THE former David Jones publicist Kristy Fraser-Kirk is ready to return to the corporate world. But not in Australia.
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A year on from launching a $37 million sexual harassment claim against the department store, Ms Fraser-Kirk is starting a new life in Singapore with her fiance, computer engineer Chris Drew.
''We have officially emigrated - I am no longer an Australian resident,'' she told The Sun-Herald from Singapore. ''When the opportunity came up for Chris to move jobs it was also a fantastic opportunity for me to start afresh.''
Ms Fraser-Kirk has started ''pounding the pavements'', eager to get back to work.
''I'm feeling confident and overall very much of the attitude that Kristy Fraser-Kirk is back. I have got a history in marketing but I would like to do something helping other people - perhaps work with the women of Singapore or maybe recruitment for women here.''
Ms Fraser-Kirk revealed that she had been approached about work opportunities in Australia.
''It wasn't that the Australian job market doesn't want me - in actual fact I had quite a few companies approach me - but I didn't want to let anybody down and I didn't think I was ready,'' she said. ''I don't want to go back into an office feeling weak or not confident with people looking over and wondering if I'm OK.
"I want them to think, 'Wow, she is an asset to the team.'''
She brought the sexual harassment case against David Jones, its directors and then chief executive Mark McInnes, and settled out of court for a figure believed to be about $850,000, including legal costs and expenses.
Mr McInnes resigned after admitting he had behaved ''in a manner unbecoming of a chief executive to a female staff member'', although after the settlement he said the ''vast majority of the allegations are simply untrue''.
Ms Fraser-Kirk, whose wedding will be held on New Year's Eve in New Zealand, followed by a second ceremony in Zimbabwe, said her main priority had been to rebuild her confidence.
In recent months, Ms Fraser-Kirk has immersed herself in charity work for an orphanage in Zimbabwe.
''It's fantastic doing those things but at the end of the day you have to pay the bills.''
