If you like history, foreign affairs, politics and economics, you’ll envy Alida Ritsema. Alida, the 197th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is the deputy consul-general at the Dutch consulate-general in Sydney. So her job involves working on consular and economic topics with governments, trade bodies and companies. Alida has [...]
Brett Connellan, a 22-year-old who dreamed of being a professional surfer, was catching a few waves one day in 2016 when his life changed forever. Suddenly, Brett, the 196th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, was knocked off his board by an almighty crash. He had no idea what had [...]
Dean Lloyd has a quote that perfectly captures his outlook on life: "When a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment which it grows in, not the flower." Dean, the 195th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is a criminal consultant who is working to break the generational cycle in [...]
Thanks to her culinary skills, Julie Votaro has enjoyed a wonderfully diverse array of life experiences in a short amount of time. Julie, the 194th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, became a chef after falling in love with cooking as a child. She worked in several prestigious Sydney restaurants, [...]
When Jack Fouracre was younger, he had a vague sense he was destined for bigger and better things – he just had no idea what they were or how to achieve them. Jack, the 193rd person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, got off to what appeared to be a fast [...]
How would you like to fly from Sydney to London in just two hours? David Waterhouse, the 192nd person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, says it will be possible in a decade. Dave is the co-founder of Hypersonix Launch Systems, a company that is developing affordable, sustainable space flight technology. [...]
Julie Watson, the 191st person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, has learned to be stronger than her excuses. During her life, Julie has dealt with kidney failure, a heart attack, diabetes, skin cancer, a kidney transplant and innumerable hospital visits. She has to take 12.5 pills each morning – because [...]
What did Tina Brown do after her business (temporarily) collapsed in early 2020, due to the pandemic? Tina, the 190th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, went and built an extraordinary new business in an industry she knew nothing about. Since 2007, Tina has been first the general manager and [...]
Back in 2015, when Priya Sharma was only 24 years old, something unexpected happened – she had a stroke. Priya, the 189th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, told me that most people who have strokes experience clotting in one or two parts of their body. But she had the [...]
Our experiences as children shape our lives, for better or worse. For Matthew Brown, the happy, successful life he’s built as an adult has been strongly influenced by two significant themes that ran through his childhood. Matt, the 188th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, was a successful athlete as [...]
