The Pivot

Davy Chen spent 14 years working in the travel and tourism industry. Bright eyed and fresh out of tourism college he scored his first job at a backpackers in 2006, and by 2014 he was working in the big leagues at Flight Centre. 

But as COVID reared it’s ugly head in 2020, flights were grounded and the bright lights of tourism began to fade. 

Luckily for Davy, tourism wasn’t his only passion and after a bit of soul searching he decided to turn his side hustle into a full time gig.

He tells Newshub’s Wilhelmina Shrimpton how he launched a videography business called ‘Big Bright Media’ in the middle of a pandemic, and how the idea was born from his love of basketball and sneakers. 

This is audio of Davy Chen’s journey of film.

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Launching a business in the middle of New Zealand’s second lockdown? Why not! That’s exactly what Clare Gallagher and Lauren ‘Lulu’ Taylor did. 

The pandemic meant Lulu’s marketing work had dried up, and Clare was looking to re-enter the workforce after taking time off to raise her kids. But our economy had tanked, and so had the job market. 

So the pair created their own jobs by feeding into New Zealand’s new found love of lockdown baking and baking mix company ‘Secret Kiwi Kitchen’ was born. 

They tell Newshub’s Wilhelmina Shrimpton how they forged a friendship, built a business and brought an idea to life that was ‘sure to rise’. 

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Tamarin Howse had always dreamed of working for Air New Zealand so when she landed a role at head office as a Customer Experience designer, she thought she’d be in it for the long haul. 

But just a year in, and right before she was about to launch a huge project, the Covid 19 pandemic struck New Zealand and she lost her job.

Thankfully though, she had something else on the boil. A small tea business she’d been operating as a tiny side hustle.

She tells Newshub's Wilhelmina Shrimpton about her anxiety, her brand Anxie-TEA, and how she turned a passion project into a career.

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David Rooney had a dream job in a dream city. After working at ZM in New Zealand, he packed his bags and moved to Melbourne at the end of 2017 to work at major music station KIIS FM.

But as COVID took hold of the world last year, the dream started to look more like a nightmare. In an already tough working environment, and through not one but two strict lockdowns he decided he’d had enough. 

David tells Newshub’s Wilhelmina Shrimpton about returning home, and how he started to love the skin he was in again by launching his very own skin care line.

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Annabelle Reynolds never thought she’d be able to turn her passion for the ocean into a job. She’d been in advertising for most of her career, and that’s where she planned to stay. But just like the world, her work began to slow as COVID-19 tightened its grip. 

She lost her job in June 2020, but after a trip to the beach she had a light bulb moment. An idea that would quite literally allow her to stay afloat. 

She tells Newshub’s Wilhelmina Shrimpton how  she turned her love for surfing into a business, and how Mish Surf Society was born. 

Send your career pivot story to [email protected]

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COVID-19 hit the media industry hard, but among the hardest hit was Bauer New Zealand.

It abruptly closed its doors just days into the country's level 4 lockdown, taking around three hundred jobs with it and iconic titles like The Listener, New Zealand Woman's Weekly, Metro and Woman's Day.

Some of those titles have since been re-born and so have the careers of their former writers, editors and salespeople.

Newshub's Wilhelmina Shrimpton speaks to two of them about their pivots.

Kelly Bertand who has launched her own content website called 'Capsule', and Mike Sanders who's moved into Commercial Real Estate.

Send your COVID-19 career pivot story to [email protected]

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The skies were Mike Kitching's livelihood for 18 years, before he was made redundant alongside thousands of other Air New Zealand staff.

But now he's quite literally putting his career on ice, by pivoting his way into a new business venture as an ice cream shop owner. 

Newshub’s Wilhelmina Shrimpton speaks to him about how he grieved the end of his cabin crew job, and where he found the inspiration to open Scrunchy Millers on Auckland's North Shore. He even gives us a cheeky taste test as well! 

Send is your pivot story - [email protected]

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2020 was ruthless, unforgiving and unprecedented. Because, while our bodies became sick from Covid 19, so did our economy. There were redundancies, company closures, and the largest rise in unemployment since the global financial crisis. The seismic shift in our daily lives forced us to change, adapt and pivot. 

 Join Newshub’s Wilhelmina Shrimpton who speaks to Kiwis whose livelihoods were stolen overnight, and pushed into survival mode in the blink of an eye. 

Each episode will share a new story of sudden change. Everyday people who were made redundant, forced to close their business or completely change the way they operated. From former cabin crew, pilots and media executives to event organisers, designers and travel agents. How did they cope? And where are they now? How did they utilise their skills to forge a new path, and become a career chameleon? 

This is ‘The Pivot’. 

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