Pilot Episode // Introduction

Hi everyone, it's Grace here! I'm a British born New Zealander, one time corporate lawyer, turned cupcake maker. That's right, I'm that girl that you might have heard about who ditched her law job to start a cupcake bakery around 5 years ago – that's Sweet Bakery & Cakery here in Wellington.

What you might not know is that we sold the Sweet business – pretty much our first born child – around 1.5 years ago, just after our real life child came into the world. Nowadays I'm working as the marketing manager at Six Barrel Soda Co., and living in the Wairarapa, just outside of Wellington.

Despite not owning my own business anymore, I'm still super passionate about business and supporting local New Zealand business. If you dare mention you have a business idea or dream, you better watch out for the barage of questions and motivation coming your way from my corner.

It kinda goes without saying that right now sucks big time for small business owners (well it sucks a bit for everyone but mostly if you have your livelihood on pause for an indefinate amout of time!). During my time running Sweet Bakery, we managed the business through the Kaikoura earthquake, so I had a little taster of the business disruption and how uncertain that time is.

So, Pep Talk is my way of celebrating and supporting (from a distance!) our favourite New Zealand businesses during this tough time. There's so much media around right now – a lot of it sensationalised and negatively spun – I don't want to to add to that noise. Overall I want this space to be a real celebration of our favourite businesses – an opportunity and a way for us to support them, while they're closed.

I'd also love it if this was a space for inspiration, I personally love hearing business stories, what inspired them to start, what their challenges they've faced, how they've grown and learned along the way.

Of course we can't ignore what's happening all together – we aren't in a bubble (well, we are but a different kind of bubble right now), so I'll be keen to hear a bit about the impact Covid-19 has had on business - but more importantly, how businesses have responded, got creative, pivoted and found silver linings in these crazy times.

So since we've all got a little bit more time on our hands at the moment, I hope you'll come along with me for this ride – and also be first in line at these businesses once they emerge from lockdown. Let's go...