Daizy Gedeon is a Lebanese-Australian filmmaker, journalist, and entrepreneur.
She is also the CEO and Creative Director of GDR Group - a leading Australian, marketing services company based in Sydney.
After attending High School at MLC in Burwood and the selective Fort Street High School for her final two years, Daizy won a coveted position as a cub reporter with News Limited, after beating more than 1500 applicants to secure one of 11 available spots. At the same time she commenced a Bachelor of Arts degree at the UNSW majoring in International Relations, English and History.
During her more than 17-year career as a journalist and filmmaker, Daizy held roles at media giants such as News Limited, Channel 4 News and The Times Group in London and the Middle East Broadcasting Centre. From an early career as a sports writer on various News Ltd publications, Daizy, pioneered the way for females in sports writing at The Australian newspaper when she was appointed the first female sports writer and then was offered her own sports round as the first-ever female soccer reporter in Australia. She covered the Socceroos' inaugural Olympic Games debut in Seoul in 1988.
After making the move from sports writing to foreign affairs, Daizy became an expert on the Middle East. Some of the highlights of her career in this field included attending the Arab Summit in Baghdad in 1990 and meeting the late Palestinian Liberation Organization leader, Yasser Arafat, and brushing shoulders with the late Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein and some of the Arab World's prominent leaders.
The following year she covered the historic Middle East Peace Treaty signing, when the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the late King Hussein of Jordan, in the presence of former US President Bill Clinton ended a decades old stand-off at the southern border crossing of Arabah on 26 October 1994.
Daizy is also the creator, producer, writer, and director of Lebanon...Imprisoned Splendour (1996), a critically acclaimed documentary exploring Lebanon’s tolerant society during its war-torn, tumultuous history and the important yet complex theme of identity.
Since 2007, Daizy has officially been at the helm of GDR Group, turning a family-owned letterbox distribution company into a national, multi-channel marketing services agency. In operation for more than 35 years, GDR is widely regarded as one of the most trusted and reputed in the industry.
GDR's purpose, based on Daizy's passion is -Â "To provide a level-playing field for all business owners/leaders to achieve their personal and professional goals by providing access to the best minds, tools and strategies. "
