Work

Petra Harmer-Shrowder

A foodie and lifestyle blogger with a ‘joie de vivre’ living in the foodie capitol of the world Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Petra has the ‘Cotswold Connection’ hailing from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England and popping back when possible to enjoy everything English — wonderful restaurants, wine bars and beautiful countryside. Her passion is sailing having spent some years working on medium sized yachts to super yachts in the Caribbean and have fond memories of the steel bands playing Carib hits and eating flying fish and Johnny cakes or a Conche roti at the Lime in St Lucia — memories!

Half her life has been spent in the middle east: Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait and traveling around as much as possible whilst there…Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman and… working in various forms of film production, media, publishing, marketing, training, event management and running a PR agency and later her own Marketing Communications Consultancy PH Communications.

Petra is an enthusiastic cook and loves nothing more than having friends over for a BBQ or some home smoked fish or ….creating a degustation dinner of foods from around the world (with paired wines or a few bottles of fizz of course) 🙂

Petra has been on the judging panel as a non-professional member of La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs for the Young Chef Competition from 2017 – 2020. Her passion not only lies with food but also delicious wines and of course Prosecco and Champagne, she is a member of L’Order Mondiale which is a spin off club from La Chaine for wine appreciators.

Her corporate background has taken her around Europe and the Gulf region working on a variety of lifestyle and consumer clients offering quality international and local media relations, training and brand consulting. Previously with Burson-Masteller and then operating her marketing communications consultancy PH Communications which has taken her through the middle east and now Australia. Petra has worked for embassies and business groups including the British Business Forum in Kuwait and the British Business Group in Dubai and the Northern Emirates where she was Director, Communications.

Petra has an eco-conscious and has conducted event management and media relations for initiatives such as CleanUAE headed by Lisa Durante this was a launch event hosted by Cynthia McKinney, a former US Presidential candidate and Green Party spokesperson.

Petra was on the judging panel for two years for the MEPRA (Middle East Public Relations Association) Awards, and is now a member of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

She trained in Switzerland with IAPCO (International Association of Professional Congress Organisers) and holds an MBA in marketing with the University of Liverpool in the UK and trained in Australia as an ICPKP kinesiologist (International Certificate in Professional Kinesiology Practice) and is a Commonwealth Registered Marriage Celebrant and has PH Celebrants her Adventure weddings business and vow renewals – getting married just became more fun ….from a hot air balloon, helicopter, gliding along the sea , zip lining or a fun winery wedding are superb places to say ‘I DO’ to the one you love. She is also a celebrant for the celebration of life – memorials, funerals.