Lex Georgiou’s life involves a lot of coordination. Earlier this year, Lex became the president of the National Union of Greek Australian Students (NUGAS), a position which involves bringing together Greek university groups from over the country.

I really want to get the alumni more involved in NUGAS, because I’m going to be an alumni in a few years, and I will want to know what’s going on.

On top of this, Lex has just begun work as a construction coordinator. The new job involves arranging bids and tenders for major rail projects, and meant the 22 year-old moved from Brisbane to Sydney just two weeks ago, before she’d even finished uni.

That requires coordination.

When we spoke she was back up in Brisbane for a series of meetings, and she organised to arrive at work at 7.30am so we could speak before launching into another series of meetings.

She told Neos Kosmos her life is pretty hectic at the moment.
“It’s going really well,” she says, the lift door dinging as it closed behind her. “It’s challenging, but I love challenges.”

Coordinating in the Greek community seems to be in Lex’s blood. Her father was the president of Greek Orthodox Youth Association (GOYA), and her mother is a previous Miss GOYA. Lex has been on the GOYA committee in Brisbane for the past two years.
An only child, Lex’s family is spread throughout Brisbane and Sydney, which means she has a home in both cities. “My immediate family is in Brisbane,” she says.
“And, by ‘immediate family’, I mean my parents, first cousins and grandparents – typical Greek family,” she adds, laughing.

She took over the job of NUGAS president earlier this year, but she says she didn’t initially have leadership ambitions when she joined NUGAS in 2008.
“At the start I was really daunted by all these really strong personalities and I thought I could never lead them,” she says.

Lex first became involved with NUGAS while attending a conference of the World Council of Greeks abroad. At that stage, she says, NUGAS had no presence in Brisbane.

“We met these NUGAS people and thought, ‘we’ve got to get involved’,” she says.

She says there are now around 200 NUGAS members in Queensland, across Queensland University of Technology, the University of Queensland and Griffith University. Not a bad management effort. “It was a very rewarding achievement,” Lex says.

Her ambition to be NUGAS president was borne out of a close relationship with the former president, Harry Mavrolefteros, Lex says. During his presidency, Lex says Harry would involve her in NUGAS decisions.

“It made me think, ‘you know, I’d love to be thinking like this, and I’d love to be a leader’,” she says, by now probably checking through her emails with a cup of tea.

As elections approached, she mentioned to Harry that she was thinking of running for president. But it came as no surprise to Harry – she says he told her that he’d been hoping she would take over as president all along.

“He said it was because of my passion and determinism, because that’s what he has too,” she says.
As president, Lex has several ideas about the direction of NUGAS for the future. “I want all the things we do under my presidency to last more than a few years,” she says.

And for NUGAS, which celebrates its 40th birthday with a ball next month, moving forward means embracing the past. “I really want to get the alumni more involved in NUGAS, because I’m going to be an alumni in a few years, and I will want to know what’s going on,” she says.

That means coordinating a national database of Greek Australians who have been members of NUGAS over the past 40 years.
She says she also hopes to organise more national events, to complement the AGM, which was in Sydney this year, and the annual convention, which will be in Adelaide in February.

“I promise we’ll go to Perth, and we’re going to try to go to Darwin,” she says, and you can imagine her flicking through a colour-coded calendar.
She says coordinating has become easier in the online age, where facebook has made long evenings of licking stamps a thing of the past. But constant communication does have a down side.

“Half the taverna nights are in Melbourne, and when I see the photos I get so jealous,” she giggles.
While NUGAS has a political presence, on issues such as lobbying for the inclusion of Modern Greek in the national curriculum, Lex says coordinating social events is a major part of the job.

“Often I wonder whether our position as a union is going to be valid in the future,” she muses.
“But I think about the fact that when there’s an issue that questions our heritage, we will band together, so I guess that’s what makes us a union.”