Rita Hartney

Rita Hartney was born in Lithgow in a cabin at the mouth of a coal mine; she made her first public appearance at just one hour old with her father when he presented her to meet his work mates as they sat around a campfire, eating their supper. And she hasn't looked back since!

During the 60's she joined a Direct Selling organisation and she liked it so much she bought the company in the 70's and then sold it in the 80's.

In 1979 she was presented with a Sales Congress Nothing's Impossible award signed and presented by Astronaut Neil Armstrong for her innovative 1970's party plan Vogue Party Time.

In 1983 Rita was elected national President of Salespeople with a Purpose and introduced I'm Special, a confidence boosting and positive thinking program for year 11 students before adapting and taking the program to Bendigo Prison and the Office of Corrections in Victoria.

During the eighties Rita was instrumental in helping anti-drugs campaigner Ted Noffs create his Life Education Victoria program in Melbourne. In April, 1985, Rita and the prisoners at Bendigo Prison organised a Run against Drugs at eleven prisons in Victoria to raise funds for the project. The prisoners raised $10,000 on the day.

Rita joined the Ramada International Hotel group in 1985 and opened a hotel on the Gold Coast. She became the Regional Director of Human Resources in 1986 and opened the first Ramada hotel in China, training three hundred staff in English language skills and hotel management, in three short months using the nearby Military Academy as her training headquarters. As you can imagine, security was tight, and Rita's style was somewhat cramped by a security guard who had been assigned to monitor her every move... that is until she negotiated a deal which saw her teaching the soldiers English, on condition that her shadow be more usefully employed!

Rita worked for Ramada throughout South East Asia, and has been integral to the personal and career development of senior executives and middle management in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. She is a Psychotherapist and author of two books "I'm Special" for teenagers and "It's Time for Women to Take Control" (Face it guys you need a hand) Today Rita is still training staff and writing customer service programs. She has a Masters Degree in Training and Development and is listed in the 19th edition of the World's Who's Who of Women and the 3rd edition of the Businessman's Who's Who.

Rita is available for key note speeches and for facilitating workshops in customer service and personal development. Basically, she's unstoppable!