Q&A with Emilie De Rosenroll, Forty Under 40 Winner 2020; CEO, South Island Prosperity Partnership, Age 38
Who or what is responsible for your work ethic?
Working on what makes you excited: when you are having fun, you aren’t punching your timecard.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Absolutely anything from Pâtisserie Daniel on Cook Street in Victoria.
What is the best book you would recommend?
A magic realism classic: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Ga rcía Márquez.
Now that you’re entering your 40s, what goals have you set for yourself?
To paraphrase Jack Ma: you should scale up in your 40s what you build the foundation for in your 30s.
Choose one of these five childhood career dreams: rock star, star athlete, prime minister, astronaut, detective.
All seemed fairly viable at that stage of my life. But missing: food taster and shark-catcher.
Name your happiest place.
Disco dance parties with two little monkeys (aka my daughters).
What was your toughest business or professional decision?
Moving to Victoria five years ago (with a hubby and newborn) and starting a new career from scratch.
Advice you would give your 20-year-old self?
Not to worry about all the things you can’t control (and that’s most stuff).
What is your best habit?
Following curiosity and wanting to get things done.
Tell us one improbable fact about yourself.
I’ve lived in 16 places and speak three languages.
Best piece of advice ever received?
Albert Einstein said, “Try not to become a person of success. Rather, become a person of value.”
What career highlight are you most proud of?
Usually it’s in recent memory.
