Humans of T-shirt: Meet Shadia, Quality and Support Lead at Provider Choice

Shadia Patwary is one of our superstars here at T-shirt Ventures. The value she adds to the team is astronomical – and she’s recently been promoted from Plan Manager to Quality and Support Lead. Shadia is passionate about working with people and wants to make a significant difference in the disability community, which we believe she does every day.  

Read her story below as she discusses why she’s passionate about what she does and what makes her thrive at T-shirt Ventures.

1. Tell us about your role?

I am the Quality and Support Lead. This is a newly designed role that meets quality assurance with plan management. This role liaises closely with our Plan Managers and Team Leads to find ways to make participants’ lives easier – and to make sure our participants’ journeys with us reflect that.

My experience as a Plan Manager has equipped me with the skills to step into this new role confidently.

Daily, I work with a small team that supports everything related to quality assurance and plan management.  Although I don’t always have the answers, I try my best to find the best possible outcome and look at hurdles we need to address. I find people appreciate that.

I have been working in this space for two years now, and I wear lots of caps in my current role. At T-shirt Ventures, I can extend my role to exceed expectations that are ‘norms’ in the industry.  

2. How long have you been working at T-shirt Ventures, and what drew you to the role/company?

I just hit the six-month milestone recently!  

The amazing people at the company is what drew me to T-shirt Ventures. Straight off the bat, every interaction I had with the team kept affirming that there are incredible people behind T-shirt Ventures who are genuinely passionate.

Everyone has a genuine approach in wanting to improve the NDIS and how it works for the participants, going beyond the basic function of invoicing. I have a friend that works at T-shirt Ventures also and she loves it, so before I started, I had heard great things from her!    

3. You’re at a BBQ with a friend who asks you: “what’s it like working at T-shirt Ventures?” What do you tell them?

No two days are the same! You're guaranteed to have a work culture that prioritises you and gives you the platform to do an amazing job.  

It's incredible to come to work every day and have such a supportive, uplifting group of people who are equally passionate about the work we do. It's a collaborative environment where there is no such thing as a silly question. There are always new challenges, but we leverage what we have learnt in the past to tackle new problems.  

4. What's the most rewarding part about your role and working at T-shirt?

A key part of my role, that I really enjoy is providing a listening ear to my participants and hearing their stories and offering advice to help them navigate the tricky NDIS landscape, in a way that is easily digestible.

I recently spoke to a participant who has no funding for a support coordinator, with nine months left on her plan. I took the time to provide some assistance that the support coordinator would often provide- looking for providers with her, having a chat about what she’s looking for with her services and sent her an email after our call summarising the information. She felt more confident afterwards as I helped her to figure out her next steps, booked in meetings and assisted in getting some paperwork done.  

It's rewarding when we get to have those interactions that empower participants and increase their confidence.

5. You've been nominated as living our company value, ‘Grow, Together’. What does that value mean to you?

For me, 'Grow, Together' means staying curious and fostering a culture where you not only want to grow yourself but lift the people around you simultaneously.  

The value ‘Grow, Together’ aligns strongly with this new role – one of the first things I’ll be doing is helping with our new Plan Managers’ onboarding journey. I’ll be making sure our new starters have the best possible foundation to thrive in their job and enjoy their onboarding experience.

I think about how even when my team comes across a roadblock, we discuss it amongst ourselves to try and find the best outcome possible with everyone ready to pitch in and contribute. Living our company value relates to the participants as well- I love the idea that we can help our participants get the most out of their scenario through growth.

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At T-shirt, we’re looking for people with passion, grit and integrity to join our team and ‘wear our T-shirt' every day. We look beyond just resumes and into the heart, stories and life experiences of the people we hire.

Head to our careers page to see open roles. Click here.

No open role to suit you? No stress. If you love our mission and have a diverse perspective, think rigorously and aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions... we want to hear from you!

Get in touch by clicking here.

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