With the tides turning in every other area of her life, Carolyn embarked on a career sea change, launching an artisan paper-goods business called Cartouche.
What brought you home from London?
After London, we had planned on living in another country first as a stepping stone to life back home in New Zealand.
However, our daughter, Molly, came along a little earlier than expected, and it seemed crazy to set up life in a country other than home with our new family. We decided to come straight back to New Zealand so we could have a better quality of life and enjoy being close to our families.
Why did you choose to settle in Tauranga?
Tauranga always seemed like the perfect city - not too big or small and with a very enviable beach lifestyle.
We have a huge garden and vege patch. In London we used to carry our beanbag down two blocks past a busy road to a public park to enjoy a piece of grass.
What prompted you to start Cartouche?
After moving home with an 8-month-old I was hungry to get back into work but I was not prepared to sell my soul. I began screen-printing greeting cards in my garage and Cartouche was born.
I have grown to creating larger art prints and doing bespoke commissions as well as developing my skills as an artist, designer and illustrator.
What has Tauranga been like as a place to start a business?
It's been great. Working in the creative industry can be hugely competitive, but I could really sense the community support in Tauranga, and in the Mount in particular, so I felt encouraged to build up the confidence to go for it.
I was able to maintain the lifestyle that I was striving for as a mother working from home.
What have you enjoyed about your lifestyle here?
Very soon after moving to the Mount we were able to buy a house with a lovely big garden, so between gardening and renovating we are kept very busy.
Molly is almost 3 now. She is blossoming in leaps and bounds and is a proud big sister to baby Jack. She loves going to the beach.
Quite the opposite of the concrete-bred baby who was afraid of grass when we first moved here.
www.cartouche.co.nz
Diana Judge of Break Free Expeditions
Returned from North America They'll probably make a movie about Diana Judge one day.
The plot outline? High-flying Kiwi expat and global brand manager for Shell Oil based in North America has a Slumdog Millionaire moment and gives up her lucrative lifestyle to establish an aid organisation.
Oh, and the scenery would be stunning. She travels the world, but has her own home and office base in Papamoa, just across the road from the beach.
Diana, you spent a long time overseas. What brought you home?
I was on a business trip meeting with my team in India and on the way back to the airport our car stopped at the lights. A young girl was begging. She was about 8 and holding on to a little baby. She started crying as she banged on my window, saying, "help me, help me!"
The lights changed, we drove off but that was the defining moment for me to do something to help the poor.
How did that take shape?
Returning to New Zealand I decided to have a break from corporate life to create my own aid organisation, Break Free Expeditions. It is a volunteer tourism company, which has been going for seven years now.
We take teams of volunteers to nine different countries around the world to build homes for families living in slums, provide assistance in some orphanages and to feed the homeless.
What are your current projects?
I've just returned from Mexico with two teams where we built three homes for single mums, and I'm preparing to take a team of 25 Kiwis to Vanuatu in July to help with the Cyclone Pam rebuild.
We have four more teams later this year heading to Fiji, Peru, Cambodia/Vietnam and Uganda.
We're on track for our biggest year yet.
Why do you make Tauranga your home base?
I grew up in Whakatane and it's always nice to come home to New Zealand and regroup before I head out with another team. Living in the Papamoa area is totally awesome.
When I am here I feel like I am on holiday even though there is a lot of office work still to do. On a fine day I take advantage of the beach and all the beautiful outdoor activities that are here and when it rains, that is when it's serious work time.
My parents live at the Mount so it's nice to be closer to them as well.
What do you enjoy about running your business from here?
People are really friendly, it's very easy to get around and it is very easy to run your business from here - even an international enterprise like mine.
As long as you have got a good internet connection and an airport close by you are good to go.
There is a really nice work-life balance here and that is what I was trying to achieve.
www.breakfreeexpeditions.com
Kathryn Overall of Engage Communications
Returned from Sydney When Kathryn Overall moved home to Tauranga in 2008 after eight fast-paced years in Sydney, she promised herself she would return to her creative roots.
Songwriting is her first love, with reading and writing a close second.
In 2010, Kathryn began Engage Communications, a brand story-telling and social marketing business. One of her projects is managing communications for www.wishyouwereworkinghere.co.nz, a Priority One initiative to attract Kiwi expats to the Bay of Plenty.
Kathryn, is it true you swore you wouldn't live in Tauranga when you first moved home to New Zealand?
I'm afraid it is. I hotfooted it to Auckland faster than you could say "get me to a big city".
At the time I thought that going from Sydney to Tauranga would be like cruising down the pace-of-life highway at 100km/h in fifth gear and then suddenly stalling into first.
So, what happened?
The Global Financial Crisis happened. The week I appeared in Auckland, the doors slammed shut on jobs all across the city with a resounding bang.
I ended up back in Tauranga a few months later after being offered a short-term piano teaching contract. I never went back to Auckland.
And how did you find the pace of life?
Tauranga was actually exactly what I needed. I needed to slow down. I needed to reconnect with my roots, to spend time outside, to leave work at 5pm, to notice the changing seasons.
And once I had caught my breath, Tauranga was a great place to rebuild momentum again.
Why did you decide to start your own business?
The year I turned 30 I had this sudden desire to create something of my own and consequently Engage Communications came into the world.
That's when I discovered the vibrant little village-city that exists at the heart of Tauranga once you get to know it. There's a lot of "can-do" in the air here. A lot of creative, smart people doing good and interesting things. When you are starting out in business, living in a place where everyone knows someone who knows someone is a wonderful thing.
Where do you work from?
After working from home for two years I became a founding member of the Ignition Co-Working Space in the heart of Tauranga city and have been here ever since.
I am also picking away at recording an album of original songs so I sometimes sneak away from the office to my friend's home studio.
Those are my favourite days.
www.engage-communications.co.nz
