I began my career as a journalist at Brisbane’s Courier-Mail, at the time Australia’s third highest-circulation newspaper. After a dozen years, several cities, and too many business reporting fields to count, I landed at JFK in June 2001 as the New York Correspondent for The Australian Financial Review, and spent the following two-and-a-half years covering 9/11, its aftermath, and the shifting of the planet’s tectonic plates.

Wanting to stay in the United States, I freelanced for everyone from The New York Times and Financial Times to Men’s Health, Essence, men’s style australia, and Outside. I was also a columnist for Australia’s biggest-selling newspaper, the Herald-Sun, wrote a book, got my green card, joined Bloomberg, and then McKinsey & Company. As a management consultant, I made a really good writer and editor. I did, however, learn PowerPoint, Excel, and enough jargon and acronyms to have the authority to tell people to never use jargon or acronyms. I then ran Deloitte’s global content engine, Deloitte Insights; was Global Editor-in-Chief at EY; and have for the past five years been at Chicago-based content marketing group LEFF, working behind the scenes to drive content excellence at some of the world’s most prestigious companies.

After a lot of time on the east coast punctuated by a year in Southern California and a few years in Chicago, I’m now back in the greater New York City area. It’s a long way from where I was born. Everything’s a long way from Australia. But I’ve learned to drive on the wrong side of the road and adjust my accent so people can understand me. In return, I provide living proof Aussies are not genetically wired to surf.