During the 2020 Covid lockdowns, we were told not to worry about our productivity. It was a distressing time and slowing down was okay. However, for four young women, slowing down was also the start of something new. With reduced paid work and abandoned travel plans, they focused on making and creating. In 2022, these women now have successful start-up businesses making beautifully crafted goods. Kelsey, Jessica, Emily and Haley share their experience of turning their lockdown labours into thriving businesses.
WELLINGTON KNITS
KELSEY JANE BROWN (pictured left)
In March 2020, Kelsey Brown was waiting to lose her job. On the wage subsidy for her Wellington hospitality job, she felt both bored and helpless. Originally from Kansas City, Kelsey arrived in New Zealand in 2017 on a one-way ticket and had been managing bars to maintain her work residency since.
“I felt stuck – I’d work another year at the bar because they would sponsor my visa, but I had zero passion for hospitality,” she says. The first national lockdown
