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Two Australian business women are so keen to connect with Oprah Winfrey, they’re willing to award a cash prize of $25,000 to whomever can make their dream a reality. Time may be running out for the creators of Mind Gardener, Martina Sheehan and Susan Pearse to appear on stage with the American Icon at the Sydney ‘Oprah’ Opera House tomorrow, but they’re not giving up.
Their publicist Johanna Baker-Dowdell from Strawberry Communications, told Australian Women Online, “There’s still 24 hours where anything can happen. But even if Mind Gardner is not featured on the Australian Oprah shows, Martina and Susan have got a message to share that can help Oprah’s cause, ‘Living your best life’, and will pursue opportunities to share this when she launches her 24/7 cable network in January.”
Mind Gardener is a series of original guides drawing on emerging brain research and translating it into simple, practical and relevant activities that people can put into action every moment of their life. The Brisbane pair were inspired to develop the guides when they sponsored the US-based Mind & Life Institute at the Investigating the Mind conferences in 2003 and 2005. Martina and Susan met His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet at the 2003 conference.
Over the past seven weeks Mind Gardener has been encouraging people to live more mindfully through videos on the www.helpusgetontheoprahshow.com campaign website. Using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs, Martina and Susan believe they can have an influence on the people who can connect them to Oprah Winfrey.
In planning the Meeting of the Minds campaign, Martina and Susan asked their audience to, “Imagine the impact of reaching millions of people and inspiring them to put just one mindful moment in every day,” Susan explained.
“The campaign has touched Harpo producers in Chicago, Oprah’s professional organiser Peter Walsh, O Magazine editor, Oprah’s booking agent, Australian celebrity Jamie Durie, national media, Brisbane media (where Mind Gardener is based), Tourism Australia and Queensland and thousands of people on- and offline who have become mind gardeners themselves.”
“Everything you think, learn, see and do changes your mind and your life. By cultivating a healthy mind, you can live with happiness, love, clarity and purpose,” Susan said.
If Mind Gardener gets on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Martina and Susan will give the person who made it happen $25,000 and will share their good fortune by donating $1 from every guide sold for the next five years to a charity, foundation or not-for-profit nominated by the public.
Martina and Susan’s Meeting of the Minds campaign has received some interest from the Australian television networks and the pair recently recorded an interview with Channel 7’s Today Tonight in Brisbane.