Candice Van Doosselaere, the 364th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is a citizen of the world. She was born in Mexico to Belgian parents, spent much of her childhood in America, finished her schooling in Belgium, did some of her university studies in Italy, and, later, worked in China [...]
Late last year, Rachel Launders, the 363rd person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, was invited by the University of Sydney to address graduating students. Rachel shared three life lessons with the students, one of which was to do things that make you uncomfortable. In a nice piece of timing, I [...]
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I sat down for lunch with Tim James, the 362nd person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers. Tim is a politician – he’s the state Member for Willoughby and the Shadow Minister for Fair Trading, Work Health & Safety and Building. Tim, it turned [...]
There's a Helen Keller quote that Oksana Koriakova loves, which perfectly captures her outlook on life: “Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” Oksana, the 361st person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is a peerless networker, who loves forming relationships and connecting people. Oksana grew [...]
Peter Koulizos, the 360th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is a legendary figure in the property investing community. Peter – or the Property Professor as he’s more commonly known – has spent years lecturing on property valuation, development and investing, while also building his own property investment portfolio and [...]
For much of his life, Joseph Damian, the 359th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, was looking for a career that met three criteria – he enjoyed it, he was good at it and he could earn a good living from it. But Joe kept landing in jobs that ticked [...]
Jemi Jeng, the 358th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, became interested in the cause of female financial empowerment as a child. Even at that young age, Jemi recognised the link between financial independence and personal independence. Jemi has also had a long interest in entrepreneurship and social enterprise. So, [...]
Peter Fam, the 357th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, has a keen sense of right and wrong, and the power of flawed systems to corrupt good people. Peter owns a law firm, Maat’s Method, that specialises in human rights law. He represents clients against the government, the police and [...]
Dominique Gill, the 356th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is changing the construction industry. As Dom explains, the industry is male-dominated and, due to the lack of diversity, can sometimes suffer from outdated thinking. By contrast, almost half the 50-plus staff in Dom’s construction company, Urban Core, are women. [...]
In 1983, doctors took blood samples from about 1000 men in the Sydney gay community, with plans to check the samples once it became possible to test for a new virus called HIV/AIDS. The following year, a test became available – and almost 400 men ended up testing positive, including David Polson, the 355th person I've [...]
