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Notable alumni

Audra Morrice

11 March 2024

BA Economics 1992
Finalist in MasterChef Australia 2012, cook, author and television presenter

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Why did you choose to study economics at UC? Did you have a career path in mind?

The original plan was to do a Bachelor of Commerce. It felt like a good generic degree to have and would be broad enough for my post university job hunt. Like many young people embarking on their undergraduate journey, I really didn’t have a career path in mind and career counselling was limited back then. The particular year I applied for UC, all international students wanting to do a Commerce degree had to do it in Wellington. So having made the decision to stay in Christchurch, I decided on a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Economics and Japanese - a language, cuisine and culture I was quite drawn to. 

Can you talk to us a bit about your ‘first’ career in marketing and sales?

When I completed my university degree, I still didn’t quite know what I wanted to do. However I started to gain an understanding of where my strengths and interests were and how I wanted to be in a people-person role. Getting that first job on my CV was crucial. Amongst the numerous applications I sent out, I remember recieving such a grilling from a hiring manager for being so ill prepared and having a total lack of understanding of what the job entailed! Bearing in mind Google wasn't available in the 90s to research companies so she was absolutley right!    

I finally got my first break at a company specializing in Maritime Seminars. My responsibility was to work on the marketing, PR and sales of their maritime seminar packages as well as running events, liaising with venues and lecturers. In other words, I did everything from creating the content to selling it, to running it. It was a small company but a good based for learning and while it didn't pay much, I was grateful for any experience. My manager, a very smart beautiful Indonesian lady taught me much about the politics in the business world and how to navigate your way through what was predominantly a male dominated industry. Thinking back now, she was a brilliant mentor. I stayed for a year then fell into my first job in telecommunications, MCI, an American company with a representative office in Singapore. I found myself really quite intrigued and interested in the workings of the telco world. This job gave me a global view and experience in hard core sales.

After a two-year stint, I applied for a job at Telecom New Zealand in Wellington and there my career took a leap forward in international correspondent relations. I was part of a team managing bilateral relations with dominant telcos in the ASEAN region. Three years there taught me a great deal about international diplomacy and deepened my business acumen in dealing with government organisations in South East Asia. It wasn’t necessarily easy being a 5 ft 1 1/2 Asian woman dealing with government run organisations in SEA. However once again, I had incredibly supportive bosses who always gave me the opportunity to own and grow my portfolios. I then left the industry for 15 months, moved back to Christchurch and worked as an account manager in corporate insurance. In 1998, I took up a role with Telecom New Zealand as an account manager in Sydney. This was an exciting time in the telecommunications industry with development of new products and services. Technology took a massive leap forward and sales became extremely interesting and diverse. We then merged with a company called AAPT through an acquisition and there my career took a further leap into a more senior account management role. With that came larger sales targets, complex relationships both internally and externally but I thrived. Having spent two decades facing many challenges and opportunities that allowed me to develop a vast range of skills and myself personally, I decided to leave, admittedly at the peak of my career in telco, to explore the world of food. 

Competing in Masterchef Australia in 2012 (and being a finalist!) was a turning point for you, facilitating a career change – how did you know it was the right decision to capitalise on this opportunity?

To be honest, at that point, I was driven purely by passion and a burning desire without a whole lot of certainty. It took me three years of watching MasterChef Australia to decide that it was something I wanted to explore. My decision to join the competition was to figure out if food was something I could do for the rest of my life and I did not want to regret not having explored it. It was the first decision I made in life with little inkling as to whether I would succeed and no guaranteed $$ at the end of each month, something I had been accustomed to since graduating university. After MasterChef, I quit my corporate job and spent time speaking to chefs who ran restaurants and learnt the raw truth about the industry. I spent time with providores, suppliers, growers. I ran a number of pop-up restaurants with the generosity of a number of chefs to use their restaurant space and finally decided on a different path, not a restaurant, but one where I could keep my costs low, maximise my profits and do what I had always wanted to do, cook. I felt that I was on a good start having a strong and grounded business background, coupled with an intense passion for cooking and a strong desire to succeed. I said yes to everything that came my way, however big or small the event was, networking opportunities, connecting with chefs of all calibre, corporate speaking engagements and so on. Like every business, you have to spend time and energy creating connections and relationships to build it. To date, all my engagements have been through referrals. I’ve cooked in the smallest kitchens to multimillion dollar homes and extravagant venues, from an intimate dinner for 10 to a feast for 500. I have spoken to corporate audiences, high school and culinary students, run both private and corporate cooking events. I have cooked for the president of Singapore, worked with the CSIRO to showcase sustainable food products to help farmers increase their harvest yields. I have consulted with various hotels, restaurants and cafes, redesigned menus, trained staff, streamlined processes. I have been an advocate for sustainable gastronomic tourism and continue to speak extensively about it. I mentor young people in the start of their careers. Today I am also on the Australia-ASEAN Council board with a mission to initiate and support activities to strengthen partnerships with our ASEAN neighbours through stronger business, education, digital, science, arts and cultural links. It also gives me great joy to be a judge on MasterChef Singapore, whilst a reality TV show, allows me to mentor and nurture people who are in the position I once was. I wake up each day excited and wanting to do more!

Where did your passion for food and cooking come from?

Definitely from my mother and growing up in a very multicultural Singapore. My mother was a brilliant cook and so were my aunts. Food was always a big part of our celebrations and my mother always cooked with immense generosity. That is the way I cook today. I am not about small food on large plates but rather an overflow of love that spills out of dishes. I was taught to feed people well. I later also found out that my Indian paternal grandmother, who I sadly never met as she passed away before I was born, was a brilliant cook. One of my favourite dishes “appam”, a rice and coconut based south Indian pancake was something she made so often. How I wish I could’ve had the opportunity to cook alongside her. I suppose cooking is part of my genetic make-up.

Is there a bucket list item you hope to tick off soon?

You know, my bucket list keeps getting bigger but I do live in the moment. As I experience more, I add more to the list, things I want to do and accomplish. From purely cooking for people, my work has evolved and extended to creating cultural culinary experiences, to sharing my knowledge about sustainable gastronomy in travel, to mentoring young people…..the list continues to evolves.

What memories or experiences come to mind when looking back on your time at UC?

Will you believe it if I say it’s the chicken pie nights at Bishop Julius Hall of Residence and the massive blueberry muffins from the cafeteria? But honestly, I made the most incredible friends while at UC and the three years there really allowed me to discover and nurture my strengths. I thrive in a creative and tactile environment, love working with people, have a strong sense of attachment to history and preservation and what makes people and their culture unique, and always root for the underdogs.

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