Every week Brazen will shine a spotlight on someone by asking them a set of questions.

Those questions are

1) What are 3 things people don’t know about you?

2) How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

3) If you had to start your adult life over again, what would you change?

4) What’s the single best thing that has ever happened to you?

5) What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

This week our Brazen spotlight is on Zoë Hawkins.

1) What are 3 things people don’t know about you?

A. I have a degree in French and German. I started teaching myself foreign languages at the age of seven as I was fascinated by the idea of being able to communicate with everyone in the world.

B. I have 39 first cousins. My mum and dad have seven and nine siblings respectively, so I come from a big brood. I think my enjoyment of creating social clubs and tribes stems from coming from a very large family.

C. I’ve been a tap dancer for seven years. Last year, I added ballet to my dance repertoire and performed in my first ballet recital in front of a live audience.

2) How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

As a type 1 diabetic, I work to a pretty specific schedule of injections, medications and exercise. This is enough to get me out of bed in the mornings and getting to the gym. I have lazy days, but I know if I want to keep healthy and sane, I’m better off sticking to my plans.

3) If you had to start my adult life over again, what would you change?

I would eliminate magazines from my life. When I look back, magazines were responsible for a great deal of misinformation and teenage angst, and set me up for a lifetime of underachieving, overspending and insecurity. Nobody can possibly look like that or afford all of that! 

4) What’s the single best thing that ever happened to you?

I met my husband when I was 22. I was a London girl, (living in a lonely world) and he was a small-town boy from Tawa, New Zealand. I never had any intention of living a life Down Under but after we married, I followed him home. Emigrating has its pitfalls, but I have had many amazing experiences and met some of my best friends here in New Zealand. I also birthed two new Kiwis to add to the population. 

5) What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

I’m now working as a yoga teacher. If I weren’t afraid of ploughing millions into a business, I would build a studio, so I had my own space for me and my friends to run classes. I would add a cafe onto it, maybe a bookstore, a massage room, a hairdressers. A one-stop shop for yogis to chill out.