The Secrets of My Success: The Story of Boost Juice, Juicy Bits and All

Chapter 2

Smoothly settling down (not!)

Back in Australia after my travels, and feeling like a failure, it seemed the party was well and truly over. Finding a secure job and supporting my son was now my biggest priority, even if I had to finesse my CV a little to come up with relevant skills. Sink or swim? I swam like crazy. Working hard and raising my son, I didn’t have much time for love — until a well-meaning friend took up the matchmaker role and introduced me to Jeff.

Not only did we fall in love, but Jeff also unlocked the entrepreneurial spirit within me.

No sex, drugs or rock ’n’ roll

During my time on David Bowie’s boat, I met a film producer named David Puttnam (referred to now as Lord David Puttnam, one of the many films he produced was Chariots of Fire). At the time he was a director on the board of Village Roadshow. He told me that he knew Graham Burke at Village and that if I ever needed a job to contact him and he would set up an interview with Graham. Little did I know that Mr Burke was the CEO!

Regardless, I did get an interview with Graham and he was delightful — and I found myself with a job as a junior manager at Village Cinemas Knox City, not far from where I grew up. At the time, it did not occur to me to question why on earth they hired me as a manager — I obviously had no management experience. I did think it was strange that they didn’t read my beautifully presented CV, or notice that I may have exaggerated the emphasis on my ‘leadership’ skills. I took ...