• Author of ‘Pride without Prejudice’, Beverley Pinder OAM on how she navigated her life

She is not your everyday queen. When she left Ceylon at 13 for Australia, racial taunts made her determined to rise above, reach for the stars, and eventually be crowned Miss Universe Australia. Beverley Pinder had a chequered childhood of poverty and homelessness and an alcoholic father, but with that crown placed firmly on her head, she began one of the most successful public relations (PR) agencies in Melbourne, working with some amazing clients and unusual exploits too – even bringing an elephant into the Bourke Street Mall for businessman Richard Charles Nicholas Branson. 

She broke glass ceilings with style and prowess and became an inexhaustible philanthropist. Her singular vision of serving the people with commitment, integrity, and sincerity saw her elected a Councillor for the City of Melbourne and conferred with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM). And then she decided to write her story. She was on ‘Kaleidoscope’ last week to share her amazing life story and upcoming projects. 

Following is a transcript of the interview:

Why did you write ‘Pride without Prejudice’? Did you have a bigger story to share?

There’s always a bigger story, particularly if you have heart and soul in it. But, there’s two reasons I wrote this. One was a personal perspective – I wanted to try and actually capture my memories of a well-lived life. And when I say well-lived, it’s not meant to be something that I’m glorifying – it’s more the adversities and challenges, because that is life. I wanted to capture those and my achievements as well. The second reason is that I felt that I had a lot to give to this new community of young women and men coming through in terms of self-help techniques. 

You have had your share of mental and physical abuse in your years of growing up, with an alcoholic father and marriage partners and during your time in the Miss Universe contest as well. What are your takeaways from those experiences?

‘Never give up’. Simply that. There are naysayers no matter where you go in life and no matter what you do and then there are the champions who actually champion you and help put you on the right path. I have an Irish heritage and the Irish have had a pretty tough life. Sometimes I think that my resilience comes from that stream. But, I always tell people, ‘Never look back’. You’ve got to have the stamina but also the self-belief to keep going and then try and take others along with you. Also listen to and absorb what others have to say and input that into your lives. You’ve really got to follow that spiritually as well as think from the head.

 You ran one of the most successful PR companies in Melbourne; at the time, probably the only female-headed PR company. Was the glass ceiling tough?

The early 1980s was probably when the glass ceiling was just emerging; I did hit the glass ceiling when I wanted to expand the company that I was working for, set up a new office and become a partner. The immediate answer was, ‘Well, women aren’t good at management, are they?’ That was their view. Then I thought, ‘If that’s what they think, I have no future here’. I gave them one week’s notice and took a week off. My husband at the time said, ‘You can start your own business. Don’t wait on anyone’, and registered my company and set me up. And off I went. It’s about having that belief repeatedly that you never ever want to be put down by anyone. If you are confident about what you have to offer, then rely on that to strengthen yourself. It takes courage and stamina to do that.

If you were to look back at your career, what has been the biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?

One of the biggest challenges I had in my career was with a law firm client for 20 years, where I had actually helped recruit the new marketing manager. I was turning 50 at the time and I felt that the client was trying to get rid of me, much to my surprise. So I thought, ‘I am going to Tuscany for six weeks to take a break. I don’t need this’. I could have stayed for the money, because it was a large chunk of my business. But, it’s not just the money. Particularly if you’re a woman, and if you have solid values that you stand by, then, you should just walk away. Others could see my courage in doing what I did and my refusal to compromise my values, so it wasn’t hard to bounce back.

What was your biggest triumph career-wise?

In 1991, Australia went through a recession and my business was decimated. I wasn’t going to shut down, but reduce it to just me, rethink operations, and hang on to one client. Then, I received a call from a major industry captain, Solomon Lew, who gave me six months to sort out the negative media he kept getting. The root cause was that he didn’t talk with the media and I told him so. ‘If you don’t say things as they are, what’s in your head, what’s in your heart, and what’s in your strategic plan, they will only know what they hear and see’. I actually took him by the hand and led him to the media. To this day, when journalists meet me, they say in surprise, ‘my goodness, you really brought Lew to the table, didn’t you?’

You are a great proponent of Catholic priest Robert John Thomas Maguire’s philosophy of communitarianism. Why?

