Lucia Dore is a financial journalist/editor, author, and documentary filmmaker, who has worked across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) the UK, Europe, North America and Asia/Pacific. Most recently she was head of a newswire service, Mergermarket, for MENA, which provides proprietary merger and acquisition intelligence for subscribers. She has also made a documentary on NZ's response to the refugee crisis – before the West deemed refugees a "crisis". As well as providing PR and writing advice to clients, she has recently written a book entitled "SolidarITy" which looks at the interaction of seniors with technology, AI in particular and a course entitled www.learnbusinessenglish.com. She is owner of a media company, LCD Media (which is currently being rebranded).
Lucia Dore, Financial Journalist/Editor
Who is Lucia?
I’m Lucia Dore, a financial journalist/editor with about 35-years-experience including in the UK and Europe, the Middle East, Asia/Pacific and Australia. I’ve worked for many publications, including a newswire service in the Middle East which I headed up. When I returned to New Zealand and went to university I made a documentary on refugees.
I’ve recently bought a new house in Dunedin, New Zealand, and I share this with a 19-year- old cat, who’s been with the family forever. I bought the house in a convenient location in Dunedin rather than Queenstown, where I was last living, because I was looking for more activities to participate in – Pickleball, photography, university courses, a creative writing group, among them – rather than engaging in just adventure tourism activities which are the lifeblood of Queenstown. As well as getting new curtains, I must now landscape my property. There’s always plenty to do.
As at the time of writing I am also without a car, since it broke down at a set of traffic lights on a main street. I hope it doesn’t cost too much to fix. Now I think a new car is the way to go.
What is your business name and how do you help your clients?
The business name is Lucia Dore Consultancy (LDC) and I research and write for companies to enhance their brand. My geographic focus is principally Asia/Pacific, Australasia, and the Middle East but I look at Europe too sometimes.
I largely look at financial services and technology, especially disruptive technology, which includes artificial intelligence (AI). I have written reports and White Papers on various subjects on financial services. And more recently I have written about human rights and have made a documentary on refugees. I’ve also recently co-written a book on refugees. I have also explored AI and the media, principally looking at the way AI can be used to change newsrooms and make the tasks of journalists’ easier. I am now widening my interest in AI and am writing a book (to be published later this year) on the interaction of AI and seniors.
I do have another project which is aimed at corporates and individuals in Asia who want to learn Business English. It’s an online course and there’s a book too.
What kind of audience do you target your business towards?
I work with corporates, consultants, public service agencies and individuals. All of these must be interested in the subjects I write about, the geographies I know a lot about, and they must want exposure with the writing of unique articles.
Who inspires you to be the best that you can be?
I am not inspired by any one person but rather by good writing – whether it is an article or a book. Good writers not only write absorbing articles but love writing and convey this through their prose and are at ease with it. I love biographies, historical novels, adventure stories and mysteries. In that vein, I like Philippa Gregory and Agatha Christie. My family too have had a huge influence on my life. I also really enjoy films, especially fun and quirky ones.
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
I’ve had an amazing life in that I have lived all over the world. I have visited about 90 countries – which people would find much harder to do now, if not impossible, because of rules that have been imposed by COVID. I think being head of a newswire service for the Middle East and North Africa, based in Dubai, was my greatest achievement.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
As I’ve said before, I think being head of a newswire service for the Middle East and North Africa, based in Dubai, was my greatest achievement. I learnt tolerance and acceptance of others and a greater awareness of others as well of myself. I also learnt the importance of helping those who are the most vulnerable in society, whether that’s people or animals.
What would you like to achieve for yourself and your business in the future?
I want to expand into a subscription-only media company, focusing on financial services (as I outlined above) and the regions with which I am most familiar – that is Asia/Pacific, Australasia, and the Middle East. Actually, I am undergoing a rebranding exercise right now so that a media company can be launched in the next couple of months, including podcasts. I have a strong network of journalists around the world and other good sources around the world, so I want to tap into these.
The aim is to impart the knowledge I have learned from my wide-ranging experiences to others. I think that is especially important now because people cannot travel as easily as they once could.
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
I think that governments around the world are becoming more censorious. For that reason, self-censorship has now become the norm. If you do not think the way governments want you to think, you will be censored, whether it is on social media, radio, television or print. And even though government-backed media funds or organisations say they are not impacted by government involvement directly, self-censorship definitely plays a role. This is particularly the case when governments and organisations do not make it clear what can be said and what cannot. Instead, people censor themselves.
