I was born and bred in Wellington, NZ. Growing up in a small town 45 minutes north of Wellington called Upper Hutt, summer days filled with swimming in the river, outdoor cricket, bullrush and being allowed to stay out until the street lights came on. Winters were cold and wet but cozy inside with crackling wood burning on the open fire place, prodding the flames with a poker trying not to singe my hands. My teenage years were filled with sport, in particular track and field, where I excelled at running which developed my discipline, drive and determination ultimately helping me through my successful working carer.
I started my working career with the Bank of New Zealand in a small branch in the suburbs. My first role was sitting at a large coding machine in a room in the back of the branch, typing in dollar amounts on cheques people had written out and banked. I progressed quickly to the Tellers, working with people and of course the wonderful old clunky green screen computers. I spent the next 15 years with the bank working my way up the corporate ladder to the position of Sales Manager Private and Premium banking for high net worth clients. I had a team of 15 premium and private bankers that I managed.
I resigned from the bank in 2002 to pursue a lifestyle change on the Gold Coast, Australia. For the next couple of years I worked for a funds management company as the Commercial Finance Manager, responsible for bringing new business from around Australia.
An opportunity presented itself with the emerging Gold Coast commercial market and I decided to start my own commercial finance broking business. Property was both a passion and hobby of mine during this time. I began buying and selling several properties on the Gold Coast and New Zealand.
GFC hit with very difficult lending conditions, and in 2010 decided to make my hobby my career and sold out of my brokering business to join Ray White Real Estate new projects to learn the ropes! Spent the next 4 years embedded in the real estate world of new projects honing my skills.
2014 resigned from Ray White new projects to start my own digital online real estate agency and ‘Key Investments’ was born. I have taken my finance and real estate skills over the past 25+ years to carve out a niche in the new properties market where trusted advice, local market knowledge, experience and a genuine drive to help achieve my buyers goals has helped me grow into the thriving business it is today.
