Hi! I’m Lara. Thanks for visiting!

Not sure how you’ve stumbled on this here corner of the internet…? Maybe you’re a question asker, meaning chaser or ethical meat connoisseur? Perhaps you’re a fellow op shopper, cat lover, or super human in training?

In any event, here’s a bit about me…

There’s nothing I love more than connecting with clever, curious folks. So if any of this vibes for you, feel free to send me a lil note using the form below.

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ABOUT ME

I spend a lot of time thinking about the most important ingredients for individual and community wellbeing. I love interrogating different perspectives on tricky issues, understanding the persistent or structural barriers to positive change, and using the most effective mechanisms available to pursue progress. What I’m really good at is research and policy, strategy and innovation, engagement and communications. I thrive working on projects that aim to unlock greater human capacity, agency, and connection.

Professionally, I’ve been working in the public sector for a while now, mostly focusing on rural and regional Victoria. Recently, this has included supporting rural women to step into decision-making and leadership roles, and working with regional communities to build their resilience to climate risks.

PLACE

My husband and I moved to his family farm in Dederang in March 2020 - fortuitously just days before the first COVID lockdowns. In between remote work and zoom trivia nights, we built a house with views of the Kiewa Valley. Here, we operate a free range beef farm in the beautiful Victorian high country under the banner of Rogers Lane. In 2021 and 2022 we supplied direct-to-consumer beef, lamb and curated wine to some good people all across Victoria. Juggling our on-farm priorities with full-time jobs off-farm, we made the call to put this aside in 2024… for now.

PLAY

I spend a lot of my play time upside down, swinging from things, and picking heavy stuff up and putting it down again with a bunch of awesome folks I’ve been very lucky to find in my new home in North East Victoria. When I’m not doing that, I am likely perusing any op shop within reach or curled up with my feline fur child. I love reading, writing, learning languages, good tunes, travel, photography, and beautiful food and wine. I am constantly searching for great small businesses and creatives, especially rural makers of food and wine that honours place and process.

I am a trained vinyasa and yin yoga teacher, and used to teach classes and run occasional retreats. I also used to send sporadic collections of musings and my favourite things on the internet. Maybe one day I will do either or both again… subscribe if you’d like to be kept in the loop if I do!

BACKGROUND

I'm a neo-generalist and my professional background is a mixed bag. I have a Bachelor of Arts (French) from the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Diploma of Commerce from RMIT University, with bits and piece of other study around sustainability, leadership, innovation, strategy, policy - plus some extracurriculars like photography and yoga.

A bunch of nice people wrote stuff about me back in the day. Surprisingly I don’t cringe at these profiles from many years ago. My youthful optimism hasn’t waned too much since I spoke to Chelsea Morley, Treadlie and Peppermint Magazines…