What could be simpler than designing a handbag? Any six year-old with a few felt pens could do it. But designing the perfect boardroom handbag that doubles as a backpack, using the finest leather, made by the best craftsmen that catches the eye of the world’s fashion media? Ahhhh, now that takes creativity, innovation and one determined Kiwi, as it turns out.

To understand how Jacqui Gilbert operates, you only have to listen to her reason for leaving Telecom in her 20’s. “It didn’t capture my imagination and I love working for things that make me dream.” She finishes this sentence with what sounds like a self-conscious laugh but it doesn’t sound silly to me and it explains a life lived with passion and curiosity.

A Wellingtonian, who majored in psychology and political science at Canterbury University, Jacqui worked for a few years but “I’d always wanted to do an MBA somewhere because I really wanted to have the chance to see how I stood against the rest of the world.” She was drawn to Cambridge in England because...you guessed it, “I loved the innovation and the history.” That was 2013 when she was 31.

Seasonal change can often be a reminder to check in with ourselves and those around us. So, it’s fitting that our Wellbeing for the Change of Season event on the Autumnal Equinox was an evening of conversation and connection at Tanya’s in Chelsea.

The key message from the evening was that checking in with our whole selves is so important and often not done frequently enough. Pausing and reflecting is for everyone, whether you are the type of person who only downloaded the meditation app because you’d heard it would help you relax, or you’re a life-long yogi.

NZBWN’s very own Bronwen Horton opened by sharing her top tip for surviving and thriving in the London winter; make it a priority to get winter sun.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*CK

A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

By Mark Manson

Review by Siobhan O’Brien

This is a marmite self-help guide book - you either love it or hate it – but you’ll remember it. It aims to cut through the crap to show us how to decide what really matters to us and find the golden ticket to success and happiness – the Good Life. To define what we truly give a f*ck about, it shows us how to define our top most important life cares. 

This book is an antidote to the mollycoddling chirpy peep-talk often promoted in positive thinking self-improvement reads, and ruffles feathers by saying the opposite - suck it up and sort it out. Written by a male superstar blogger who backs his argument through his own personal development, this book presents his take on the standard, self-help sanguine theories.

It’s a heavy hitting, joke packed, story backed, research supported, no-nonsense book that punctuates every weighty point with heavy swearing. It cuts through foggy thinking to focus on what our main blockages are, to force us to – define our fears, take responsibility, acknowledge our uncertainty, accept our failures, define our rejections and face our mortality.