Speakers Corner » Human Interest

Natasha Stott Despoja

speakerscorner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:57:01 +0000

Coming soon

Suzie Wilks

speakerscorner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:37:21 +0000

Coming soon

Tottie Goldsmith

speakerscorner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:34:38 +0000

Coming soon

Chris and Marie

speakerscorner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:21:41 +0000

Coming soon

Peter Alexander

speakerscorner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:14:12 +0000

Peter Alexander is a true entrepreneur. Founder of Peter Alexander Sleepwear, Peter grew the company from a single man operation on a living room table to an internationally recognised sleepwear business and brand name.   At age 24, having worked for four years in the retail industry, Peter Alexander decided it was time to be his own boss. Identifying a gap in the market when his female friends were unable to find comfortable women’s pyjamas that weren’t flannelette nighties or lacy lingerie styles, Peter decided to establish his own business.  With the support of his parents, Peter Alexander began making women’s pajamas for the wholesale market, working from his mother’s living room table. He worked like this for four years and in the early days was the only person working in the company. When the phone rang, in order to make the business seem bigger, Peter would pretend to be someone else.      
Peter Alexander’s only regret about his education is that he didn’t do a business course. ‘As a result I didn’t make any money from my business for seven years because I didn’t know what I was doing’ he says.  Believing in the importance of setting high goals, Peter says people with high goals have far more chance of achieving them, than people with lower goals or no goals at all.   For Peter Alexander, the most satisfying thing about running his own business was being able to take both the blame and credit for his work. He says ‘When you work for someone else you often get blamed for something that’s not your fault, and when you deserve credit, you don’t’ get it. When you work for yourself, you only have yourself to blame if you mess up and you can also take the credit.’  A few years ago, having felt he had taken the business as far as he could, Peter sold Peter Alexander Sleepwear to Just Jeans for an undisclosed sum. At the time of sale, the business was making $6 million per year and growing by 40% each year.

Part of Peter’s arrangement with Just Jeans is that he continues to run Peter Alexander sleepwear for five years. He currently manages the company and employs eight full time staff and twenty casual staff. Peter is an exceptional speaker with the capacity to motivate and entertain. He brings a wealth of business knowledge to any event, corporate or otherwise.

Evonne Cawley

speakerscorner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:09:34 +0000

Evonne Goolagong Cawley MBE, AO is an Australian sporting icon. Evonne has inspired generations and continues to do so.

One of Australia’s all time sporting greats, she has been Australian Sportsman of the Year and Australian of the Year. In 1988, she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Rhode Island and the following year, was inducted into the Aboriginal Sporting Hall of Fame.

Since 2000, Evonnehas made an increasing commitment to Australian Women’s tennis, and was appointed captain of the Australian Fed Cup Team for 2002/03.

Dr Chris Brown

speakerscorner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:03:59 +0000

Dr Chris Brown’s knowledge of animals is as much instinctive as it is taught.
Growing up in the suburbs of Newcastle with his father as the local vet, it’s easy to see why Chris’s four legged brothers and sisters far outnumbered the human variety. The backyard played home and ‘hospital ward’ to everything from chickens to ducks, koalas, kangaroos, horses, cows and a donkey, as well as household pets such as dogs, cats and birds. Chris even had a pet penguin for six months. But despite this, he swore for his entire childhood that he’d never become a vet because ‘that’s what Dad does’. However, it was the sudden decline of his dog and best mate, Claude that changed his mind.
After graduating from Sydney University with First Class Honours, Chris accepted an offer to work in a clinic on Sydney’s north shore. It was during this time that Chris found time to travel to remote Aboriginal communities in the deserts of the Northern Territory to improve the health of animals, mainly dogs, that had never seen, let alone been treated by a vet.
Dr Chris is a regular on Channel 10’s The Project

Stephen Lienert

speakerscorner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:57:45 +0000

Steve Lienert is a thoughtful winemaker and the man responsible for guiding PENFOLDS red wines through vintage and maturation day by day. He has lived in the Barossa his entire life and followed his father into the industry. His career began in the cellar in 1978 and like many other PENFOLDS winemakers his has been a long apprenticeship. His strong sense of custodial responsibility is a pillar at PENFOLDS and he is deeply trusted by all and sundry. If PENFOLDS were a ship, Steve is the first mate, and his steady hands on the tiller are a reassuring sight for red wine lovers around the world.
Steve is not one to answer questions immediately, preferring to listen carefully to all before considering his response. Inevitably his answer provides insight with few words, giving one pause to consider his words and their multitude of meanings. It’s the same deliberate approach he takes to his role as custodian of PENFOLDS great legacy, ‘the greatest challenge is maintaining the house style, while keeping up with consumer demands. Producers are under pressure to try new things, however, it part of my job to make consistent wines’.
‘Being a PENFOLDS winemaker means a great deal, it’s a fantastic opportunity to work with some of the best fruit and best wines in Australia but it’s also a big responsibility to maintain style and quality because the standards have been set so high in the past and we must continue to keep this up in the future.’
With some particularly good vintages in recent years Steve nominates 2002 St Henri and 2004 RWT as the most satisfying wines he’s made, and in coming vintages he’d like to do more work with super premium cabernet in French oak, and small volumes of single varietal reds.
With Steve Lienert on deck, you just know that PENFOLDS red wines will be every bit as good today, and tomorrow, as they have been in years past.

Pat Cash

speakerscorner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:55:22 +0000

Pat first came to the tennis world’s attention as a junior player in the early 1980s. He was ranked the top junior player in the world in 1981, and in 1982 he won the junior titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open. He turned professional in 1982 and won his first top-level singles title that year in Melbourne.

Pat established a reputation on the tour as a hard-fighting serve-and-volleyer and for wearing his trademark black-and-white checked headband and his cross earring.

The crowning moment of Pat’s career came at Wimbledon in 1987. Having already beaten Mats Wilander in the quarter-finals and Jimmy Connors in the semi-finals, Cash defeated the World Number 1, Ivan Lendl, in the final. Cash sealed the victory by climbing into the stands and up to the player’s box at Centre Court, where he celebrated with his family, girlfriend, and coach, Ian Barclay. This started a Wimbledon tradition that has been followed by many other champions at Wimbledon and other Grand Slam tournaments since. He only lost one set during the entire tournament

Roger Rasheed

speakerscorner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:46:13 +0000

Roger Rasheed makes every post a winner. Rasheed played professionally on the tennis circuit reaching inside the top 100 in doubles and 200 in singles. Injury prevented Roger from reaching a true ranking because of his limited court time. He is Channel Seven’s Tennis commentator of choice for all the prime time matches including the men’s and women’s finals in 2008- current.

Roger was contacted by Gael Monfils of France re coaching and excepted a prepared position which was designed by Roger . Roger now coaches back on the ATP TOUR and will spend most of his year travelling OS while working with MONFILS in preparing and pushing his game to the next level of tennis elite. He commenced with Monfils ranked 48 (JULY 2008) in the world and in the space of 6 months moved Monfils to a career high ranking of 9 in the world.

Roger is acting as a tennis consultant nationally and internationally to coaches and players in regards to preparation and the needs in becoming a world class tennis player. Rogers tennis ability to educate and deliver the tools which give you the athlete the vehicle to achieve on the world stage are unique and becomes infectious. Roger believes there are no boundaries and it’s a matter of creating an exciting high quality ENVIRONMENT around the athlete. Rasheed also has a range of media contracts both in Australia and overseas.