Thinkers & Doers

Would you dare to surf a 50-foot wave in the dark? To everyone’s astonishment, blind Brazilian surfer Derek Rabelo has done so many times. Seeing potential rather than problems, life coach and motivational speaker, Rabelo, inspires others to eliminate excuses and go for goals.

Award-winning restaurateur and storyteller Pauline Nguyen has transformed a challenging, fear-filled childhood into a life of compassion, creativity, meaning and purpose.

Using the hard-won lessons of her own life, Melissa Ambrosini is here to help her generation and the next think about the outmoded values and mistaken beliefs they inherited from their parents — and cast them off. There is, she says, a better way.

Prolific writer, teacher, campaigner: John Marsden is all these things — and he does each with great passion.

After being diagnosed with a chronic disease, journalist Shannon Harvey spent 10 years seeking answers. The documentary synthesising her research sparked a movement that’s taking the mind–body connection mainstream.

Richard Gill, one of Australia’s pre-eminent conductors, is celebrated both here and abroad for his work as a music educator. Music is his love — and he champions an education system with sound and singing at its heart.

Award-winning clothing designer Natalie Cunningham is taking Indigenous Australian artwork to the international stage, and she’s doing it from a space of deep connection and love.

What would propel a man with no film-making experience to produce and direct not just one but two documentaries about the realities of food, health and disease? An unwell father.

Singer, actress and activist Olivia Newton-John is hopelessly devoted to making a positive impact from her public platform.

After a decade in the corporate world, Jono Fisher became a nanny and learnt to re-evaluate how he defined success and happiness, bridging the gap between the gurus and everyday person. We sit down for a chat.

We chat to Australian award-winning filmmaker and author Christina Stevens about love, the environment and personal liberation.

Stephanie Alexander is a cook, a storyteller, an organiser, a gardener, an educator — and an absolute inspiration.