How Shaun Christie-David Turned Purpose Into Power — And What Investors Can Learn From His Journey
In one of the most personal and powerful episodes of the Australian Property Investment Podcast, host Aaron Christie-David brings on someone very close to home — his younger brother, Shaun Christie-David.
Shaun isn’t just family. He’s a force. And in this episode, we get a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the mindset that’s driven one of Australia’s most innovative social entrepreneurs to national recognition, royal honours, and a Stanford scholarship — all within five years of starting his first restaurant.
But more than that, this episode is about something deeper: resilience, purpose, and what it means to stay the course when the world is telling you to turn back. Watch the full episode here.
From Finance to Feeding Thousands
If you’d met Shaun five years ago, he was working in finance. No hospitality background, no venues, no awards. Just a big vision and a stubborn refusal to let go of it. That vision? To use food as a vehicle for social change.
Today, Shaun is the founder of Plate It Forward, a hospitality group that includes Colombo Social, Kabul Social, and Kyiv Social — three venues that are just as known for their community impact as they are for their food.
Through these venues, Shaun and his team have employed hundreds of refugees, asylum seekers, and those traditionally excluded from the workforce. They’ve served over 660,000 donated meals, with food being prepped and cooked by the same people being empowered through training and employment.
The Real Cost of Purpose
As Aaron puts it in the episode, “You can tell the importance of someone by the size of their problems.”
And Shaun’s problems aren’t small. Rising costs, staff pressures, the reality of running a business in hospitality post-COVID — all of it comes at a price. But Shaun’s clarity of mission means he continues to thrive, even when many would have pulled back. For him, feeding 3,000 people a week isn’t a vanity metric. It’s a commitment written into his company’s constitution.
The two brothers reflect on what they call the “success tax” — the emotional and physical toll that comes with chasing something meaningful. It’s a stark reminder that on social media, all we see is the highlight reel. What we don’t see are the sleepless nights, the failed venues, the quiet sacrifices, and the strain on family life.
And yet, Shaun remains grounded. “The loudest voice we all have is the inner critic,” he shares. “Once you learn to squash that, everything else becomes background noise.”
Property, Purpose, and the Power of Mindset
While this episode may not be about interest rates, LVRs, or trust structures, its relevance to investors is undeniable.
Because at the heart of every successful investment journey is mindset. It’s the ability to swim upstream, to push forward when everyone else is pulling back, to build a vision that no one else can see — and to keep building, even when the outcome is uncertain.
Aaron draws a parallel here for property investors: “You might be on your first property, and your dream is to own five. People around you might laugh or say it’s unrealistic. But just like Shaun building a restaurant from scratch, you need to back yourself before anyone else will.”
This is the intangible magic that separates those who succeed from those who stall: vision, grit, and the ability to keep going when doubt is the only thing that feels certain.
You Can’t Be What You Can’t See
One of the most poignant moments in the podcast is when Aaron tells Shaun, “The journey you’re on isn’t about you. It’s to inspire others.”
Shaun had always shied away from recognition, thinking it was ego-driven. But once he saw the impact his visibility could have — particularly on younger people of colour, or those from migrant backgrounds — he stepped into the spotlight, not for himself, but for those who needed to see what was possible.
That’s a powerful lesson for investors, business owners, and anyone creating something that’s never existed in their circles before. Representation matters. And when you become a visible example of what’s possible, you open doors for those who never even knew there was a path.
Scaling Without Losing Soul
Shaun openly shares the hard-earned lessons from trying to scale too fast. He admits he once believed that if he touched something, it would turn to gold. That early success — particularly with Colombo Social, which was the most Googled restaurant in Australia for three months straight — gave him a false sense of invincibility.
What followed were failed venues, expensive mistakes, and a brutal realisation: scale only works when your foundations are solid.
That applies just as much to property as it does to hospitality. Without the right team, the right structures, and the right mindset, growth becomes a burden instead of a blessing.
Redefining Wealth, Redefining Success
The episode ends with a powerful reframing: that wealth is only meaningful if it aligns with your version of freedom.
For Shaun, that means the freedom to spend slow Saturdays with his mum. For Aaron, it’s the ability to help families buy their first home. For you, it could be time, security, flexibility — whatever matters most to you.
But defining that version of success is key. Because otherwise, you risk chasing numbers that won’t actually make you happier. As Shaun says, “An arbitrary number isn’t freedom. Freedom is waking up and doing what you love — with the people you love.”
Compound Actions, Not Just Compound Interest
You’ve probably heard that compounding is the eighth wonder of the world. Most people think that only applies to interest.
But this episode shows us that compound actions — the small, consistent, values-driven choices you make every day — are what build real legacy.
Shaun’s journey is living proof that purpose and profit aren’t mutually exclusive. That hospitality can be more than food. That investing can be more than numbers. And that, sometimes, the biggest returns come not from what we get, but from what we give.
Listen to the full episode of the Australian Property Investment Podcast with Shaun Christie-David wherever you get your podcasts. If you’ve been inspired by this episode, share it with someone who needs a reminder that the biggest dreams often come from the humblest beginnings — and that success isn’t what you have, but what you do with it.
