Samantha McDonald was born in Adelaide in 1973 to an entrepreneurial father and musical mother. Learning to play the piano at age five, she began performing professionally as a singer and pianist at 18 years of age. Around the same time she started a law degree, but decided that she was more interested in experiencing the world and making money than being stuck in a classroom.

After working full-time in the music industry in Australia and overseas for seven years she moved to Sydney to get a ‘real’ job. Transferring her performance skills to the recruitment and training industry, she realised that she couldn’t work for someone else. At 28, Samantha became a personal and business coach and started Dare Coaching & Seminars. Intrigued by the power of the mind, she went on to become a master Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner and trainer. She now gets endless pleasure from supporting and encouraging huge changes in the attitudes, behaviours and mind-sets of other people, both on a personal level and in corporate environments.

Today, Samantha has settled back into her hometown of Adelaide, and continues to run her business on a national level. She is also a keen writer and a regular contributor to magazines. When she is not working, she enjoys going to the gym, hanging out with friends, and spending quality time with her toddler daughter, Tiana, and the rest of her family.