Testimony: Laura Velez Marulanda

From Pereira, Colombia. Laura Velez talks about her experience in Australia. Laura is an Industrial Engineer from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota. Before coming to Australia, she worked as a project manager in an advisor company in Colombia. However, her passion for innovation and turning ideas into reality, motivated her to set up her own business.

Her curiosity to keep learning new skills for her business and to get a better position in her job, encouraged Laura to come to Australia to improve her English. Her plan was to study English for six months. Focused on achieving that objective in the scheduled period, Laura used her savings to pay the English course upfront and her expenses for those six months.

However, life had other plans. COVID-19 changed everything, because when her visa expired the borders in both countries closed. At that point, she talked with her family and explained the situation to her boss and made the decision to stay here for longer.