Gary Brown

Gary Brown is a Perth lad born and bred.  When he's not working you can usually find him running laps around the North Inch trying to improve his personal best time or hanging out at legendary local watering hole The Twa Tams.  Back in the day, like many Perth residents of a certain age, he served his time working in both Paco's (St Johns St. premises) and the now-defunct Littlejohns.  These days he still works in Perth but as a Corportate Parenting Youth Worker for Services for Young People in Scott Street.  He took some time out of his busy schedule to have a chat with us about his working day, his love of music and travel and much more besides in today's Workdays and Weekends feature.

What does a typical day at work look like for you?

I Check my calendar, my to-do list and then my emails – I then start on whatever I have planned. Working in ‘youth work’ usually means that two days are never the same, which I love about my job.

What signals the start of your weekend/days off?

Me and my wife talking about what we have planned.  I have three young boys who like to be kept busy.  Often their plans are my plans!

What might people be surprised to know about you?

People are often surprised when I tell them my first job after leaving school was as a bricklayer.

Top of your bucket list?

I travelled quite a bit when I was younger on my own and with my wife so part of me would love to do some travelling with any of my boys when they are older. I would be keen travel around America.

Worst job you’ve ever had?

Definitely serving my time as a bricklayer. It 100% made me realise that I didn’t want to do a job I wasn’t interested in and wasn’t good at. After that, I realised that I wanted to work with people in some kind of supportive way. Leaving that job was the start of my journey to what I do now.

Who are what inspires you?

My family inspires me on many levels. I like running and cycling with the kids as it’s a great thing to do with them. I also like doing both those things on my own for looking after my health which is totally inspired by being a dad/husband.  Lots of musicians really inspire me too.  Music is one of my big loves and I can’t imagine life without it.  Lots of the young people I meet at work really inspire me too.

Tell us about the weekend you’d love to live again?

My wife and I spent six months travelling on our honeymoon. We spent three months working on organic farms in Tuscany, Italy. We had a few chilled out weekends travelling around Tuscany on trains; wandering around cities and towns with no pressures on us. That would be lovely to do again.

What’s the best part of your job?

I have got to meet and work with lots of different young people and work on a variety of different projects. Being involved in supporting young people to do positive and constructive things that they want to do is great.

What’s the perfect day off breakfast?

Sitting outside, having poached eggs on toast, fruit juice and a cup of tea while listening to music with our dog Sunny close by.

Complete this sentence; the best things in life are…

…if you are lucky enough – having no regrets. I feel blessed that I have been lucky enough to have done a lot of things in life I wanted to do.