I’ve known Lahra a fellow journalist since we both anxiously walked through the gates to a journalism Cadetship exam. We were in our 20s eager and determined to score one of the minimal spots on the competitive Cadetship ladder. We both walked nervously and sat the grueling exam - fortunately we were both successful !
Lahra headed to the ABC and I began a Herald Sun cadetship and then became a Melbourne Age reporter - the rest is history.
Time would see us working together in later years when Lahra took a studio space in my publishing offices and it was from there she met her future husband Ben Cowan. We attended their beautiful wedding and have been connected in so many ways.
Tragically Ben died suddenly in a paragliding accident a few years ago and I’ve watched this incredible woman navigate the complex challenging roles of mother to three beautiful children, widow, successful businesswoman and now Carlton board member as she juggles the grief, resilience, recalibration and recovery.
Our mutual friend and journalist Wendy Tuohy wrote in the Melbourne Age recently about Lahra and her amazing children who started Parachute a charity to help support other young people suffering loss.
“Ten months after her father, Ben, died in a paragliding accident on the Great Ocean Road during a family holiday, Alex Cowen, then 12, was sitting on a bus with her sports team, thinking about how lucky she was.
She, her twin sister Charley, their elder brother Mitch and mum, Lahra Carey, had lived through shocking upheaval – and had to do it in the public eye, as Ben Cowen, co-founder of the Anaconda chain and son of the former governor-general Sir Zelman, was well known. Yet Alex realised she was still fortunate to have the comfort of familiar friends doing familiar activities she loved.”
Lahra, who ran Lahra Carey Media & Communications, for 18 years and in 2020 established PR firm, narrative, dedicated to help people in media crises and provide media training, have so much to unpack and I’m so thrilled she’s joining me today on the What I've Learnt Podcast to share what she has learnt along her journey.
Deborah's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/what.ive.learnt/
Mind, Film and Publishing: https://www.mindfilmandpublishing.com/
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/what-ive-learnt/id153556330
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3TQjCspxcrSi4yw2YugxBk
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1365850
Deborah's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/what.ive.learnt/
Mind, Film and Publishing: https://www.mindfilmandpublishing.com/
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/what-ive-learnt/id153556330
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3TQjCspxcrSi4yw2YugxBk
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1365850