It was such a pleasure to chat with the oh so divine Luke Hines, personal trainer, best-selling cook book author and motivator! Luke is such an easy person to talk to, incredibly humble and completely self-made. I've always wanted to chat to Luke about his life and learn more about his upbringing and the hurdles he has jumped over to get where he is and there has been a few...

Luke felt like a square peg in a round hole going to a sports-centric all boys school where being into drama, theatre and debating weren't really top of the most popular kid list. I was also surprised to learn that Luke struggled with his own self-esteem and weight issues as a kid and found comfort in eating potato cakes - several a day! He was also a trouble maker at school trying to gain attention in order to fit in, but really he was the butt of the jokes at school and often was bullied. 

It was funny to share a few laughs with Luke as we chatted about how we had actually met and performed in a stage play together in our teenage years and later followed a similar path with a love of drama and theatre and then later falling into food and media. 

Luke followed his passion for acting and drama when he finished high school and got accepted into Ballarat Academy of Performing Arts, where finally he started to feel like himself and felt comfortable enough to be himself and come out as it was the first time being gay was accepted in his social group and community. After his degree Luke travelled the world acting and performing around the world and has a successful acting and performing career. However there was a turning point in his career where Luke didn't want to play a character anymore and instead wanted to be himself. 

As fitness and food had played such a major part of his life, he wanted to work on becoming a serious personal trainer, so left his hometown of Melbourne and moved to Bondi, broke but hungry to gain new clients and a following which he soon did. He knocked on a lot of doors, handed out flyers and worked hard. But television and presenting was always at the back of his mind and saw an opportunity when auditions from My Kitchen Rules opened, he went for it and got on the show - and the rest is history...but not without the hustle! 

After MKR Luke went onto work with Pete Evans and found personal mentors in the media industry for him to learn from and he also started growing his own personal brand, publishing cookbooks as well as later launching Luke Hines 10 - Meals, Mindset and Moves online program. 

It is so great to see Luke do so well and it was an absolute pleasure chatting to and learning about his life and I can not wait to see what Luke gets up to next! 

To learn more about Luke's cookbooks, including his latest Guilt Free Snacks and Luke Hines 10 online program visit: https://lukehines10.com 

Follow Luke on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukehinesonline 

Follow Dani on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danivenn 

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