Pride & Joy

QWeekend
By Megan Lehmann
May 12, 2015

NOT long after takeoff, the afternoon sun is bouncing off wings angled toward theglittery hub of the French Riviera and I’m locked in the bathroom, crunching Valium and struggling to breathe. This plane is flying in the wrong direction.
Ahead lie ten days of demanding, gratifying and, yes, thrilling work at the Cannes International Film Festival, but behind me are my babies. I’ve made a big mistake. Stupid, stupid selfish me. I’ve left them, two little girls aged two and six, to pursue my own interests, to do something for me. And my heart is breaking.
Full story: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qweekend-how-to-survive-being-a-mother/story-fnn8dlfs-1227350308728

Noosa's Back, Baby!

The Weekend Australian Magazine
By Megan Lehmann
April 25, 2015

The light is fading and something quite magical is happening in the treetops along Noosa’s Hastings Street.
Cars on the pedestrian-friendly boulevard slow to a crawl. A little girl’s strawberry gelato drips gently as her eyes grow wide. Even the famed holiday strip’s signature brush turkeys, loitering in the bushes like a street-gang of young toughs, seem to pause mid-scratch. Everyone looks up as strings of delicate fairy lights flick on, hundreds of metres of lights looping the length of the street, each one beaming out 24 watts of environmentally friendly optimism and bringing a sprite-like sparkle to the heart of a town where until recently gloom reigned.
Full story: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/noosa-booming-how-the-holiday-town-rediscovered-its-mojo/story-e6frg8h6-1227318453007

Profile: Ben Mendelsohn

The Weekend Australian Magazine
By Megan Lehmann
May 9, 2015

Eye drops. A bottle of prescription pills. Two Minties. A phone. Ben Mendelsohn unpacks the pockets of his bulky wool overcoat and lines them up neatly on the table, inspecting them in the neon-pink seepage from the party flickering into life next door. “Better take these out,” he deadpans, striking a pose and tracing the rumpled outline of his coat with a fashion-model flourish. “They’ll ruin the line.”
There are plenty of fine-looking show ponies backstage at the Netflix Australia launch, marking time, flicking their polished manes as ­minders juggle headsets and clipboards while warning them to watch their heels on the soggy red ­carpet. Mendelsohn, 46, is not a show pony.
Full story: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/ben-mendelsohn-in-bloodline-hollywoods-dark-and-dangerous-new-star/story-e6frg8h6-1227346815106
        

Profile: Carla Zampatti

The Weekend Australian Magazine
By Megan Lehmann
April 9, 2015

Two huge gilt-framed mirrors do ­double duty in the sitting room of Carla Zampatti’s home in Sydney’s eastern ­suburbs. Reflecting the Italianate balustrades of the balcony opposite and the lush vegetation beyond, they make a large room seem even bigger. They are also "terribly useful", the Australian fashion trailblazer says, in the design process. "I stand in front of them and drape different fabrics on me to see how they will look on the body, because eventually a design has to make you feel and look beautiful." Male designers have muses; Zampatti, who maintains a cat-like grace into her '70s, has herself.
Full story: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/success-or-bust/story-fnolgd60-1227276018589
        

Profile: Heather Ridout

The Weekend Australian Magazine
By Megan Lehmann
April 25, 2015

People listen when Heather Ridout speaks. During her 33 years with the Australian Industry Group, one of the largest employer groups in the country, the petite chief executive with the convivial disposition had the ear of prime ministers, union heavy-hitters and top-end-of-town tycoons. Her voice has been front and centre through top-level debates over tax reform, fair work legislation, the GFC and climate change. 
Full story: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/defining-moments-heather-ridout/story-fnolgd60-1227317549932
       

Profile: Ann Sherry

The Weekend Australian Magazine
By Megan Lehmann
April 11, 2015

Two ships passing in the night: Queen Mary 2, the unfathomably large 151,000-tonne flagship of the Carnival-owned Cunard cruise line, and her younger sister ship, Queen Victoria, all 90,000 tonnes of her. 
It was a grand spectacle, an awesome display of maritime grace and power marked by fireworks and cheering crowds. Presiding over the historic meeting on Sydney Harbour last month was another indomitable force, Carnival Australia’s go-getting CEO Ann Sherry.
Full story: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/bold-vision/story-fnolgd60-1227297364783
        

Profile: Holly Kramer

The Weekend Australian Magazine
By Megan Lehmann
May 1, 2015

Former Telstra chief Sol Trujillo has been called many things — brash, undiplomatic, culturally insensitive. Holly Kramer uses a different word: inspirational. The outgoing chief executive of discount clothing chain Best & Less says her former boss helped shape her belief that the destiny of a business is not predetermined.
Full story: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/defining-moments-holly-kramer/story-fnolgd60-1227330238358

        

Profile: Penelope Seidler

The Weekend Australian Magazine
By Megan Lehmann
April 16, 2015

Standing like a dun-coloured sentinel on the north shore of Sydney Harbour, Blues Point Tower is possibly the most pilloried building in Sydney. Penelope Seidler looks at it daily, from the art-filled eyrie of her office and penthouse at Milsons Point, and what she sees is a grand piece of modernist architecture radiating the strength and dynamism of her late husband. 
Full story: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/defining-moments-penelope-seidler/story-fnolgd60-1227306648879       

Profile: Geraldine Doogue

The Weekend Australian
By Megan Lehmann
April 4, 2015




Geraldine Doogue saw herself in the young woman seeking her advice upon returning to work at the ABC after having children.
So it made sense to steer the new-mum journo towards a position at Life Matters, the ABC Radio National social affairs program Doogue created in 1992 and hosted for 11 years. What didn’t make sense was the response: But what will the boys in news and current affairs think about that?
Full story: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/matters-of-the-heart/story-fnolgd60-1227287452248