Running for the top job? Julie Bishop opens up about endurance, the glass ceiling and surviving in politics... (and insists it takes her only 30 minutes to get ready each day)
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She runs to get over jetlag after meeting with some of the world's most powerful leaders and she runs to keep herself 'balanced and focused' in her demanding job.
Even when the foreign minister is back home in Perth at the beach taking time out from the hustle and bustle of Canberra, she's still running.
'I'll run and run and run,' Ms Bishop told the Australian Women's Weekly in a candid interview.
'I should have been a long distance runner.'
The 58-year-old has even spent the past 17 years running up the political ranks.
Ms Bishop, who became the first female deputy leader of the Liberal Party and the first woman to be foreign minister, is now one of the most famous faces in Australian politics.
She is renowned for her immaculate and polished appearance as she makes deals and shakes hands with some of the world's most powerful leaders.
But when she does go back home, she can often be found having a coffee at the surf club where she is vice-patron in just a 't-shirt and shorts', the magazine reports.
It's in stark contrast to the Armani brand clothing, red high heels and pearl and diamond earrings she is normally photographed wearing.
People have revealed deep down Ms Bishop is in fact a 'girly girl', but she maintains it only takes her 30 minutes to shower, dress and do her hair and make up every morning.
Ms Bishop, who up until last year was the only woman in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's Cabinet, is no stranger to operating in a male-dominated environment.
As a new recruit in her first job at a legal firm in 1978, Ms Bishop was asked to hand around drinks at a function while her male counterpart was allowed to mingle with the partners.
'I knew I couldn't stay at that firm,' she told Women's Weekly.
At age 38, she became managing partner at Clayton Utz law firm and was tasked with managing 27 top male lawyers.
Yet she famously came out last year and refused to identify herself as a feminist.
She is not married and doesn't have children, but her new relationship with property developer David Panton received a flurry of attention when they were photographed at the Melbourne Cup racing carnival together last year.
Her popularity has jumped over the past 12 months, mainly due to her strong performance on the international stage in relation to foreign diplomacy and national security.
Ms Bishop fiercely confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin late last month at a summit in Italy to question him over the MH17 disaster over the Ukraine.
The Foreign Minister was also regarded for pushing the resolution the United Nations Security Council passed back in July to allow Australia and other countries access to the Malaysian Airlines crash site to retrieve the bodies.
But despite Liberal leadership speculation over the past month, Ms Bishop still maintains she is happy in her current role as Foreign Minister.
'(I'm) living the dream and loving the job,' she told Daily Mail Australia in November.
'I am in the best job I could ever wish for. It's the job I wanted to do when I went into politics.'