Change maker: Fiona Brown - formerly of Mudgee, Max Potential - now co-author of Amazon best seller

Change Makers - full title 25 Transformational Stories From Women Making An Impact In The Lives Of Others - is the fourth installment in the series started by Emma Hamlin of Melbourne. It's a collaboration between 25 women from Australia and other parts of the world, sharing the stories of their journeys to "overcome adversity, and create the change they desire to see in the world".

Fiona's opportunity to contribute came through her participation in a program run by the Speakers Institute, where she is a student. "I had a conversation with Emma and she invited me to be part of the book," she said.

Working within a short deadline she began tapping at the computer keys. And before she knew it, she'd co-wrote an international best-seller.

"It was surreal, because all I did was sit on my lounge with my laptop and write 3,000 words," she laughed.

"Then a couple of weeks later it's an Amazon number-one best seller in the UK, Canada, Australia, and USA. And that's the beauty of collaborating, you don't have to do it all yourself, the load is shared."

Many locals would know Fiona through her time with Mudgee Max Potential, the annual leadership development program for local Year 10 students, when she was a volunteer community coach and the program manager. And given the common theme of making changes, returning to Mudgee for a launch was a must.

"I wanted to share the book among people I knew and thought that if I went back to Mudgee it would be getting back to my roots," she said.

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"I'd nursed for decades before managing Max Potential, so I was always working with people and helping them from a health point of view. Then going into Max Potential and being able to help people change their own lives and set goals, that's where that part of my journey began.

"My chapter shares some of the things that went on in my life that caused me to create my own change and then want to work with others to do the same. And it makes you realise that everyone has a story and history is really just sharing of stories over time - we need to do more of it."

Fiona, who in the time since moving from Mudgee established Youtopia Wellbeing in Port Stephens, said that she employed some of the Max Potential principles to write her chapter. And now she's had a good introduction to writing - which was an introspective experience - she's keen to do more.

"It was a short deadline, I only had one month to write the chapter, which I loved because it was one of those 'Max Potential Make Things Happen' moments. And it was perfect timing, because we were in the thick of COVID and everyone was at home looking for things to do and I had the time to sit and write," she said.

"I always wanted to write, but writing your own book seemed quite big and daunting, so when you're invited to write a chapter you get a taste of what it's like. And the next one will just be me, I've got a couple of books in my head.

"A lot of the women who wrote the chapters said it was very healing for them to do it. But it also makes you tackle some of your limiting beliefs, like 'who am I to write a chapter in a book, why would people want to hear my story?'

"All of us who wrote were thinking the same, but if we all thought that and didn't do anything there'd be no book. And stories a great metaphor for so many things and this book is 25 different stories that will speak to a lot of people in different ways."

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