It's a Long Story

Tina Tchen doesn't remember the first time she met the Obamas. But what she does remember is the ground-breaking policies that she worked on with both Barack and Michelle during their time in the White House. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Tina has forged a top-notch career as a lawyer, activist and advocate, and has been focused on gender equity issues for over three decades, while raising two kids as a single mother. After #metoo she set up the legal defence fund for the group Time's Up, which to date has raised over $24 million dollars to support the legal cases of women who have been harassed at work.  She is a powerhouse, and she knows how to get things done.

This episode is part of a six-part ‘It’s A Long Story’ series featuring alumni from our All About Women festival. All About Women returns to Sydney Opera House on 8 March 2020.

In this special episode of It’s a Long Story, host and ANTIDOTE festival curator Edwina Throsby is interviewed by Sydney Morning Herald Editor Lisa Davies about the 2019 festival.

Discover the lineup here: https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/festivals/antidote.html

Adam Liaw understands how Australian families eat. Emigrating to South Australia from Malaysia in the 1980s his childhood was a delicious mix of international cuisines. Adam’s precocious smarts fast-tracked his academic career, and landed him at law school well ahead of schedule. Moving to Japan in his twenties to work at Disney Asia, he was settling into Japanese culture. But everything changed when he applied on a whim for the second season of Masterchef Australia. Ten years, six books and one snow egg later, he now hosts award-winning SBS television series Destination Flavour. His columns and recipes provide a thoughtful culinary perspective and a solid knowledge of what you should put on the table tonight.

Watch Adam with Yotam Ottolenghi

When Liz Jackson woke up one morning back in 2012 unable to feel her legs, her life radically changed direction. Diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease, Liz left her successful career in television to become a designer and activist, devoted to improving design for disabled people across the world. Her blog, The Girl with the Purple Cane, and her organisation The Disabled List, brings the unique insights and skills of disabled people and designers into the broader design conversation.

Show notes:

Watch Liz at ANTIDOTE 2018

Listen to her talk 'The Original Lifehackers'

It’s hard to remember what we used to cook before Yotam Ottolenghi burst into our culinary consciousness. His brand of colourful, vegetable-based food has transformed kitchens and tables the world over. Born in Jerusalem, Yotam was set to pursue an academic career after completing a master’s degree in comparative literature. However at age 30 he decided to move to London to become a chef, and his future was rewritten. His London restaurants have become cult destinations, his cookbooks are on everyone’s shelves, he’s a TV host, he’s one of the world’s most famous gay dads, and he’s one of the loveliest people you’re likely to meet.

Show notes:

Watch Yotam Ottolenghi in conversation with Adam Liaw 
Listen to his 2014 conversation with Joanna Savill
5 things you don't know about Ottolenghi
Win flights to London to visit his restaurant Nopi

As a hugely successful journalist and writer, and the founder of the international diet and lifestyle empire I Quit Sugar, Sarah Wilson might seem like the poster girl for perfect health. Yet anxiety and bipolar disorder have been with her throughout her life and career. Growing up in rural Australia in a big, poor family, she has always been driven to overachieve, editing national magazines, hosting the first season of Masterchef, writing a series of bestselling cookbooks, and amassing a small army of online followers. In her book First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, Sarah gives an unflinchingly honest account of her struggles with mental illness, and how anxiety doesn’t have to be a negative force in your life.

Walking through Kew Gardens in London with his family was formative for polymath, writer and tree-lover Jonathan Drori. With a career bridging engineering and broadcasting, he was part of the trailblazing team which created the very first iteration of BBC online, surfed the crest of the dotcom boom, and created a whole lot of very good BBC television programs. Yet the pull of the natural world held strong, and his book, Around the World in 80 Trees, explores the unique relationship of human beings with the trees that surround us, and the ways trees are tipping us off to the health of our societies and our planet.

Show notes:

Watch Jonathan Drori in Three Ways to Save the World

What Lisa-Ann Gershwin does not know about jellyfish probably doesn’t count, and no one gets quite as excited about gelatinous medusas as she does. Raised in California by hippie parents, her undiagnosed Asperger’s syndrome marked her an outsider during childhood. It wasn’t until she fell in love with marine biology that she started to find her way. Now an internationally recognised scientist, researcher and author, she has personally discovered 200 species of jellyfish and counting. And despite a life that hasn’t always been easy, Lisa-Ann remains one of the most infectiously joyful people you’re ever likely to hear.

Show notes:

Listen to Lisa-Ann's talk at ANTIDOTE

Kevin McCloud had a childhood where everything was built from scratch, and his home was more like a workshop. So it’s no surprise that the built world eventually became the focus of his life and work. Yet in his earlier years Kevin wore many different hats, from working in an Italian vineyard, studying music, designing sets for the Cambridge theatre troupe the Footlights, owning a lighting design shop and designing the famous ceiling of the Harrods Food Hall in London. While this eclectic mix of experience may have been enough for some, Kevin’s best known as the host of the British lifestyle program Grand Designs. A champion for social housing and sustainable development, he continues to explore ways that architecture can benefit our lives.

Show notes:

Watch Kevin McCloud at Sydney Opera House

Watch our Opera House Grand Designs mini episode

When the war in Syria was tearing apart their home city of Homs, architect Marwa Al-Sabouni and her husband made the decision to stay there with their two young children, rather than to become refugees. In her memoir, The Battle for Home, she writes about the experience of continuing daily life in a battle zone, and of the importance of architecture in determining the fates of cities. Marwa’s work now is concerned with the impact of conflict on urban environments, and the possibilities that can emerge from rebuilding. She believes architecture can play an essential role in strengthening communities, and in healing her country.

Show notes:

Marwa's talk at ANTIDOTE