Limitations Faced In The Early Stages Of Your Life:
I am lucky to have been raised by parents who are broad-minded people. But I suffered from my own habit of being super critical/ judgmental of people and situations around me. As a result, I was highly insecure and superstitious; found it extremely difficult to connect with people or make friends, and ultimately realized that I lost a few good years of my life being unhappy, depressed and feeling worthless.
Most Defining Moment Of Your Life And How Did It Propel You To Be Better:
The most defining moment of my life was when I won the Mrs. Australia Planet pageant title in 2015 and went on to represent Australia in Bulgaria later that year (I bagged the 1st Runners Up title in the international pageant too!). Back in 2008 when my son had turned 2, I took a radical decision to do something outside of my corporate job to keep me happy. Once such musing was modelling.
Although this was a new realm and an unknown industry
(all the more, for a mum at 28 with a buzz cut hairdo), I surprisingly found
the enthusiasm and motivation to keep at it, in spite of the enormous number of
hurdles, nonchalance and rejections along the way. It has personally been a
very rewarding journey from that point onwards, with all the perks that it had
to offer including keeping fit, participating in multiple beauty pageants and
fashion runways across the globe, having a holistic approach to life & well
being but most importantly self discovery to realize what really mattered to me
the most: connecting with people. I am extremely proud to say that I walked the
runway for the Paris City Fashion Week at the Eiffel tower just a couple of
months ago, and this only serves to further strengthen my resolve.
Your Passion And How Is It An Integral Part Of Your Lifestyle:
Passion is often a very misused word. I have always had the urge
to keep learning and that gets me out of bed every day. I made a pact with
myself a few years ago and that was to try and pick-up a new skill every year:
whether at work or outside of it.
Learning to play Djembe (African drum) and doing gigs, jumping out of a plane, becoming a wanderlust and traveling to Iceland, and being on the cover of fashion magazines are some that have eventuated because of this.
Balancing Your Passion Along With Your Professional Life:
We all make time for what we think is a priority. Keeping myself
busy, both at work and outside of work is a priority for me- so it happens
organically. All it takes, is to be super organized. I have also come to
realize the fact that, being involved in things outside of work has
dramatically increased my productivity and focus at work too!
Activities You Would Like To Indulge More In The Future:
I am hoping to continue with my mentoring stints professionally and photo shoot/fashion pursuits. I am hoping to learn to ride a motorbike this year very excited about it!
Thoughts
On Artificial Intelligence:
I think we are living in a very interesting era-one where we are learning to live alongside the machines (if it is that!). There is no real value in thinking that we as human beings will be surpassed by something superior AI or otherwise. Even historically, it has always been a question of adaptability and co-existence with whatever threatened us seemingly. To that effect, I think that there is nothing more resilient and adaptable as the human race, so I have no real concern even if it got to that point. In the same light, I do strongly believe that change is always for the better and I am filled with optimism for what the future holds for all of us.