No one loves eating avocado more than Jen Scoular. That's just as well because she leads a team that aims to transform what was once a cottage industry in Northland and the Bay of Plenty into a $280m export juggernaut.
She never tires of avocados and says: "My favourite is for breakfast on Vogel's toast with butter and vegemite."
Selling fruit has taken Scoular a long way in life.
She used to make great money picking and selling her Dad's plums at their front gate.
"I bought my first shares when I was 15 with the money from the plums, which was great as that funded my first travel to London."
With an accounting degree from Canterbury University under her belt, she headed overseas to begin a high-flying career which has taken her around the world -- from London to Munich, Italy and Hamburg and back to New Zealand.
For the past four years she has been chief executive of NZ Avocado. The organisation is tasked with implementing a growth strategy for the industry and getting everyone involved to co-operate with one another to reach those goals.
Northland is a key focus.
The region has 332 orchards which grow avocados for export, covering more than 1200ha - one third of New Zealand's total crop area.
"I think I use every skill I've ever learned here," Scoular says.
"Obviously I need to have the commercial experience.
"But we need to understand cultures, and foodie habits, and consumers.
Scoular says she needed the diplomatic skills she learned in Europe, where she was consul general and trade commissioner for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise in Hamburg for four years, the ability to persuade and influence people and the ability to see the bigger picture and understand that there is not always a straight line forward.
"I need the ability to seek, evaluate and grab new opportunities or ways of doing things.
"No two days are the same. Just when I think I'm getting on top of things something new comes up -- either to bite us or to entice us."
So Scoular has once again found herself travelling the world, helping to open and maintain export markets, and engaging with health-conscious consumers to promote our avocados.
New Zealand exports 70 per cent of its national crop to eight different markets.
"I have a great team, but my office is often like a train station.
"So much happens in any one day, and in growth mode, a lot is new, so there's lots of discussion about the best way to move on opportunities or to action issues that come up."
Her global outlook on life has just seen her elected Tauranga branch chairwoman of the Institute of International Affairs, an organisation which seeks to encourage an understanding of the importance of global affairs to the wellbeing of New Zealand.
Her many demanding roles suit the energetic mother-of-two, who is excited by the prospects that lie ahead.
"Every time I swim in our river at home I look at the bush and say 'wow'. New Zealand is such an amazing country -- the people are fantastic, the opportunities are great.
"There are lots of challenges such as our distance and our tiny population. But there's plenty of opportunity ahead."