TANIA SMRDEL

NSW – Slovenian–Australian Achievements Award

 

Tania Smrdel was born in Blacktown in 1978, the daughter of Mira and Miro Smrdel. Tania’s involvement within the Slovenian community began early in life. She attended “Slomskova šola” as a child, learning the Slovenian language and even at that time participated on stage in Slovenian cultural functions and mother’s and father’s day celebrations.

Later for a decade or so she was part of the Folkloric Dance Group at SDS and has frequently been the Master of Ceremonies at various cultural performances in the community.

During this time Tania attended Bankstown School of Community Languages and very successfully graduated in the Slovenian language.  In 1992 she also joined the Slovenian Drama Group Merrylands of which she is still part of and has performed many leading roles in countless Slovenian stage productions. Post graduation she became a member of the Slovenian School Committee serving as a secretary and vice-president respectively.

In 1996 Tania started her radio broadcasting career with sports contributions to the Slovenian program on SBS Radio. Regularly she was heard on radio with youth suplements and later her contact thru radio increased until mid 1999, when she became an official broadcasting co-worker under the leadership of Mariza Ličan. She produced her first independent broadcast in March 2000. In the past decade she has collaborated with the Melbourne team and organized the broadcasts from Sydney. In 2008 she became a temporary editor of the Slovenian radio program on SBS, and she has continued doing so but now with a more youthful team.
Tania is also a Founding Member of the Historical Archives for Slovenian Australians for NSW or HASA-NSW, of which she was initially a secretary, then president for two years and still is a committee member. Between 2002 and 2006 she was also a member of the organizing Committee of the Slovenian of the Year Awards.

Alongside her contributions to the Slovenian community Tania finished her university education as a CPA or Certified Practising Accountant and now holds a demanding job as a Commercial Manager with “Campari Australia”. She still finds time to help other people and organizations with her expertise as an accountant, with her computer skills and her experience at organising the cultural and social programs at Slovenian events and celebrations. She is very proud of her Slovenian heritage and still gives a lot of her time to Slovenian community.
 
Tania Smrdel je bila aktivno vključena v slovensko skupnost vse od njenih šolskih   let naprej. Sodelovala je v slovenski šoli, pri proslavah, kulturnih akademijah, nastopih folklorne skupine, v komedijah na odru v Merrylandsu in drugih krajih, pri Zlatih srečanjih, katere je organizirala HASA-NSW, še posebno pa kot glas preko radijskih valov, ki nam prinaša novice iz naše skupnosti in iz domače dežele. Velik del svojega življenja je posvetila domovini svojih staršev, na katero jo vežejo njene slovenske korenine. Spoštujemo njeno delovanje v slovenski skupnosti in za njeno delo in trud smo ji iskreno hvaležni. Hvala, Tanja!

 

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