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Brett is the Founder and Director of Sunrise Chase, bringing over 20 years of experience in recruitment and executive search services. He began working as a recruiter in the year 2000, conducting executive level recruitment across a diverse range of industries and functions.
He has since helped hundreds of organizations with their recruitment solutions and executive search and made placements for thousands of professionals. Through his experience, he was able to learn a great deal about recruitment operations and client partnerships.
His main responsibility is to ensure that the company adheres to its vision, mission, and values built in honesty and the desire to serve. Under his leadership at Sunrise Chase he leads and mentors a remote team in Healthcare, Executive, and Technology sectors recruitment.
Outside recruitment, Brett loves to indulge in his love for seeing new places, he has traveled the world with his wife and lived in different countries including Australia, UK, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, France, and the Netherlands.
Michelle is a goal-oriented Director of Sunrise Chase who has helped steer the organization with her over 20 years of experience in recruitment. Her career has taken her all over the world enjoying both long-term and short-term projects in Australia, China, Argentina, U.S. and Europe.
She has spent much of her career specializing in the financial and legal aspects of the company. Her areas of expertise include developing new recruitment strategies, corporate and employment laws, and human resources. Michelle has made significant contributions to Sunrise Chase operations and culture, and is highly regarded for her strategic thinking, resulting in highly effective recruitment outcomes.
Outside recruitment, Michelle also loves exploring the world and trying the culinary delights of different countries and cultures. She also has a love of snuggling up on the sofa with a good book to read whether it be by Sidney Sheldon or Ernest Hemmingway.
The global financial crisis of 2008 to 2009 was the worst economic disaster to happen since the Great Depression of 1929. Business giants were down on their knees and Brett & Michelle’s first business Strategy Solutions was not spared. Strategy Solutions had ten employees at that time but eventually had to downsize due to the crisis. Brett & Michelle continued to work from their very quiet and empty 200 square meter office overlooking Sydney Harbour in North Sydney, but the couple had to continue the business, just this time working on their own.
When their office lease was coming to an end, they decided to make a lifestyle change and moved north of Sydney to a place called Pittwater, one of the most beautiful parts of the world. With technology paving the way for individuals and businesses, and with the world at the tips of their fingers through the Internet, Brett and Michelle started working from home. It was 2010 and WFH was invented for them then.
Julia Roberts in “Eat, Pray and Love” sort of set the wheels in motion; They had discussed over the years of the reality of living and working remotely in different countries. In early 2016 Brett and Michelle packed their bags and moved to Spain. They enjoyed their time in the cosmopolitan, architecturally beautiful, and pulsating city of Barcelona where they lived for eight months.
Barcelona has a grand history, monuments of Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance periods scattered around the city which continually amazed them. They traveled around Spain and enjoyed the fabulous gastronomy on offer with the likes of Cocido con judias blancas, of Butifarra (a typical regional sausage) Zarzuela (cuttlefish, mussels and prawns), and the occasional glass of cava or two, while still working during their time there.
2016 was coming to end, so, with itchy feet to live and explore elsewhere they made the move to stunning Lake Como in Italy. For three months they lived there exploring the region and other fabulous cities like Lenno, Lecco and Bellagio. Italy is well known for its culinary delights of pizza and pasta which were to die for, but they had to make sure to exercise every day. They were still working from Como too, recruiting healthcare IT professionals for their many clients around the world.
Winter had come; feeling the cold and in the need of some sunshine, they headed back to Sydney which also included a side trip to New Zealand’s South Island. Their short summer trip to Sydney over, they were off again, a quick stopover in Singapore to meet with up with some clients they arrived in London, caught up with some other clients, then headed straight for the white cliffs of Dover to catch the ferry to Calais.
From Calais, they then started the ultimate road trip around France down the west coast through Normandy and Brittany to some of the most beautiful towns and villages along the way. Eventually, they made their way to Toulouse, Montpellier, and up to St Tropez with all its glitzy sophistication. They spent several weeks in the beautiful Côte d’Azur enjoying a magical European summer.
Leaving the French Riviera, they headed inland to Cuneo Italy then back to the coast but this time to the Italian Riviera slowly making their way to the vibrant city of Milan.
From Milan, they headed north to the Dolomites, which offer some of the prettiest mountain scenery in the world. Enjoying the spectacular views everywhere, they explored the region and visited the beautiful towns of Trento, Bolzano, Merano, Belluno, and the fabulous Cortina d’Ampezzo as well as many others. If you’re a James Bond fan you will remember a sequence of gunners chasing Roger Moore on skis in “For Your Eyes Only” that was filmed in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Nearly three months working from the Dolomites they headed back to the French Riviera where they stayed in the beautiful city of Antibes between Cannes and Nice for seven months before hitting the road again. This time they headed north again into Italy and spent a lot of time in the Veneto region visiting beautiful towns like Padua, Ferrara, Merano, Stra and many more. They were in this region visiting many artisans and manufacturers and establishing relationships for a new business venture Brett was entering into.
From Veneto, they traveled further northeast reaching Trieste on the coast, then headed to Ljubljana Slovenia which was so awesome they stayed for a while. They visited Zagreb in Croatia then headed back through Italy to Verona, then to France all the way to Chamonix and Mont Blanc, and then to Paris as they had flights booked to return to Australia, but only for short trip.
After a wonderful week in Paris which was very quiet in the last weeks of summer, they were off again. Sydney for three weeks, Melbourne for a few days visiting family and friends and they were back on a plane again to Nice France. They made their way back to Antibes and enjoyed the French Riviera once again.
Brett and Michelle also had the opportunity to stay in Amsterdam for three months, and then back to Antibes until the early part of 2020. But with the news of the Corona Virus spreading rapidly they had to decide, do they stay in France with no reciprocal healthcare rights with Australia, or go elsewhere. Decision made the made the long journey back to Australia for a while and stayed there for four months. Today, Brett and Michelle are back in the stunning city of Amsterdam, enjoying the expat life and still working from home.
Today is the day you can make a decision to change your life!
