Marina Tolic

After nine years at RAQ, Marina Tolic is a familiar presence in our Virtual Services team.

Starting as a Telephone Information Referral Officer (TIRO) in 2012, she quickly gained a reputation for her warmth, empathy and ability to balance multiple priorities with the skill and grace of a tightrope walker. Today, as an Operations Specialist, she reflects on her long journey with us, and the ways she uses her own experiences to empower others.

“I always joked that I was raised at RAQ,” she begins with a laugh.

“I started working here in my early 20s, so I was very naïve about the world. I had been going through a difficult time. I came in feeling lost and then I just fell in love with the place.”

Marina’s passion about her work is clear when she speaks, but it comes from a deeply personal place.

“Before I took the job at RAQ, I felt lost because I had just spent a year in an abusive intimate relationship.

“I’d always thought of myself as a strong woman, so I was absolutely blindsided by the fact that I could end up in such a toxic space. It totally shook the foundation of everything I knew about the world. I had to rebuild myself from scratch and I had no idea how.

“When one of my friends, who was working as a TIRO at the time, mentioned they were hiring at RAQ, I initially felt very uncomfortable with the idea. I’m someone who needs comfort and safety, but this was something new and very different.

“I realised it actually might be an opportunity for me to heal by turning something that could be a trigger into something that could empower me by creating positive change.

I didn’t know what that would look like, but I decided to take a chance.”

Once she got into the environment, Marina was surprised at how passionate she was about RAQ’s work. Working as a TIRO and a first point of contact, she found a sense of purpose and the direction she was lacking.

“I always thought those calls would be something I’d need to be protected from, but it was the opposite. Being able to have those conversations with people and see the potential for change lit a fire under me.”

Marina wanted to have deeper, more informed conversations with people, and this led to her making the admirable choice to study full-time while working as a Client Service Leader, with the goal of working on the Family Relationship Advice Line. She graduated in 2020 and began taking calls as a FRAL Advisor.

Today, Marina uses her skills as an Operations Specialist and a key stakeholder in our Business Transformation Project. She loves the challenge of the work and that she can bring her unique experience from her many roles to the table in a constructive way.

“The work that we do at RAQ is so complex, because at the heart of it is human emotions, which we cannot always quantify or capture cleanly with data and numbers.

“So, having an understanding of what it is like to be on the phones or talking to clients is hugely important when it comes to thinking about how we’ll continue to grow as a business.”

Marina has played a crucial role in our telephony project as well as many of the recent process updates in the Virtual Services space. She’s enjoyed the challenge of the work and thinks a key part of it comes back to our ability to be resilient in the face of uncertainty.

“Resilience has always been crucial in this industry. It’s what we tap into when we talk to our clients and help them find the tools that they already have within to cope with adversity in their day-to-day, because that’s what life is.

“But resilience also comes into play in our personal lives as RAQ employees.

“We need resilience to carry our clients’ stories with dignity and to be able to continue with the work we do. It’s especially important right now, because we’re all living and breathing this pandemic, and it’s all much closer to home for many of us.”

Marina believes it’s been easier to navigate the pandemic thanks to the support of senior leadership who consistently and clearly communicated their objectives and reassured staff their employment was secure.

“I think you can see the kind of leadership we have in our response to the COVID pandemic. I never once for a moment felt the uncertainty of the pandemic hit too close to home in terms of my employment, when many others in my life did lose their jobs or have that anxiety or uncertainty. Our leaders were always very clear and reassuring, and it was just one less thing to stress about.”

Marina says supportive and encouraging leadership had been an ongoing highlight of working at RAQ.

“There were lots of conversations about my strengths and goals and the kind of work I saw myself doing. And that’s kind of guided me along my journey from TIRO to Operations Specialist. It’s one of the most nurturing, supportive environments I’ve ever been in. If you put in the hard work, you get rewarded. RAQ is sort of always looking for people to create opportunities and work together with them.”

In addition to being feeling supported, Marina has enjoyed the challenge and diversity working at RAQ has offered her.

“I’ve never not felt challenged by the roles I’ve been doing at RAQ, so I’ve never felt a desire for a challenge externally. I’ve been more interested in jumping from role to role internally. I believe that there are so many different avenues at RAQ, and we’re such a diverse organisation that there’s really something for everyone. I can’t imagine myself ever getting bored.”

She’s certainly not bored in her current role. She feels empowered to use her experience both with RAQ and in her personal life, as a culturally and linguistically diverse person, to identify key opportunities to improve RAQ’s service for all Australians.

“I really believe in RAQ’s value of social justice. I’m so passionate about understanding different perspectives and challenging the conceptions we have about people. And part of that is because of my own background as a refugee and CALD person.

“I arrived here as a refugee from Sarajevo in Bosnia during the middle of the Balkan War, at eight years old. I had been separated from my parents for two years before we were able to reunite and immigrate to Australia. It was an enormous change. It took a long time for us to feel like a family again.

“And my parents - two highly educated, beautiful individuals - had to live a life and take jobs they’d never expected because their qualifications were void. I am grateful for the opportunities they’ve given me, but it was a huge risk and tremendously hard for us all.

“The experience also showed me what it’s like to be misunderstood, both literally as I didn’t speak English when I got here, and when it comes to traditions and norms and having to adapt rapidly.

“If we want to put social justice into action instead of just a nice sentiment, that requires understanding the key challenges diverse people are facing that might be barriers to accessing our service. It’s not easy to pick up the phone and have a conversation if English isn’t your first language, for example.

"Continually working towards changes that align with that idea of equity is absolutely crucial to what we call a diverse Australia."

Marina says that she loves her work at RAQ and would encourage those thinking about taking the leap to do so.

“If I want people to take away anything from my story, it’s the idea that you can use the challenges you face as a catalyst for change. Today, my family are so happy to see my brother and I loving the work we do, and it’s all on the back of them being brave enough to venture across the world to give us a chance to find that passion.

“I never anticipated completely falling in love with the work we do at RAQ either, so even taking this job felt like a huge risk.