The secret to business success: combine your passions and love the freedom
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Bondy Karen Ridge experienced a rough patch in life a few years back and lost a lot of confidence. But the 2001 Telstra Business Woman of the Year finalist picked herself up, dusted herself off and launched her latest venture, a business that combines her three passions of food, wine and travel. She says her Bond education taught her never to give up. “I remember failing my first ever exam at Bond and thinking my life was over, but the sun came up the next day, I studied harder and got the job done,” she said. Today, ‘work’ for Ridge is walking the colourful markets of Barcelona or enjoying a five-course lunch, prepared by a private chef in her Loire Valley apartment.
I knew I had to
start my own business because I was a shocking employee. I love the freedom that having my own business gives me. If you can imagine Gourmet Traveller magazine in real life, that is what we do. The articles you read where a reporter has done a cooking week in Tuscany, a weekend of wine in Burgundy, a gourmet adventure in Provence … that’s what we do. Some of my stand-out moments include eating freshly caught, grilled lobster on a deserted beach on an island in the Pacific, degustation dinner in a medieval castle in Champagne, and sipping Cava while enjoying a spread of Spain’s finest jambon in a private cellar in Penedes. My work is a combination of everything I love; food, wine and travel. It’s easy to be excited about what I do and it makes people happy.
A practical education I was one of the first students at Bond – I’m a 1990 Alumnus – and I studied a Bachelor of Communication, majoring in Management and Hospitality. Bond taught me that teamwork and communication are really important in business, as is having a clear vision of what you want to achieve.