Mia Freedman

Name: Mia Freedman
Occupation: Journalist, author, blogger, and mother.

Once the editor-in-chief of Cosmo, Cleo and Dolly, Mia is passionate about having more diversity among the women we see in magazines, believing that the media should reflect a variety of body shapes, skin colours, ages and nationalities instead of presenting us with a single cookie-cutter skinny white girl image that is unrealistic for 99.9% of women.

Who was your role model/s when you were a teen?
Lisa Wilkinson and anyone else who worked on a magazine. They were my reality stars.

How did your role model/s help you?
Lisa gave me my first job in magazines doing work experience at Cleo when she was the editor. She also gave me a blue-print for what I could hope to achieve in my career. I was inspired to follow her lead and make my own way as close to the top as I could reach.

What role or influence do you think role models have?
Girls and women are constantly looking around for others to emulate or admire. It's vital to have positive, realistic and - most importantly - HONEST role models for young women who don't try to pretend their lives are always easy and perfect. We need to be honest about the difficulties we face as well as the successes.

What were some of the issues you faced as a teen?
I changed schools part way through the first year of high school and it took me a long time to make friends. For months I'd go and do my maths homework in a classroom every lunch time because I had no-one to sit with.

How did you overcome these issues?
Time. Gradually, I came to make friends and I guess in some ways it made me more independent and self-sufficient, resourceful. But I've never forgotten what it felt like to be a complete outsider.

What do you remember most about being a teen?
Never feeling entirely comfortable in my own skin. Always wanting to be taller or thinner or blonder or something other than what I was.

What qualities do you think you possess that has helped you succeed in your chosen field?
A voracious curiosity. I'm endlessly fascinated by other people's lives, whether they're famous or not.

Outside of career success, what is it that you are most proud of?
My children, of course, and my marriage. They are more at the centre of my world than ever before and I've never been happier.

Your advice to youths about realising their own potential...
It's hard to give advice without sounding all cheesy and saying things like 'reach for the stars'. But what I will say is that it's important to pursue what you WANT to pursue not what you feel you should do or what others want you to do. Happiness and success have many many different definitions.

When it comes to how you live your life, what are the most important factors/values?
Kindness and honesty.

Why do you think you make a good role model?
That's for someone else to say!