WOMEN

Alison (Ali) Mau was born in Melbourne in 1965. She strove to be a journalist and landed her first professional job at the age of 18 as a reporter with The Warracknabeal Herald in Northwestern Victoria.

In 1984 she was hired by the The Melbourne Herald (now known as The Herald-Sun). Here, Mau did the police rounds, covered state politics, general news, wrote features, and delved into several TV reviews.

London called in 1990, where she found a job writing scripts for a business programme. This saw her being signed up as the European correspondent for CTS Taiwan during the first Gulf War.

From here she moved to become one of the first producer / presenters of the World Business Report for the then new BBC World satellite network.

In 1992 Mau briefly returned to Australia working for Channel 9. However, a mere year later New Zealand beckoned and she soon found a position on TVNZ working on Newsnight.

Over the years she was also seen on One News, Late News, Breakfast, and Home Front. Late last year she made a new job shift joining the Holmes show on Prime TV.

Mau is married to Simon Dallow (also seen on TVNZ) and they have two children; Paris (7) and Joel aged (4).

What do you say you do for a living?
Journalist

What do you wish you had invented? 
no-fail, non-addictive, no-side-effects weight loss potion. I’d be a billionaire!

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My awesome little family.

Who do you admire most?
Parents who bust their guts to give their disabled or sick children great lives.

What music do you like?
Too eclectic to pinpoint but here goes.. Missy Higgins, Muttonbirds, Eminem, early Elton John, Dire Straits, Adeaze...

Favourite movie of all time?
An inseparable tie between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the Gene Wilder version of course) and The Wizard of Oz. Both were wonderful books too.

What book do you casually put on your coffee table to impress visitors?
Icons Nga Taonga: From the Collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The name’s unwieldy but it’s a beautiful book and yes, I do look through it often myself!

Your favourite sport to watch?
Rugby

What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?
Piloting an (unarmed!) jet fighter.

What would you attempt if everything you did failed?
Failure doesn’t bother me at all. I’d get on with the next thing on my “to do” list.

What would you have as a last meal?
I hope to be in excess of 90 (years old) when I have to think about that, so probably porridge or stewed fruit!

What are the best pieces of advice you were given and try to live by?
You can do anything with a positive attitude and the right preparation. Be careful of other people’s feelings. Generosity is important. And don’t let your kids run amok when they’re little, ‘cause you’ll pay for it later.

What have you learned about men?
Feel free to have a conversation with them while the rugby’s on but don’t expect any eye contact.
 

Farewell Farrah Fawcett

WOMEN: Jane Yee