At 15, I wanted to be a geologist.By 16, my passion had been stolen by a love of writing - from Patrick White to Shakespeare, and from John Donne to Les Murray, I was hooked. I wanted to be an author/poet.At 17, I discovered songwriting and its power to affect and transform. Dylan was the benchmark. I wanted to do what he did.When career-choice time came a year or two later, it was literature or music. Or both.I chose both.While training to become a high school English teacher, I wrote a local history thesis that won an award. By the end, I also was fortunate enough to win the Huldah Turner Award for Most Outstanding Final Year Student.Spending a few years teaching, eventually specialising in Year 12 English, was incredibly rewarding. After leaving a tempting academic future in my late twenties, I decided it was time to pursue a career in the music industry, though not as a musician.Not being blessed with any real musical talent, I was irresistibly drawn to the idea of recording and producing the artistic work of others. I opened a recording studio and quickly became booked out by local and national musicians to record/produce their songs. The Eastern Acoustic Recording Studio (EARS - I know) was born. It was a wild and wonderful time.The many musicians I spoke to during the recording sessions often spoke about being 'ripped off' by local booking agents who ran operations with questionable services and little transparency.So, a booking agency began with the (somewhat ambitiously arrogant) aim of 'professionalising' the local music industry. EAO Entertainment was born. We introduced proper worksheets for artists, invested in promoting the artists and venues we represented and got artists paid directly, not via their agent. EAO Entertainment continues today, having won over a dozen state and national entertainment agency awards.Newcastle Live, a multi-platform digital publication, came a few years later. Newcastle Live has grown beyond my hopes. With 150,000 subscribers and its content being seen by over 3 million sets of eyes and ears every month, Newcastle Live has become a serious force and not just as a way to promote amazing entertainment but also provide an audience for great businesses and events. Newcastle Live has become the #1 media and lifestyle brand in the Hunter.Music, marketing, media, genius creatives, making a difference.These are the things that inspire me and I am fortunate enough to work with some truly gifted humans.Sorry for the long read. If you made it this far, thank you.