Kate Reid
Founder of Lune Croissanterie, Aerospace Engineer, and former Aerodynamicist with Williams' F1 team.
Kate Reid is the founder of Lune Croissanterie, two retail outlets in Melbourne where each morning you’ll find cues of raving fans lining up, down the street, before the doors have even opened.
Since it opened in Melbourne in 2012, Kate's business has gone from a one-person shop to a five-site bakery in two states. Now, Kate has also published a cookbook: Lune: Croissants All Day, All Night.
But being Australia's croissant queen wasn't always her dream job. First, she had a pit stop in Formula 1.
Kate’s love affair with the sport began when she was 13 years old, and her father took her along to Melbourne's Grand Prix. From that moment she geared her studies towards working as a Formula 1 engineer. She studied aerospace engineering at RMIT University, and at age 23, began working for the Williams F1 racing team.
It was the early 2000s and her dream job had taken her to the United Kingdom, far from her family and her support networks in Melbourne.
It was while she was living and working in the UK that Kate developed depression which then turned into anorexia. After being formally diagnosed with clinical depression, Kate moved back to Melbourne in 2010 and got a job at a cafe where she emersed herself in her love of baking.
However, her engineering brain needed more of a challenge, and she became fascinated with French pastry. Kate ordered a cookbook online that featured famous Parisian pastries and that was when Lune was born!
Kate's success story provides an engaging and entertaining presentation in which audiences will learn and be inspired.