About the Author

Diana Todd-Banks is a woman who can overcome even the highest hurdles to make things happen.

During her hectic life she has survived life in a Chicago slum living on just $1 a day, she has been a major mover and shaker in the international business arena, she introduced America to the delights of Vegemite and Australian wine, has battled a crippling three-year bout of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, worked in a range of 'men's jobs' such as shearing and tobacco picking, then contrasting this she designed and made wedding gowns.

But in recent years Diana has had to deal with the death of others and these experiences have prompted her to write a book to be titled 'Wrapping It Up'.

Diana grew up in Adelaide where part of her training was 'how to be a good business executive's wife', but the energetic Diana was not content to sit back and bask in someone else's glory.

At her first job at a major daily newspaper, Diana learned some basic skills of journalism and throughout her life has written about and promoted a vast array of products and people both in Australia and the US.

In 1969, she set out for the US so her husband could study at the University of Chicago. Money was tight and they were forced to live in the slums of a South Chicago ghetto.

The infamous race riots of the 1960s were still fresh in everyone's memory and her neighbours in the predominantly African-American ghetto weren't too keen on sharing their space with foreigners.

As the cold weather settled over Chicago, Diana found the only way to keep warm was to spend time in the local supermarkets. One day while waiting in the check-out queue Diana flicked through a magazine and spotted what was to become a life-long dream.

"There was a picture of an amazing looking Excalibur car. My eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw it," she said. "It was beautiful and majestic and I knew right there that one day I wanted to own one, even though at the time I was desperately poor."

Turning her negative situation in this cold climate into a positive one, Diana earned a little money from baby sitting, and set out to conquer her personal fears, especially her painful shyness, and began studying classical guitar, singing and public speaking.

She won three separate scholarships, obtained her BA degree with a classic guitar major, learned the sitar, taught guitar to 40 students each week and devoted much of her time to teaching handicapped children to also play the guitar.

In the early 1970s, Diana was appointed to the committee of an Australian-American wine club where she tried her hand at wine promotion. Craving the warmth and the sunshine of her homeland, Diana returned to Australia in the late 70's where she recruited a small army of Australian business executives keen to tap into the American market.

Returning to the US, Diana opened a consultancy specialising in promoting Australian foods and wines but this time with a base in Southern California. In the early 80's she established her own specialty wine and food importing business and created a few milestones in the process.

Back home, the Australian Business Review Weekly published a three-page cover-story about this 'dynamic Aussie lady'. The young girl who was once destined to become a business executive's wife had herself become the executive.

Diana returned once again to Australia when her father became seriously ill, and later when her father died in 1991, she moved to Cairns.

In this tropical environment Diana began to teach public relations to small business owners and it was then she revisited her enjoyment of writing and that of food, with her own large food and lifestyle column, which continued for 13 years.

But in 1995, she suffered a literally crippling setback when she was diagnosed with a severe case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She was unable to walk, could barely talk and was only just able to crawl on hands and knees around her house. She literally thought her life was at an end, but somehow in her deep subconscious the will to overcome CFS existed.

Winning the war against the disease several years later Diana chose to leave the tropics and in late 1999 moved to the Gold Coast, Queensland, where her life slowed to a gallop.

It was then, Diana revived her 35-year old dream of owning her own Excalibur. A favorite aunt died, but before she died, the aunt told her "If there is anything you really want to do in life, then do it now, don't wait until you think the time is right". She knew exactly what her aunt meant, and after intense research imported a shiny white Excalibur motor-car which was no easy task to achieve.

Diana says she still has a major goal to achieve that is to become an author of several books and 'Wrapping It Up' is number one. But first, she says, there are still a few more chapters of life yet to experience.