Living Between Fashion and Epilepsy

Thomas Mezger never planned on becoming a model. For much of his early life, his focus was on sport, education, and managing a body that often felt unpredictable. Modelling entered his world almost by accident in his late teens, when a photographer invited him into a studio for a test shoot. He agreed with little expectation, and from that moment doors began to open. At the same time, Thomas was learning how to live and work with epilepsy in an industry defined by image, pressure, and perfection.

Born in Sydney, Thomas left Australia at the age of three when his father accepted a job in Singapore. His childhood unfolded across international schools in Singapore and Hong Kong, shaped largely by American-based education systems. That upbringing exposed him to multiple cultures and languages and strongly influenced how he communicates and connects with others. His accent shifts depending on who he is with, reflecting a life spent adapting to different environments. He speaks Mandarin, some Spanish, and German, and language has long been a bridge for understanding people quickly and intuitively.

Over the years, Thomas has worked with brands such as Calvin Klein, Givenchy, Karl Lagerfeld, Venroy, and David Jones, walked Australian Fashion Week, and appeared in international runway shows, including one in his hometown of Hong Kong. A modelling career spanning around fifteen years is rare, particularly in Australia. He attributes that longevity to determination, resilience, and his ability to build rapport. In a highly competitive global industry, he believes connection and trust are just as important as appearance.

Behind the scenes, Thomas’s life has always been shaped by epilepsy. At eighteen months old, he was diagnosed with meningitis and meningococcal disease and nearly lost his life. A few years later, he began experiencing seizures. During childhood, medication allowed him to live relatively normally, but everything shifted during adolescence as his body changed and treatments stopped working. Doctors entered years of trial and error, and school became increasingly difficult. Stress could trigger seizures, and seizures brought memory loss, exhaustion, and confusion. Isolation followed, along with a sense of being misunderstood by those who could not see what he was dealing with.

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Rozz Switzer: Three Decades of Connection on Television

Building a career in television was never something that happened overnight for Rozz. It began in high school in Brisbane, when her mother enrolled her in a June Dally-Watkins deportment course during the school holidays. What started as lessons in etiquette quickly opened the door to modelling, performance, and an industry Rozz immediately felt drawn to. Learning how to walk, be photographed, and attend auditions sparked an early ambition that would shape the next three decades of her life.

Rozz went on to study at a Centre of Artistic Development, focusing on music, dance, and drama, while simultaneously working in commercials and modelling roles for brands such as Speedo and Japanese catalogues. After finishing school, she attended university and completed a degree in education with a focus on drama, film, and television, following her parents’ advice to secure a reliable fallback career. During this time, she also picked up acting roles in Australian soap operas filmed on the Gold Coast, gaining valuable experience on professional sets.

Despite those opportunities, Rozz quickly realised acting was not where she felt most comfortable. The instability of the work and the heavy emphasis on appearance did not align with her long-term goals. That clarity arrived just as she auditioned for an Ab Roller advertorial filmed alongside Bert Newton. Securing that role became a turning point, with regular flights between Brisbane and Sydney to record multiple advertisements in a single day. It was here that Rozz found her niche in direct response television

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A Celebration of Christmas and Culture.

Podcasters Mary #01 - Dani #10 - Scott #16 - Adriana #20 celebrate Christmas 2025.

Our panel of podcasters share how they celebrate Christmas and how their personal cultural upbringing has shaped the way we celebrate Christmas today.

The anthem 'i am Australian' original by The Seekers, resonates in this dialogue as to how Australia is a blend of many cultures and how fortunate we are to have these influences blending to form our own 'Äustralian' version of the 'Christmas Cracker'.

Wishing Everyone a very Safe and Merry Christmas 2025 and a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year.

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Evolving Design, Community and Circular Thinking with Architect Bill Dowzer

Sitting down with Bill Dowzer offered a rare chance to follow a career that has stretched from the abattoir plains of Homebush to the dense streets of Manhattan.

What struck me first was the ease with which he moved through each chapter of his life, describing his early days placing barrels on a future Olympic boulevard, then shifting seamlessly into interior design, workplace strategy, public buildings and global practice leadership. His account of BVN reaching its hundred-year milestone highlighted how a firm survives by constantly reshaping itself and nurturing a culture where good design and good people are inseparable.

Hearing how his career began in the 1990s with the Sydney Olympics revealed the scale he was exposed to from the very start. The stadium, the tennis centre and the entire master plan formed the backdrop to his early professional education. Yet he shifted later into projects like the MLC Campus, which challenged workplace conventions and explored how personality and user experience can transform daily life. As he explained the shift from cubicles to environments that uplift wellbeing, it became clear that his view of design has always been about people, not just buildings.

His years in New York brought a completely different perspective.

Running BVN’s small studio inside WeWork’s headquarters forced him to rethink what a practice could be. The pandemic then flipped everything on its head. With no work and a city boarded up in fear after the death of George Floyd, Bill and his team found themselves walking together each day, noticing piles of plywood destined for landfill.

That simple observation sparked rePly Furniture, built on reclaiming discarded material and turning it into outdoor dining structures so restaurants could operate on the street.

Listening to him describe collecting plywood in a U-Haul, storing it up three flights of stairs and building prototypes in the West Village made the venture feel audacious, scrappy and profoundly human.

