The former insurance management worker is in the running for Director of the Year following a surprise nomination from one of the Big Fat Smile staff.

Working in early education for 10 years, she made the switch after taking up a casual position at a childcare when her son was an infant.

“I stumbled into early childhood.. I was hooked straight away,” Ms Mavrigiannakis said.

After completing her relevant qualifications, she worked in Bungendore before moving to the Big Fat Smile Goulburn centre.

“It’s not just childcare, we’re early childcare educators. We’re engaged all the way,” she said in reference to the 70 students at the centre.

“It’s not a clinical working environment, they always learn in different ways.”

The AEECA finalists will be judged on their achievements, commitment to work, programs, professional learning and interactions with families by a panel.

The state winners will be announced on May 23, and the national winner on June 15.

As a director she said stamping out bullying was her passion at the centre.

“We can start the ball rolling here, we teach students words and actions impact themselves and others, that’s how we can make a difference,” she said.

“We teach them at a young age that they can say stop as opposed to joining that bandwagon.

“We’re trying to get them to think about those concepts and hopefully it sticks with them. They can say I have a choice here, I can make people feel really bad or I can make them feel much better.”

Ms Mavrigiannakis hopes to get other schools and commmunity organisations on board to further strengthen this message at the school.

Over 100 finalists from across Australia have been announced in this year’s Australian Early Education and Care Awards.