Victoria Alexander has been recognised for her community contributions
Victoria Alexander was ‘flattered’ to be recognised by North Sydney Council as one of 12 Notable Women of North Sydney. The project launched on International Women’s Day on 8 March and recognises and shares stories of significant women and their contributions to the community of North Sydney and beyond.
Victoria’s lifelong curiosity has led to a diverse career as a fashion forecaster, fashion editor for Vogue Australia and Cosmopolitan, and an entrepreneur (she established Sydney’s first small boutique hotel in The Rocks, and The Bathers Pavilion at Balmoral).
Her mantra for life is ‘all you have is now’ and she believes in ‘living every moment to the fullest.’
“Every day excites me; there are so many possibilities,” says Victoria. “I have taught myself to live in the moment. Each day is a lesson and we must keep contributing what we can in the best way we know how.”
An environmental advocate, she is creative director of Restore, a sustainable grocery initiative working with regenerative farmers and producers.
“I work at changing what I can change,” she says. “We’ve saved 160,000 plastic bottles from landfill and all the produce is coming from self-reliant self-sufficient regenerative farmers.”
Victoria moved to McMahons Point from Church Point 22 years. She loves the small-town community feel of the area where everyone at the local shops knows her name. Her house was built in the 1880s and was once a bakery.
“My house found me at a tricky time in my life,” says Victoria. “It’s an unusual, very beautiful house that sort of topples down the hill. It’s unique and special and we just belong together.”
She’s very proud of her three children and loves that her granddaughters (10 and 14 years) frequently want to ‘hang out’ with her. “I want a few close people in my life that I can count on unequivocally and, including my family, I have that and I feel very grateful.”
Victoria is also publisher at Love Books and the author of six books that blend photography, design, and storytelling. Her seventh book Boundaries is due for release later this year and was inspired by her garden.
“My wall in my garden collapsed,” she explains. “It was a three-metre-high wall that took up my whole garden, and it was a garden I’d nurtured for 20 years (that) I wasn’t intending to rebuild. But nature gave me a gift; nature taught me that life rebuilds itself.”
The neighbouring property was owned by the Catholic Church and Victoria said she lived with the rubble for over two years. Boundaries is about her personal boundaries being tested, about patience, chaos, and order, and about turning despair into growth. “It heightened my empathy for others,” says Victoria. “I have no cause for self-pity for what I went through. I’m a privileged woman. I worked for everything I’ve got and had the skills to get good help but there are people who can’t.”
Victoria’s garden is now flourishing, and the Gardening Australia team even paid her a visit and filmed segments of the ABC program in the garden, which she says was ‘a great compliment.’