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Randa Habelrih’s Mission to Bring Visibility, Confidence and Inclusion to the Disability Community

Randa Habelrih’s work in the disability space began with her son Richard. From the early years, she saw how a child could be dismissed, misunderstood and excluded long before anyone took the time to listen. Before Richard’s autism diagnosis, her concerns were brushed aside, and after the diagnosis she was told to expect very little from him. What stayed constant was a system focused on deficits rather than strengths, reflected in repeated school rejections and the bullying Richard endured from children and adults.

Australia’s disability education laws promise access, but Randa realised how rarely those promises translate into practice. Teachers were overwhelmed, under-resourced and under-trained, leaving families like hers battling for support that should have been automatic. Today, many parents still come to her with the same struggles—schools declining enrolments, withholding support or making children feel unwelcome in environments meant for them.

These realities shaped the foundation of Autism Mates. Randa wanted families to have a community where they could learn, connect and feel supported. The organisation began with parent groups, school education initiatives and social events to give young people a place where they belonged. But as Richard finished school, another gap became impossible to ignore: despite his abilities and interests, there was no pathway for him. She also saw how absent people with disabilities were from the media, despite representing a significant part of the population.

From that need came Model Mates. Randa wanted young people with disabilities to be seen on a platform that commanded attention, and fashion provided that stage. Their first runway event at Castle Towers revealed how powerful simple visibility could be. With basic styling and a single practice session, participants stood taller and radiated confidence because they were valued and treated with respect.

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Martine Vanderspuy spent much of her early life living abroad before settling in Australia, where she finished school in Woonona and went on to study graphic design. Her creative career began in advertising in Canada and Australia, eventually leading her to establish her own award-winning design agency.

In 2015 she opened Martine Gallery, a space that became both an artistic home and a platform for raising awareness of mitochondrial disease.

Her dedication to this cause is deeply personal. Martine’s youngest son, Tom, was born with mitochondrial disease, a condition that deprives the body’s cells of energy and can lead to organ failure.

When he was diagnosed at just two years old, doctors did not expect him to survive. Over the years he underwent more than fifty operations, yet he grew into a healthy young man who has consistently overcome the odds.

At four years old, the condition began affecting Tom’s eyes. Tests revealed he had only ten percent retinal function remaining, and Martine was told that blindness was inevitable.

Refusing to accept that no solution existed, she began researching relentlessly, contacting researchers across the world from Russia to America and even NASA.

Her search led her to studies showing the benefits of LED therapy on mice with similar retinal degeneration. With that knowledge, she raised funds to build a custom LED light bed with 2,500 diodes across five spectrums. Tom used it daily for two years, and follow-up tests revealed ninety-eight percent retinal function.

The improvement astonished everyone involved.

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Designing Spaces That Shape a Better Life

In discussing Conscious Home Design, Talor offers a perspective that expands far beyond materials or trends. People often assume the concept is tied to sustainability, yet Talor’s work centers on crafting environments that support daily habits, personal goals and meaningful relationships. His approach applies to any type of home, regardless of size, age or architectural style. What matters to him is how well a space aligns with the way someone actually lives.

A guiding influence for Talor is the long-running Harvard study on adult happiness, which shows that relationships are the strongest predictors of wellbeing. This research inspires him to consider how architecture can foster stronger connections—whether with other people, with oneself or with nature. Over the years, he has identified three categories of relationships: reciprocal, receiving and giving. These relationships shift through different life stages, but Talor aims to design homes that create opportunities for all three to thrive.

The pandemic highlighted the importance of this approach. As people spent more time at home, many discovered that their spaces failed to support working, resting or connecting. Some lacked functional offices, others struggled with noise and privacy, and many families felt the strain of inadequate layouts. Talor watched this pressure spark a major building boom, a reminder of how deeply our environments influence our wellbeing.

He often guides clients through home changes that reflect shifting phases of life—growing families, empty nests or evolving careers. With remote work now widespread, Talor emphasises that home offices must function effectively, offering professionalism, privacy and thoughtful backdrops for video communication. He understands how a simple design choice can impact confidence and relationships in subtle but powerful ways.

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Taking Control of Financial Wellbeing with Jock Evans of the Rivkin Group

Speaking with Jock Evans from the Rivkin Group reinforced how closely our sense of security is tied to financial understanding. His calm, practical approach to planning made it clear that financial advice isn’t reserved for the wealthy—it’s a tool for anyone who wants to feel in control today and confident about tomorrow.

Jock began his career in accounting before realising that he wanted to help people look forward, not backward. That desire to create progress led him into financial planning, where he found the most satisfaction in working directly with people—hearing their stories, understanding their challenges, and finding ways to make their goals achievable.

He described a financial planner as part coach, part strategist—someone who bridges the worlds of accounting, law, and investment management to help clients make informed decisions. Every client, he explained, is different. Some are building wealth for future generations, others are ensuring they have enough to retire comfortably. His role is to listen first, then create strategies that fit each person’s reality.

One of the misconceptions Jock often encounters is that financial advice is expensive or unnecessary unless you have substantial assets. He explained that most firms, including Rivkin, offer an initial consultation at no cost or obligation. It’s simply an opportunity to talk, assess your current position, and see whether there’s value to be gained. Sometimes clients discover they’re already on track; other times, a few small adjustments make a significant difference.

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