas, Year 10 English. She believed we could do anything and we lived up to her expectations! She used to sit on the desk and found novel ways to get everyone in the room talking, thinking about language and ideas. We read Gloria Steinem articles (“If Men Could Menstruate”) and explored great song lyrics as poetry. We published the first school Journal that everyone in the class played a role in, regardless of their academic prowess. It was my first taste of student voice and writing with purpose. It is how we teach now but this was so inspiring at the time.
12. Favorite book: Tough question... For nostalgic reasons I’ll say Pride and Prejudice – I loved Austen irony and still seek out a strong female voice in literature.
13. First job: Sales. Selling IBM PCs in 1985. Even at uni my part-time jobs were always in sales (cake factory, restaurants, retail). I also had a thriving tutoring business.
14. If I could do any job, it would be: Teaching again – I still think of it as the noblest profession with a huge impact on individual lives. I never became a teacher because I was so disillusioned with the out-of-date education system. I’m closer to indulging my original passion at Pearson than I ever was in the classroom. I’d design programs that inspire people to learn about learning, be better teachers, parents, managers, coaches, humans.
15. The course I'd most like to take today: Sculpting or Cooking. Something with my hands. I live too much in my head and crave a break. I love the idea of making things that are interesting and beautiful and get people together and talking
16. If I could have any celebrity as a teacher, I’d pick:  Gennaro Contaldo – celebrity chef – I love his passion for Italian food – an essential ingredient for any teacher
17. Today I learn the most from: My children (now grown up) and people younger than me. They challenge me to think differently and continue to learn and evolve.
18. Do you learn best by reading, listening or doing? Oh, all of the above and more. I always seek the why (easier than remembering stuff) so usually need to read about something, play with it, talk to others about it, ask too many questions...before it becomes committed to long-term memory
19. Best piece of career advice I ever received: Do what motivates you. When you are passionate and engaged in your work, it’s easier to do and you are more likely to be successful.
20.  My personal superpower is: Empathy. I always seek to understand how people tick - not only what they know but how they feel.  Any career success I’ve had, especially in sales and management, has always been based on observing, learning about people and their needs.

Mimma Mason is the head of Pearson's Clinical division in the Asia/Pacific region.