In profile: Ashley Markovic

Radford collegian Ashley Markovic was this week featured in The Riot Act, the article celebrating her fundraising efforts for Autism Spectrum Australia.

Working for over 24 hours without sleep, Ash baked and decorated 800 exquisite-looking cupcakes in a variety of flavours, which she then delivered to buyers who had mostly purchased via Facebook – all the while adhering to COVID-safe guidelines.

‘I woke up and started at 6am on Saturday and basically baked all through the day until 4am the next morning. I then slept for two hours before finishing a couple of them off and then did deliveries for about seven to eight hours,’ she told The Riot Act.

Her marathon efforts raised an amazing $2036 for Autism Spectrum Australia but, she admits, left her oven and electric mixer a little worse for wear.

Ashley attended Radford until 2015, when she graduated Year 10, receiving the Allen Family Memorial Award for Service Learning. She completed her senior years at Hawker College.

When asked whether studying particular subjects at Radford helped build a foundation for her chosen career path, Ashley agrees wholeheartedly, but quickly adds it was probably individual staff members, rather than subjects, who had the most impact.

‘Mr George Huitker, 100 percent, helped set me on this career path, inspiring me through aspects of the Service Learning program at Cranleigh School and Pegasus Riding for The Disabled’. Completing these service activities, she adds, helped her feel certain, as early as in Year 10, that she wanted to pursue a career in service.

‘Mrs Jackson, in Food Technology, helped too, in terms of my baking, but I have to say, as biased as I know it might sound, that it was my mum, Tracey Markovic (Assistant Head of Junior School Operations and Systems) who most inspired me. She does so much. She was the Chair of Relay for Life, has done a lot of work with the Love Your Sister Foundation, she bakes and has generally raised me with an appreciation of generosity and serving others’.

Ashley now works as a full-time disability worker at Sharing Places, a day program for individuals with complex intellectual disabilities. She absolutely loves what she does and feels certain she is on the right career path.

Her next challenge is another marathon effort, literally: Autism Spectrum Australia’s ‘Run for Autism’.

‘A few close friends and I are participating this year by running 42.2km between 31 October and 7 November. Our training is well underway,’ she said in the article.

Read The Riot Act’s article in full for more details on Ashley’s fundraising achievement.