1982
I was born in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa – the first born of three girls to my Italian Mama and Irish Father.
1987
That’s my sister Cara on the left, me on the right. I despised my curly hair as I was constantly bullied about it by other kids, and my teachers used to tell me that the only way I wouldn’t be in trouble anymore was if I gave them all my hair.
1994
I was very shy as a young girl, petrified of God and simultaneously despised God for making me a girl. I was so angry at Eve for eating that damn apple as I felt like girls really got the short end of the stick with having to wear dresses as uniforms to school, plus periods and painful births. Like what the actual.
1997
As a young teen I loved to dance, and I dreamt of becoming a dance teacher one day, until I discovered surfing. Surfing became my church, and it was the first time I felt a true connection to nature and Mother Earth. I became obsessed with surfing as a sport, and soon after, met marijuana.
1999
By 16 I had decided that surfing and marijuana were the way the truth and the life. I decided to switch to homeschooling to have more time in the water, and I was determined to become an entrepreneur and create the freedom to surf whenever I wanted.
2001
After high school I chose to study Graphic Design, but on application was told by an eccentric old man named John that I didn’t do art as a subject so they couldn’t accept me. I pleaded with him to give me a chance, so he grabbed an old teapot, put some paper and charcoal in front of me and said, “Draw.” 5 minutes later, I was accepted.
2003
Everyone else was doing their gap year in the UK, but my high school boyfriend and I chose Ireland for the surf. Crazy wild experience. Worked a lot. Drank a lot. Traveled a bit. Surfed a little. Earning euro’s was a vibe but with no idea how to manage money, we came home eight months later, home sick and broke.
2004
The increase of girls in the surf was noticeable. And they were ripping! I decided to start an all girls surf mag and show the world their skills. Four awesome issues and 12,000 copies later and I was forced to close. The big guns in the surf industry took me down. They broke my spirit and I felt like an absolute failure to the core.
2007
The loss of the magazine came first, and that changed me. I’d been dating my boyfriend for seven years now and things weren’t all rainbows and fairies anymore, so with the heaviest heart in the world, I broke up with him and fled to California to stay with my cool surfer uncle for a break from life.
2007 continued
My Uncle lived in Orange County, the OC baby. One day, he gave me the keys to his car and some fake directions and told me to go get ice-cream. Driving on the wrong side of the road, in a massive SUV, I got lost! And he did it on purpose. There was no Google Maps back then and I was so pissed at him. It was his version of tough love – I had to stop and ask people how to get to the ice-cream shop and then I had to work out how to get back home. When I got back he said to me, “So what, you didn’t die! Eat your ice-cream and chill out.” At the time I wanted to punch him, but after a while I realized he was right. I didn’t die. And I started applying that to anything that was slightly scary to me (which was a lot!). You’re not going to die.
2010
Indonesia, power of now, new bf, new crew of friends, so rad.
2013
Bschool, Danielle laporte-ian.
2014
had a baby crashed hard. led me to designing UB, launched in 2015.
2017
Kundalini yoga, matrix chick. Natalie.
2019
20 x business. Woolies. loads of opportunities, incredible people, opened my eyes to kindness of the world. going through a crisis shone a big lense on my relationship and how unhappy I really was.
2020
breakup, lockdown, loneliness, weed addiction. ESS was my saviour.
2021
mushroom journey, new life.
2022
Fell in love with my best friend. wrote a book.
2023
Qualified NEC. Heavychef woocomm talk on building a successful ecom business.
2024
Reached my goal of selling Ubuntu Baba in order to pursue full time career as NEC.