Maguire, whom I loved dearly, was my spiritual advisor. He always said that communitarianism is about helping those in need within your community. If you can help those in need who are within your arm’s reach, then you can get the benefit of seeing them succeed – that is what being a member of a community is all about. So, I try to help people who need it. In fact, I’m embarking on a small project helping three children at the St. Lawrence’s Convent, Wellawatte, helping them through their studies for six years each. That is what communitarianism is all about: identifying, extending your hand, and then following through with action.

You have had your misgivings about the #MeToo movement, especially with what happened to your friend, then Mayor Robert Keith Bennett Doyle. Any thoughts?

I’m not a proponent of workplace harassment, sexual assault, or anything like that. However, I’m a little bit of a Catherine Fabienne Deneuve (French actress) follower and I think that what we’ve done is, actually decimated our males. We’ve created a very destructive way of thinking and a way of acting. I worry about our boys and how our boys are going to grow up and what they will be thinking. As much as we need to band together as women, and men, it’s important to know that to set out to destroy a person – male, female, or whatever gender – is not what it’s about. It is about more discussion and more understanding in terms of trying to change that person as well. 

Given your work as a beauty queen (but never a model by choice), starting off your PR agency and working in charity and as a Councillor for the City of Melbourne, have you ever been called upon to compromise on your ethics and values?

Most people whom I work with know that I hold my values very strongly. I don’t give in just because it’s a better idea or if it is to support someone who wants to get back into politics. I’ve never really been taken down that path because I try and halt it before it gets to that. Never compromise. If you feel that someone has a way about them that will take you down a crooked path, just sit down and work it out. Have the courage and strength to say ‘no’. As a Councillor, my thinking was that I was here for one term and I have to do my best, that if I get elected for another term that would be a bonus, but I’m not going to compromise just to get elected. I chose this role. Maguire had a saying: ‘There are insiders and there are outsiders. You need to be on the inside to be able to help the outsiders’. Values are very important to me and I believe that they come from my early Ceylonese roots. 

Sri Lanka obviously left an indelible mark on your psyche, even though you left when you were 13. What is the strongest aspect about this country that you still carry with you?

It came through loudly and clearly at the St. Lawrence’s Convent: difference. When I was at school, I had friends who were Tamils, Muslims, Burghers, and Sinhalese. It was a myriad of cultures. I don’t subscribe to the ‘multiculturalism’ kind of notion, but I do think that cultures are very important and to take from each culture which enriches your life and the other person’s life as well. I recently learned that one of my friends, whom I knew since we were in Montessori, is a South Indian Tamil. Now that, to me, is rich. I feel richer having known that I’ve been her friend for 65 years and never really thought about her being different. So, difference is important, but you don’t step back and look at ‘different’ and say ‘that’s not what I want in my life’. Embrace difference – that’s very important.

Tell me about your take on Gen Y, or Gen W-H-Y, as you call them?

Or ‘Gen W-H-Y not’. Gen Y was very prominent in my life as staff members and I thought that they – the generation, not the people – were all about themselves. They didn’t have the stamina, nor the follow-through. They weren’t good listeners – and listening is very important when working with clients. Collaboration is not something that they subscribe to. So, Gen Y is not my favourite generation. However, I’ve got nieces and nephews who are amazing Gen Ys who have studied, worked hard, and, coming from large families, have been able to blend diverse views easily and learn from those views as well.

You have mentored many young women in your life. What have you learned from those experiences?

I think that patience is the biggest lesson that I’ve learned, because most of the young women that I mentor have also got varying cultural backgrounds. Mentoring international students is one area that I absolutely love and I love giving a helping hand to these young people who come to Australia as they have no families. They are here on their own. The takeaway has been that I’ve got to be patient with their development and although I give a lot, all of what I give is not accepted. But, over the years, when I track and trace the women and a few young men that I’ve mentored, I see a little gem or two that I’ve given them being reflected. 

What is your newest project ‘Turning Hope Into Action (THIA)’ about?

‘Turning Hope Into Action’ came about as a result of a young woman who lived in a refuge for two years. She couldn’t find any solutions in Melbourne, so she caught the train and went to Adelaide and learned how to navigate the system being virtually homeless. I helped her set up THIA as her dream, so that she could realise that dream. The project has gathered a lot of momentum. It’s about being a voice for the homeless, making sure that there’s a seat at the table with someone representing them and their homelessness, so that Governments can tailor funding correctly.

(The writer is the host, director, and co-producer of the weekly digital programme ‘Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo’ which can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. She has over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and social media)