The TV producer Jimmy Mulville has been an incredible mentor.

Yes, a major one, along with Sir Georg Solti. Because they’re both Hungarian, I used to call them the Hungarian mafia. He was always onto me. “Have you bring to Vera?” And then she’d say, “Georg, he won’t be liking this bit.” And between the two of them, there was this whish-whish-whish, like sword fighting, and I was being killed by the both of them. But I enjoyed every minute of it. It was good for me.

One was seeing Warren Mitchell in Death of a Salesman when I was 18. I thought it was the most amazing piece of acting. The other was seeing my sister Sorcha (1) in Brian Friel's version of Three Sisters when I was 23. I'd trained as a musician, but I saw that and thought: "Well, now I know how to play Irina (2)." A few years later, I did.

I aspire to Jane Austen's precision and observation, but I'm nowhere near.

I would say just start, but don’t start by asking, “What is my purpose? What is my passion?” Start by asking, “What are the problems that need to be solved? Which ones attract me?” And take a step toward that. Take one step, and the work will teach you where you need to take the next step. Build tools in your toolbox.

I don’t. Need a better system. Feel too owned by it right now.

It is usually 4 or 5 in the morning so I go downstairs and make tea and then read a bit of poetry – Mary Oliver, Rumi, Hafiz, Seamus Heaney, Yeats, Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Pablo Neruda, Rilke are among my favorites…

Eleanor Roosevelt. She represents a woman of great privilege, who never shied away from that privilege. She used her privilege to help the most vulnerable, the voices unheard.

I am lucky not to have felt burned out. That probably goes back to what energizes me. I get great energy from connecting with people we are serving especially. And if the work feels too hard, there is nothing like a long run to revive my spirit…

On the one hand, we have people that say the aid system is so broken we need to throw it out. And on the other we have people who say the problem is that we need more aid. ... Both sides are right. And the problem is that neither side is listening to the other. Even more problematic, they're not listening to poor people themselves.