My Story

My story began in Papua New Guinea. My father Don, Professor of Soil Science and Agriculture and ‘kitchen alchemist’, was posted to help found the University of Papua New Guinea.

I grew up surrounded by cooking, growing local food gardens and indigenous culture which gave me a head start to understand what it really means to work with nature’s rhythms and live a sustainable lifestyle.

Native foods were valued for their intrinsic healing and nutritional values, and the pattern of tropical rain and heat determined when the soil provided and needed to rest. When these natural cycles were observed and respected there was abundance for all.

Indigenous cultures have known this forever; but I soon realised that this perspective was not so widely shared or understood.

In my early career I worked with blue-chip corporates across a variety of industries, in roles that spanned strategic planning, advertising, marketing, events and business development. I gained enormous insight into the way big business does and often doesn’t work; sustainably, ethically or responsibly.

It got me thinking… what if we rewarded employees with ‘well days’? Why were people literally working to retire in order to finally to live the lives they really wanted to live?  How sustainable was it to have people working on computers late into the night?  How did people feel about the impact of their work on the environment; and more broadly speaking, what was the real cost to these businesses if they factored in the environmental and social impact of their choices. What if we could work with our competitors to transform industries for the better?

I had many unanswered questions, but it was a mid-career sea change that brought me the clarity and focus that shapes my work today. Over years travelling the oceans as a private chef my appreciation for nature deepened, as did my realisation of the urgent need for change. I witnessed the impact of overfishing and saw atolls of floating plastic bottles from branded products I had worked on. I experienced the importance of localised food production and food security in remote communities. I broadened my understanding of food as medicine, learning firsthand from the wisdom of traditional custodians.

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, I honed my food waste skills and learnt to improvise and adapt. Did you know there are forty different ways to use breadfruit? This tangible knowledge played a valuable role in the workshops I would later create and run back on land. I learned to observe and listen deeply, adapt to ebbs and flows and sit in stillness.

My creativity blossomed.

On my return to Sydney, I began to provide consulting services that helped organisations improve environmental and social outcomes by redesigning projects to be more effective, positive and purposeful. I discovered that the greatest obstacle for business was an inability to challenge convention and rigid frameworks. Much of my work became about ‘unpicking the way things have been done’ to allow new vision, creative thinking, purposeful outcomes and regenerative benefits.

When the NSW Government had me design a community breakfast event, I convinced them to move from initial ‘food event’ thinking and to take the opportunity to connect city dwellers with their food suppliers. Cows provided for ‘just milked’ lattes, third generation apple farmers from Batlow NSW handed out freshly picked heritage apples and talked about sustainable agriculture and the importance of biodiversity. A high-profile bakery collaborated with an Indigenous elder to create a picnic loaf that was shared along with regional produce, celebrating Indigenous native foods.

“Breakfast on the Bridge” was a huge success and an iconic event on the Sydney Harbour Bridge launching Sydney as a city of outdoor dining and diversity. The event continues to promote regional areas of NSW and support local supply chains, generating major global media coverage and most importantly educating diverse sections of the community on the impact of buying local, supporting farmers and eating well.

 I have worked on regional food sustainability projects and programs designed to connect people from 3 to 70 years old, from householders to CEOs and their staff, with food, the environment and each other. As Food Waste ambassador for The Environmental Protection Authority and as an ambassador for local farmers and the environment, I worked across regional areas changing behaviour.  I collaborated with Councils and worked on community engagement projects.

This is the kind of action I believe creates far reaching benefits and is an opportunity for all businesses and organisations who want to improve their environmental, social and economic footprints. This is the work I do.

I know that people and businesses want to contribute to change and need help to do so. They want simpler, slower, less stressful and more satisfying, rewarding lives.  They seek wellbeing and reconnection to nature and they are increasingly looking to our organisations, industries and governments for leadership in this area.

I believe that nature can show us the way and that the environment will guide us to make and be the change we need.

Join me on a journey to change the way we do business that by design contributes to regenerating the environment, delivers profit and purpose, cultivates well-being and feels good!