Money makers: From dreams to reality

Kristina Karlsson, a Swede living in Australia, woke up early one morning and turned an epiphany into a stationery empire.

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Kristina Karlsson: improving the world's stationery

Self-confessed "stationery freak" Kristina Karlsson had an epiphany at 3am one morning nearly 20 years ago, says Kate Stanton on the BBC. Worried about her future and unable to sleep, she got out of bed to make a to-do list of her hopes and dreams. The then-24-year-old from Falkenberg, Sweden, had moved to Australia to be with her partner, Paul Lacy. "As a Swedish person, I grew up with really beautiful stationery and notepads around me," says Karlsson. "But I found that everything [in Australia] was price-driven, badly designed and boring."

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.