Dorinda Hafner is an international TV celebrity chef, actor, businesswoman and best-selling author with five TV series and eight books to her credit. She’s been named ‘African-Australian Woman of the Year’, and in August 2012 she was awarded the title of ‘Living Legend’ at the Sydney Opera House, where Prime Minister Julia Gillard named her as a ‘People of Australia Ambassador’.

Dorinda has led a fascinating life, from her early training as a nurse and optician in London, to her emigration to Australia and subsequent rise to celebrity, she has many experiences to talk about. In this podcast, among many topics, we discuss her early life in Ghana, her feelings about the residues of colonialism and what it’s like to be caught, linguistically and culturally, between two worlds. Her tale about how she got her first TV show, by cornering senior TV executives in the most private of places, has to be heard to be believed!

Dorinda is the perfect guest for someone just starting out in podcasting, because she’s such an infectiously enthusiastic speaker, I don’t need to do so much work! I’d like to thank her for being one of my very first guests, and for being so much fun to talk to.