Meet the HC Team: Emma Macdonald
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Ever wondered who exactly is behind HerCanberra?
Just as much as we love exposing the best bits of our city and those wondrous and creative souls who live here, we accept it can’t be an entirely one-sided thing.
You’ve told us you’re keen to learn more about our HerCanberra team, who we are and what makes us tick. So here we are, exposing a little of our personal lives. Enjoy getting to know us as much as we enjoy getting to know you.
You’ve read about our head chick Amanda Whitley and now we bring you all the deets on our Associate Editor Emma Macdonald—who just happens to be a former Press Gallery journalist, and is a maternal health charity co-founder, mum to Thomas and Imogen and married to Paul.
Paul and Emma met in the Press Gallery 27 years ago.
What’s an average day?
I write many of the HerCanberra Magazine features and also oversee some boutique publications that HerCanberra creates. I love a good yarn—uncovering one of the city’s many incredible characters—as well as getting the scoop on what new things are happening around town.
We hear you’re a night owl…
I can’t help it. It’s like my brain kicks into gear after about 9 pm. And when we are on deadline, most nights I will settle in with my laptop from about 11 pm onwards. It does leave very little time for sleep, it must be said. So to accommodate this, I try for nanna naps on the weekend and most people know not to speak to me until after 10 am and two cups of coffee.
Why did you leave Fairfax after 23 years?
I loved my job and The Canberra Times, but you reach a stage in life where you take a leap of faith or you die wondering. I was drawn to HerCanberra from the moment it launched, and it is the most fun I’ve had in my life.
For me, the leap has paid off in spades. Plus I have always wanted to help craft a stylish magazine. I just always assumed I would have to leave Canberra in order to do so!
This is Imogen. She is nine years old and delicious!
Hidden talents?
I used to be a gymnast and am very flexible. It means I look pretty cool in a yoga class but the truth is I rarely have time for any fitness pursuits other than running up and down the stairs of our house. I am also really good at calligraphy. Randomly.
Coffee or tea?
Both, and on a really early morning after a really late night, served concurrently. I cannot leave the bedroom until at least one large cup of French Earl Grey has passed my lips.
Speaking of French Earl Grey, have you tried our HerCanberra gin? We made it with the Canberra Distillery as an experiment, but the alcohol gods were smiling down on us that day as we created the most heavenly gin. It has gone gangbusters on the market and is now sold interstate and overseas. (And you can order some here, you’re very welcome.)
What do you do in your spare time?
Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I have helped establish a maternal health charity that helps women have safe births across eight countries. No biggie, right. Send Hope Not Flowers is a Canberra-based charity that I helped create with my obstetrician Professor Steve Robson shortly after my daughter Imogen was born. It is one of my proudest achievements (alongside Imogen and Thomas).
In 2016, Emma travelled to PNG for Mother’s Day in her role as co-founder of Send Hope Not Flowers where she spoke to some of the women who face an unacceptably high risk of dying in childbirth.
I am also convenor of Women in Media Canberra, part of a national group aimed at supporting and empowering women working across media and communications. You know that saying, if you want something done, ask a busy mother of two…? Part of my role is comparing National Press Club Addresses for WiM, where I get to meet the likes of incredible Australian women like Magda Szubanski, who spoke the day the same-sex marriage legislation came through. We both cried on live national television. It was a wonderful day.
Favourite bit of Canberra?
The gorgeous tree-lined streets of my home suburb of Ainslie. I love everything from the mix of housing—tiny heritage-listed cottages to some of the really interesting new builds going up all around—to the parks, the enormous trees, and majestic Mount Ainslie. I have lived under the shadow of that mountain my entire life, so I feel very connected to the space.
My favourite time of day is after 10 pm in summer—when I go jogging through the streets and I see (not creepy spying but if you leave your blinds open and your lights on, what am I to do?) and hear everyone breathing a sigh and settling in for the night.
I love the community and the veggie patches and the political awareness of residents. Finally. I love the cheese. When I die I want my ashes spread down the cheese aisle of the Ainslie IGA.
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self…?
I’d reassure myself that the tough bits that are ahead of me—the hard work establishing myself, the going above and beyond, the mistakes (so, so many mistakes)—will all be worth it in the end. I’d tell myself that my forties are going to be the best decade of my life (who knows, maybe the best is yet to come?) and to enjoy the glorious ride.
If your house was on fire what would you rescue first after your family?
I am very attached to my home and it is my escape from the crazy hours and deadlines and demands, so I would be devastated to see it go up in smoke! I would probably grab a box of my mother’s letters to me (I lost her to cancer a decade ago and her beautiful handwriting and words bring her back to me in an instant) but if I had a spare finger, I would loop it around my Chloe boots. I love those boots with a singular passion!
Emma’s darling mum Val. They were inseparable.
How do you unwind?
I love nothing better than a weekend cook-up for the family. We play records, my husband opens a good bottle of wine, and we often spend some time competing ferociously over cards or board games. I will spend a few hours really enjoying pulling a meal together and hoping the vegetables I serve that night will make up for the fact that we have been eating frozen meals and takeaway during the week. Ooops.
The current favourite meal is fried chorizo, haloumi and chickpeas which we wrap in tortillas and eat with guacamole and a mango salsa. I also serve it with pesto and yoghurt. It sounds a bit much on paper, but it is my most requested recipe on Instagram!
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