What was your summer job when you were at school/uni, and what did it entail?
I grew up in the Palmerston North suburb of Highbury, and spent six years working in the town's fish 'n chippy, Captain Delicious, which was a bit of an institution in Palmerston North at the time
How/why did you end up working there?
It was a terrific job that helped buy my first motor bike and pay my way through university.
While I didn't come from a household with a lot of money, my parents certainly taught me a lot about the value of hard graft - both of them often took on extra jobs to feed the family and strive for a better life for their kids, so it was expected of me to go out and find a part-time job.
What did you like/not like about it?
As a student I certainly liked the financial benefits of working at Captain Delicious, as well as being allowed to take home any unsold food at the end of a shift.
I wasn't so much of a fan of the task of cleaning up and scrubbing out deep fryers at the end of a 10-hour shift - but I knew it had to be done so tried to do the best job I could.
Did you have any embarrassing moments working there, and if so what happened?
The first few times serving some of my fellow students late at night was a small lesson in humility.
But to be honest, the incredible work ethic of the people there, like my managers the Clarke's, really rubbed off on me, and it didn't take me long to get over that.
The owners often trusted me to look after things at the store while they were away - so one of my first leadership roles!
What was your dream job at that age?
To be honest I didn't get on a real career pathway until I left university so didn't have a dream job in mind.
I just knew I wanted to give things a decent shot and I was a little bit impatient to get on with it - whatever 'it' was going to end up being.