Breakfast was served and I found myself sipping green tea, bleary eyed in the company of stylish members of the League of Extraordinary Women.  Sara Leonardi-McGrath was in the room and we were all high from the inspiration and creativity.

Growing up in Latin America, Italy and the US, Sara’s story starts as a little girl growing up in an entrepreneurial family, “It was exciting as a teenager to sit by the bar and wait for Dad to finish up”, she said.

That is also where she met an eccentric gay man who worked for her family would make a big impact on her life.  He gifted her a book on the secret art of manifesting, “a powerful how-to guide on manifestation.”

After completing a business degree in Rome, she landed a job working with one of the most influential real estate business women in Florida.

She realised the devil doesn’t wear Prada; she wears Chanel and turns over $19 million a year.

Sara said “This was great, learning to work under someone who was so demanding, focused and drove extremely high expectations.” With the opportunity to travel, she was exposed to the world of art and a seed had been planted.

Life took its twists and turns and in 2007 Sara’s mum was diagnosed with breast cancer.  “It’s not about what you’re faced with it, it’s how you deal with it that counts”, she said bravely.

Her life took another turn of events when she met her husband, Australia’s cricket icon, Glenn McGrath in South Africa and fell madly and deeply in love.

“Like business you have the controllable and the uncontrollable,” she explains.

Falling in love was the latter.

When she first arrived in Australia she was chased down by paparazzi; friends were selling stories to the tabloids and it was an extremely intense time. She realised her place was at home; to find her own position within this new family. One morning a book jumped off the shelf; on the front cover, it said “You can’t afford the luxury of a negative thought.” She was reminded she had deviated from her manifesting and in that moment she was determined to make her own path.