Since its 2025 publication, Laurie Woolever’s Care and Feeding was an immediate New York Times bestseller, tracing her path from small-town childhood to working with two of the most powerful men in the food business, chefs Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain. The book’s success is no surprise. Laurie doesn't sugarcoat the consequences of a life where desire has been met with opportunity in equal measure. She weaves her story deftly, capturing the essence of New York city during the golden era of the 1990s and 2000s food celebrity without downplaying the darker side of indulgence and the treatment of women in the male-dominated food industry. 

Hear Laurie alongside Good Weekend senior writer and former editor Katrina Strickland as they discuss the love language of food, living life without guardrails and learning to curb her appetites.

Since its 2025 publication, Laurie Woolever&rsquo;s Care and Feeding was an immediate New York Times bestseller, tracing her path from small-town childhood to working with two of the most powerful men in the food business, chefs Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain. The book&rsquo;s success is no surprise. Laurie doesn't sugarcoat the consequences of a life where desire has been met with opportunity in equal measure. She weaves her story deftly, capturing the essence of New York city during the golden era of the 1990s and 2000s food celebrity without downplaying the darker side of indulgence and the treatment of women in the male-dominated food industry.&nbsp;
Hear Laurie alongside Good Weekend senior writer and former editor Katrina Strickland as they discuss the love language of food, living life without guardrails and learning to curb her appetites.

An initiative of UNSW Sydney, the Centre for Ideas is a thought-provoking program of events and digital content from the globe's leading thinkers, authors and artists.

An initiative of UNSW Sydney, the Centre for Ideas is a thought-provoking program of events and digital content from the globe's leading thinkers, authors and artists.

UNSW Centre for Ideas

An initiative of UNSW Sydney, the Centre for Idea…

UNSW Centre for Ideas | All Episodes

Laurie Woolever: The gluttony of life

After 17 years at the United Nations, Janet Salem was growing frustrated with the gap between the sustainability data she was gathering, and the information businesses were using to make investment decisions. She saw an opportunity to give business’s crucial insight into their resource consumption and environmental impact to make more informed decisions, the same way food packaging provides nutritional information so that consumers can make more informed decisions. Now, she’s co-founded a start-up to help get sustainable investment a green thumbs up from the CFO.

Her journey from UNSW environmental engineering graduate to UN advisor to start-up co-founder sounds like a perfectly executed career path, but none of it was planned. On this episode of We built this thing, Janet chats with host Justine Rogers about being a first-time founder in her 40s. From getting over imposter syndrome in the tech-bro universe to the benefits of breaking the mould from the traditional ideas of what a fintech founder, UN advisor or engineer should be.

After 17 years at the United Nations, Janet Salem was growing frustrated with the gap between the sustainability data she was gathering, and the information businesses were using to make investment decisions. She saw an opportunity to give business&rsquo;s crucial insight into their resource consumption and environmental impact to make more informed decisions, the same way food packaging provides nutritional information so that consumers can make more informed decisions. Now, she&rsquo;s co-founded a start-up to help get sustainable investment a green thumbs up from the CFO.
Her journey from UNSW environmental engineering graduate to UN advisor to start-up co-founder sounds like a perfectly executed career path, but none of it was planned. On this episode of We built this thing, Janet chats with host Justine Rogers about being a first-time founder in her 40s. From getting over imposter syndrome in the tech-bro universe to the benefits of breaking the mould from the traditional ideas of what a fintech founder, UN advisor or engineer should be.

We built this thing Ep2: The competitive edge as a first-time founder in your 40s with Janet Salem

On this episode, Shannon chats about pivoting your start-up after funding failure, committing to your mission and transforming lives in the process. 

On this episode, Shannon chats about pivoting your start-up after funding failure, committing to your mission and transforming lives in the process.&nbsp;

We built this thing Ep1: When solving the water crisis comes from thin air with Shannon Lemanski

The development of AI has brought humanity to the cusp of a seismic change the likes of which has never been seen before. Workforces of the future will be dramatically different, as some jobs become obsolete and people scramble to learn new skills and ways of working. But just as this intelligence revolution has called into question the role of humans, could it be the catalyst for more purposeful leadership and smarter working? Could the very essence of being human – empathy, creativity and collaboration – become skills more important than ever as AI increasingly takes over dull, dirty, difficult and dangerous tasks? 

Join the world’s first neuro-futurist, Joel Pearson, in this masterclass exploring how AI is rapidly disrupting work, trust, relationships and our sense of certainty. He offers practical strategies for managing uncertainty, protecting our critical-thinking skills and keeping human wellbeing at the centre of the transition.

The development of AI has brought humanity to the cusp of a seismic change the likes of which has never been seen before. Workforces of the future will be dramatically different, as some jobs become obsolete and people scramble to learn new skills and ways of working. But just as this intelligence revolution has called into question the role of humans, could it be the catalyst for more purposeful leadership and smarter working? Could the very essence of being human &ndash; empathy, creativity and collaboration &ndash; become skills more important than ever as AI increasingly takes over dull, dirty, difficult and dangerous tasks?&nbsp;
Join the world&rsquo;s first neuro-futurist, Joel Pearson, in this masterclass exploring how AI is rapidly disrupting work, trust, relationships and our sense of certainty. He offers practical strategies for managing uncertainty, protecting our critical-thinking skills and keeping human wellbeing at the centre of the transition.

Laurie Woolever: The gluttony of life

In 1 playlist(s)

UNSW Centre for Ideas

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips