Usually in an intro I would sum up as best possible the before, the now and the soon to be, but I think with Teresa Palmer you should definitely Google her. After you’ve read this of course. I mean, it’s really hard to summarise a woman like her. In fact, it should be illegal to even think of Teresa Palmer in small paragraphs. I am unashamedly slightly in love with her, truth be told, and not for the reasons you might think.  The woman is a star and not of the Hollywood variety. Well, let me correct myself, yes, she is a famous Hollywood star, something that most of you know (she’s currently in Australia filming “Ride Like A Girl," the remarkable true story of Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup along which she stars with Sam Neil and is directed by Rachel Griffith) but that is not what makes Teresa Palmer’s star shine bright.

You see, she is one of us, or one of our friends, or the person we go to that really listens and gives grounding, considered advice. She is the one with oceans of empathy; the one that smiles and says it will be okay. When we arrived to do the shoot, her husband Mark Webber was back in LA working on the pilot for the TV series of LA Confidential (they FaceTimed later and he met the whole crew) and she was doing the mum thing solo. Her mother Paula, who is the sweetest woman you could meet, had volunteered to come along for the day to help out.  A brave move indeed.  If you have ever been on a shoot where both the mother and the kids are all being photographed, you will know it can be…well, hectic. She’s a busy woman, but here Teresa was; with no nanny, no babysitter, no assistant, no partner to lend a helping hand.  Just her capable, unflappable and happy self.

Through fittings, hair and makeup, packing snacks, feeding Forest, putting him to sleep, cuddling and singing with Bodhi, she is non-stop chatting about life. We talk about educational choices for our children. The dream of sending them to the Green School and joining forces to get one up and running it here in Australia. We talk about working in the digital space and creating meaningful and purposeful content. We share inspirational stories of the women we have met and places we want our children to see. We talk about tree houses and fisherman shacks and living the dream life with our feet in the sand. Our conversation runs the gamut from attending the Oscars to our favourite Marvel superhero and all the while she is completely giving to her children and everyone around her. A precursor for the rest of the day to come.