The Roots of Connection and Creativity

I was born in Tasmania and spent my earliest years on a farm, raised by my immigrant mother from Hamburg, Germany, and my father, a cattle farmer from King Island. My parents and grandparents, who worked hard on the land and in family businesses, instilled in me the values of nature connection and entrepreneurialism. The move to Melbourne to take over the family cake-making business, Rose Marie Cakes, brought turbulence—my parents' divorcing and my mother's struggle with generational trauma from post-war Germany. My paternal grandmother, a painter, gifted me her easel—a symbol of the ancestral gift of creativity and the maternal lineage passed along craft and folksy textile traditions from Europe. In reflection, it feels like most of my life has been a journey to get back to that earliest, land-based life. In my new project, look forward to helping connect our diverse and vibrant city of Melbourne with the experience of small local country lifestyle and community. This deep, felt need to live more in harmony with the principles of nature is the foundation of my emerging work.

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​​Finding Presence and Purpose

My mother, involved in psychology and neuroscience research at Swinburne University, introduced me to meditation and Jung in my early twenties, sparking my interest in deeper, ancestral self-understanding. Since then, I’ve explored Western philosophy, history and psychology, the goddess religions, paganism, eco-feminism and women's spirituality of Old Europe. I have facilitated a women's circle for a decade, weaving in many of these themes and exploring how to bring the ancient earth-based wisdom of Old Europe to our modern lives as female leaders. Through my creative arts practice at the studio, I explore eco-feminism, and a social and environmental message through painting, sculpture, textile and earth-based materials.

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In my early twenties, I traveled west along the coastline of Australia, making it as far as Darwin. Spending time with remote Indigenous communities in Fitzroy Crossing, Katherine, and Shady Camp, I fell in love with the spirit of Country and I witnessed initiation ceremony—a pivotal experience that deepened my awareness of what true belonging looked like.

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I've had a long journey, studying contemplative practice and the Eastern philosophy of my children's paternal lineage.​ Finding authenticity in teaching mindfulness that is embedded in a 30-year practice and training in the international gold-standard, evidence-based Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). I draw from Zen, Tibetan and Insight meditation (Vipassana) with decades of silent retreat experience. I’m currently undertaking Dharma teacher training in the Western Insight Meditation tradition.

Wholeness in Complexity

My career path has been driven by a desire to bring heart and wisdom into the world of work. Always a creative, I founded several businesses in creative production, coaching, and mindfulness (including Melbourne Coach and Artists on Location). I formalised this expertise with a Coaching and Counselling degree (ACAP) and ICF certification, integrating these skills with mindfulness to create a framework to take people on transformative journeys.

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I have facilitated hundreds of events in corporate workplaces, education, allied health and the community as well as private practice coaching and counselling. After working at all levels of organisation—from coaching executive leaders of large corporations to providing well-being counseling in the public and private sector—I observed a crucial pattern: many successful professionals feel profoundly disconnected from nature and are burning out. The sense of separation is the great sickness of our culture and our technology is mostly perpetuating it. My training in Ecopsychology supports a social approach to therapy that doesn't pathologise the individual human condition, leading me to focus on weaving a community and environmentally centred, aware orientation into supporting peoples wellbeing, personal growth and leadership.

​Life-Sustaining Systems and Global Hope

It's become increasingly clear that just as the planet is heating up, people are feeling increasingly stressed, overwhelmed, and disconnected. The whole world is out of balance and the politics of "power over" is failing - once again. The coaching program is my response. By bringing mindfulness, insight, systems thinking, compassion, creativity, and nature wisdom to my program, my work aims to empower you to be more eco-centric and connected to the wider web of life in your career, community, business and home. I support leaders who are creating "islands of sanity," locally and in their organisations. Those working to build a more life-sustaining world, based on power with and activities that support us to rise to the challenges of our time with clarity, strength, moral imagination, creativity and collective purpose.

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Life as an Adventure, Lived Mindfully

Life continues to be an adventure. My family life—raising four daughters and supporting my husband's executive leadership journey as a co-founder of a global sustainability technology company—has profoundly shaped my perspective on sustainable leadership, work-life balance and nature-connection. From teaching English in a Buddhist temple-based kindergarten in Japan to sailing the Whitsundays and crewing on a tall ship. We are now planning our next chapter—beginning a land-based project in 2026 on the Surf Coast—my journey embodies the mindful integration I teach. I am currently learning about small scale organic gardening and establishing an eco retreat while continuing my creative arts practice and working with local nature and the community. I was recently invited to participate in a four year Dharma Teacher Training in the secular, western Insight Meditation tradition and currently in my second year. I’m privileged to still wake up feeling incredibly grateful and energised for the opportunity to serve both people and planet. I continue to offer a small boutique consultancy and coaching program in Glen Iris, Melbourne, helping you build your dreams with wholeness. In 2026 I will offer small weekend retreats on the Surf Coast Victoria.