2001 was to be the triumphant year of Space Odyssey, instead we faced the horror of September 11. In 2002, social networking site Friendster exploded in popularity, heralding the rise of social media. Throughout the first 10 years of the new millennium, trends, world events and technological advancements have often caught us by surprise. Join our panel of guests, CEO of Green Cross Australia Mara Bun, Mezzanine Wine’s Peter Marchant, Managing Director of BBS Amanda Newbery and Strategic Advisor to black&write! Theodora Le Souquet, as they explore the last 10 years through the lens of happiness, sustainability and food futures.
Mara Bun @marabun
Mara Bun began her career as a Financial Analyst with Morgan Stanley, spending five years in their New York and San Francisco practices. She specialised in high technology finance, working on Silicon Valley IPOs and mergers during the late 1980s. In 1989 she joined a World Bank Nepali earthquake reconstruction project in Kathmandu, then moved to Australia embracing community leadership roles with Greenpeace Australia and CHOICE in the 1990s. In 2008 Mara became founding CEO of Green Cross Australia. Green Cross Australia is part of a global network of 30 offices founded by Mikhail Gorbachev with a mission to foster a global values shift towards a secure and sustainable future.
Theordora Le Souquet
Theodora began her career in government in the United States then moved to Europe and Australia as an international marketing and commercialisation advisor for a global organisation. She has been responsible for assisting public and private companies, NGOs and governments with business strategies and planning. Theodora managed the development of the Australian Writer’s Marketplace digital strategy which established an online resource for writers. The project won the national Australia Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) KPMG AdviceBank Award. She was also Chair of the Queensland Writers Centre and now has put her passion behind black&write! – an Indigenous writing and editing project based at the State Library of Queensland.
Peter Marchant
Peter Marchant’s life is all about good food and wine. At the age of nine he embarked on his waiting career helping his mother who was a caterer. His home was abundant with great food but it was always for someone else. In 2001 Peter joined the front of house team at Brisbane icon, Restaurant Two. Following a couple of years working for Red + White, Australia’s premier wine wholesaler, he subsequently became a Director and co-owner of both Restaurant Two and Bistro Three which opened in 2007. After leaving these roles in 2009, Peter went on to work at Mezzanine Wine. Peter is a certified sommelier and is the Queensland Chair and a Member of the national executive for Sommeliers Australia. He wrote the wine list for the hit reality TV show, Conviction Kitchen, filmed on location in Bistro Three.
Amanda Newbery
Amanda Newbery manages one of Queensland’s largest communications consultancies, BBS PR, overseeing a staff of 25 who consult on projects throughout Australia and New Zealand. A strategic communication specialist, Amanda is a trusted advisor to corporate and government executives. Her experience across community and stakeholder engagement, media relations, corporate communication and investor relations, enables her to provide both business and communications advice to clients. Prior to her role at BBS, Amanda worked as a journalist for the Courier-Mail, covering education, parliament, courts, arts, features and general news.
