When you have the opportunity to ask some of the most interesting people in the world about their lives, sometimes the most fascinating answers come from the simplest questions. The Thrive Questionnaire is an ongoing series that gives an intimate look inside the lives of some of the world’s most successful people.
Thrive Global: What’s the first thing you do when you get out of bed?
Marina de Grece: Make myself a cup of Greek coffee and listen to the news and open my computer or go directly to my studio when I am very involved without breakfast.
TG: What gives you energy?
MDG: A prayer and a project.
TG: What’s your secret life hack?
MDG: Fear of being lazy.
TG: Name a book that changed your life.
MDG: “The Waste Land” by T. S. Elliot, poems by Kavafis and St. Terese of Avilla.
TG: Tell us about your relationship with your phone. Does it sleep with you?
MDG: It sleeps with me.
TG: How do you deal with email?
MDG: Love hate relationship.
TG: You unexpectedly find 15 minutes in your day, what do you do with it?
MDG: I watch a movie.
TG: When was the last time you felt burned out and why?
MDG: After something very exciting, as after the opening of a show of mine.
TG: When was the last time you felt you failed and how did you overcome it?
MDG: I don’t have the sense of failure so much as of making mistakes. I overcome it by accepting it and seeing another way around it (mending it).
TG: Share a quote that you love and that gives you strength or peace.
MDG: “You are the change” by Gandhi.
Marina Karella, Princess Michael of Greece. A Greek painter and sculptor, she started her career making costumes and stage design for the theater. She lived in Paris in 70’s and in New York in the 80’s with her husband, the writer Prince Michael of Greece. They have two daughters and five grand children. Marina Karella has numerous exhibitions in several cities around the world, such as Athens, Paris, New York and Los Angeles, while some of her works are displayed in major museums and foundations.She is the president of “Eliza,” a society for the prevention of cruelty to children in Greece.
Originally published at journal.thriveglobal.com