About Me

My Background

I was born and brought up in what’s now Zimbabwe in southern Africa. Despite growing up through 15 years of the Rhodesian civil war, I feel I had an idyllic childhood - school, sport, and countless hours exploring the wildlife in the African bush that seemed to stretch forever from the bottom of our garden. Our home was an ever-flowing menagerie of tame and wild animals - birds, tortoises, baby antelope, monkeys. We even had a large concrete tank in the garden that housed our snake collection! We were like the local animal rescue shelter; baby birds that fell out the nest and orphaned or injured animals were often delivered to our doorstep. I was, and still am, fascinated by wildlife and that reflects in my writing.

My life journey after school has been a roller-coaster: Active military service, personal tragedies, university, high-level field hockey, a highly sought after first job, marriage (still going over thirty years on), two years of a chronic illness, two wonderful (now adult) children, business successes, business failures, CEO roles, and international speaking engagements.

Through it all, writing and storytelling is what has fuelled me; at events, conferences, workshops, in business writing and in my books, I love to entertain people, and to help them learn, grow, and live happy, meaningful, fulfilling lives.

After degrees in business and psychology, my career has taken me to three continents, initially working in brand marketing and advertising, later moving into senior management and CEO roles. I’ve been a university lecturer, I’m an award-winning leadership trainer, an international professional speaker, a business writer, and the author of three books (so far) on leadership and self-leadership. My first novel is on the way! (See the “Fiction” page.)

I now live on the east coast of Australia, three minutes walk from over 15 kilometres of unspoilt beach. It’s wonderful!