"I was talking absolute bloody rubbish because I had no thought they would employ me at all. I had some friends that I had gone to Massey with who lived in Hawke's Bay and I was thinking we are going out tonight - this is going to be a great night anyway.
"I went back home and a week later they rang and said 'the job is yours if you want it'," she said.
She had worked in shearing sheds, where women often worked, but the rest of the industry was male dominated and often sexist.
"Hawke's Bay farmers had a super fund. They said, we won't put you in that because you are female and you will only be here two years at the most and then you'll get married and have kids.
"So I missed out - I didn't know what super was. They had all those mergers and payouts - I missed out on all of that. I was probably one of the longest-serving employees."
Owning Wright Wool, her wool buying and broking firm "happened by accident". Chris Reid of H Tucker suggested she replace him in the partnership with his brother Bill.
"I was a field rep then and he said he had talked to all the farmers and I was the right sort of person that could do something like this. I just laughed because I thought, 'why would I want to own a bloody wool firm'?
"I came home and told my partner and started laughing."
Dean Freeman didn't think it was funny, however. "He said, 'Why wouldn't you? Itis what you have been doing all your life'.
"I didn't actually say yes, I just went along with the ride and it is the best thing I have ever done.
"Fortunately, because I had such a history of working with men of that ilk, I understood how I had to behave.
"He taught me a lot. I didn't know anything about running a business so I had four years with him, which was really good, and then he retired.
"I can still remember the feeling of freedom and knowing that it was my destiny - I can run this how I want to. I can put all that moaning and groaning over the years aside and now it was up to me.
"I have loved it, I have really, really loved it. In no way did I plan to be a wool buyer or wool broker."
She said competition for farming clients was "war" amongst wool buyers but being one of the few females was advantageous.
"When you meet someone different in the industry you are remembered. Also curiosity always gets them. When I knock on the door they let me in because they want to know how come you are working here. That was a huge advantage when I came here - I was well known and recognised by the farming community.
She said she was very good at small talk, especially rugby.
"You have no idea how good I am - I don't have to watch the game. I go to the first house and I say, 'Did you watch the rugby on Saturday?' and they tell me about the game. At the next house I tell them something that they told me and by the end of the road I know the whole game."
