Carolynne Wilson

For much of my career, I kept taking the next best job, until I eventually realised I could choose a path of my own making.

I had spent decades leading and partnering on complex reforms across government, nonprofit, and corporate sectors, helped shift conversations, drive national strategies, and create clarity through ambiguity. My work spanned co-designing closing the gap plans with Indigenous communities, major infrastructure reforms, and organisational change in multinational companies.

Getting into university in my thirties, after leaving school in Year 10, wasn’t celebrated. One professor told me, “There’s no point—you won’t finish.” For a moment, I believed him. Academia felt like a foreign language. But I kept going, through late nights and self-doubt, and earned an MBA and a Master of Community and International Development. Those degrees proved that systems don’t always recognise potential; sometimes you have to bet on yourself.

Then something shifted. I wanted a life with more colour, flavour, and freedom. With no culinary background but a love for pastry, I enrolled in a French cooking course in the South of France. It was humbling, hilarious, and transformative. I was the least experienced student, but I didn’t quit, despite tears, and after three intense months, I nailed a perfect soufflé and earned a chef’s compliment I’ll never forget.

Today, I’m an author and creative entrepreneur, blending lessons from boardrooms and kitchens into stories that feed the mind and soul. Whether exploring dystopian futures or caramelising onions, I’m living proof it’s never too late to reinvent yourself.<