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ABOUT LISA FORRESTCHIEF LIFE OFFICER, EVERMIND

LISA FORREST IS AN AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIAN, BROADCASTER, AUTHOR, ACTOR, WIFE AND MOTHER.

 

Swimming taught Lisa how to perform in high stress situations. By the time she turned 18, Lisa had been winning medals for Australia on the international stage for four years. She captained the Australian women’s swim team at the 1980 Olympics, a role that saw this Sydney teenager campaigning to defeat Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser’s plan to boycott the Moscow Games.

If that wasn’t enough, recent qualifications from the Life Coaching Academy of Australia and the Mindfulness Training Institute of Australasia have added to her understanding of the lessons her remarkable life have taught her. But it is Lisa’s work ‘in the field’ that has earned her the title of Chief Life Officer, CLO, at EVERMIND.

Lisa’s career since the pool has been driven by curiosity and challenge. First, she pioneered a path for sportswomen into broadcasting in Australia. At the age of 22, Lisa became the first woman to anchor a national sports program: Saturday Afternoon Football on ABCTV in 1986. Later, she hosted both radio and television programs on a range of topics well beyond sport.

In the early 1990s Lisa set her media career aside to move to New York to study acting with the renowned teacher, Uta Hagen. On returning home she worked as an actor in television and on the stage as well as once again hosting shows on ABC radio. She also turned her hand to writing, and is the author of four novels and a memoir of the Moscow campaign, Boycott.

Becoming a wife and mother has given Lisa fresh insight into the subtle and shifting meanings of a concept that has been key to her life: resilience. It was the need to learn more about resilience that inspired Lisa’s recent studies in life coaching and mindfulness.

Resilience is not just ‘toughing it out’; that’s a cause for attitudes of unforgiving brittleness in this fast-changing world. Instead, Lisa believes resilience is about suppleness, flexibility and being able – after times of intense stress – to come back into shape. True resilience can only be cultivated with forgiveness, trust and compassion.

Lisa is dedicated to pursuing this insight as she works with both individuals and teams at EVERMIND.

LIFE HIGHLIGHTS:

  • 1972 First race at the Dee Why Ladies Amateur Swimming Club, Sydney, Australia
  • 1974 First NSW State Record U/10 100BK
  • 1976 First National Title U/12 200BF
  • 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games, Canada. Silver, 200m Backstroke
  • 1980 Women’s captain Australian swim team Moscow Olympic Games 7th 200BK
  • 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games, Australia. Gold 100&200 BK
  • 1983 NCAA (swimming for University of Florida) Silver 200 BK
  • 1984 Journalist/Commentator ATN Channel 7 Sport
  • 1986 Journalist/Commentator /Anchor ABCTV
  • 1987-1989 Roving reporter Midday Show with Ray Martin
  • 1990-1993 Studied acting in NY - also returning home to host Everybody (ABCTV), fill-in host of Evening Show feat the Radio Quiz, ABC Radio 702 and commentate/anchor 1992 Barcelona Games ATN Channel 7
  • 1994-95 Host Evening Show featuring the Radio Quiz ABC Radio 702
  • 1996-97 Medivac Channel 10 TV drama - part of Marina in ensemble cast
  • 1998-99 Regular FCTV Channel 10, regular fill-in host Breakfast on ABC Radio 702
  • 1999 Married Jesse Todd
  • 2000 Making the Most of it (novel) published (published as Bestzeit in Germany)
  • 2001-05 Host A Current of Air Qantas in-flight audio
  • 2002 DJ Max (novel) published
  • 2003 son, Dexter Todd arrives
  • 2004 Meg Banana and the Mysterious Umbrella (novel) published
  • 2004 present: teach creative writing to students from Year 5-12
  • 2008 Boycott - Australia's controversial Road to the Moscow Olymbics published
  • 2012 Anchor Foxtel's coverage London Olymbic Games
  • 2013 Inheritance (novel) published
  • 2013-2015 Coaching/MBSR - both study and working with clients
  • 2016 Launch EVERMIND