process with business decisions at Victors & Spoils. "You just go full force into it and see where it takes you. I think the biggest and most important thing is to make sure that right from conception you are always open to changing what you are doing. What we thought we were going to do, and where we are now, is very different in some respects and exactly the same in others." Her ability to take any path she chooses stems from Claudia's early days as a student at
Karori's Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. "Graduating from there I just had a sense there was nothing in the world a woman couldn't achieve. In fact, I didn't even think about it being relative to sex – there was just nothing I couldn't achieve if I didn't set my mind on it, work really hard to achieve it and find people who were willing to support me." It was in her teenage years that Claudia
caught the first glimpse of her inner strength. "I had an operation that went sideways and
it meant I took quite a bit of time off school. I will never forget the teachers at Marsden staying after school and working with me over the lunch hour to get me up to speed so that I would be OK for my exams. That experience really brought out the fighter in me."
Claudia also credits the incredible role
models in her universe with having an influence on her outlook on life. "When I was growing up New Zealand had a lot
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photo:© Robert D. Jones/RDJonesPhoto.com
