SARAH DAVIDSON

(nee holloway)
MAC.ROB student, 2003-2006
PORTRAIT GALLERY INDUCTEE, 2022
Law/Arts (Honours) 
entrepreneur, author & tv host

Sarah spent four full and formative years at Mac.Rob where her lifelong reluctance to pursue a singular passion flourished. Finding equal satisfaction in the academic challenge of the sciences as she did in the creativity of the arts, she pursued a wide range of subjects alongside exchanges, sports, choirs, orchestra, the list goes on!

Taken slightly aback by becoming joint Dux in 2006, she won an academic scholarship to study Law/Arts (Languages) at Monash University, graduating fifth in her class with honours. Her professional life began at top-tier international firm, King & Wood Mallesons, where she excelled in mergers and acquisitions in Australia and overseas. 

While her legal career was partly the product of indecision, Sarah found gratification in the momentum of the corporate ladder until a fortuitous sliding doors moment in 2014. During a charitable expedition to Rwanda, Africa, she fell ill with a gut parasite that forced her to give up coffee and discover the magic of matcha green tea. 

Sarah and her husband Nic then founded Matcha Maiden and grew their accidental start-up into a global category leader with 1000+ stockists around the world, including Urban Outfitters across the US. Six years of scale up, a matcha-themed café Matcha Mylkbar, and over one million serves later, they successfully sold the business to investors.

In the meantime, Sarah had created an award-winning podcast (and later, best-selling book), Seize the Yay, inspiring others to swap such metrics as success and the glorification of busy for fulfilment and joy. This seamlessly became a full-time role, interviewing the likes of Miranda Kerr, Michael Bublé and Wim Hof and recording in locations from outback Australia to Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island. 

Sarah is also a motivational speaker, MC, content producer and TV host for Channel 7. In helping others find their “yay”, she lives by one of her favourite quotes, “you don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the first step”.