Life as I Know it...

My life could have been completely different if my parents called me magenta, but luckily they called me Rose. I was born in Golden Bay, New Zealand, a small town community that held a mixture of “alternative” jewellers, artists and yoga junkies with famers and rugby heads. My parents were more on the alternative side, and I played with kids named, “Fern” and “Clay”.

Our family owned a few barn yard animals though, we weren’t woken by alarm clocks but instead the strangled crow of the rooster strutting proudly outside. I named two of our chickens Dorothy and Toto. Mum would hate it, but I would sneak them inside cuddle up with them and watch TV. When we walked our dog, a beautiful collie named Lassie, Toto and Dorothy would come along too. A strange site for the lonely tourist down on the Tukarua beach, but the most normal thing for us.  

My Dad got a job in Auckland with New Zealand Autocar magazine when I was 12. I hated my Dad for saying yes at the time. I dug in my heels, and made my parents feel as guilty as I could. I did not want to leave this beautiful place I called home.

I remember my first day at school at Orewa College. My Nana dropped me off and said, “knock em dead kid” I gave her a brave smile stepped out of the car, and never looked back. On the way to form class I met Danielle, we smiled nervously at each other and at the same time we said, “Hello”. We sheepishly grinned then simultaneously we asked, “Do you know anyone?” We laughed, and since that day we have been best friends.    

Even though to begin with the move from Golden Bay to Auckland was nail biting, it installed the thrill of the unknown into me. After I completed my Bachelor of Arts at Auckland University, I had an adventure, and it was amazing. I taught film at an arts summer camp in New Jersey; I was a house keeper on a ski resort in Canada, a barista in Vancouver, and a teacher in Peru. I returned to New Zealand knowing that my passion is writing, and knowing that journalism is the career that I want to pursue.

I embarked on this journey in 2010 and enrolled in a post graduate diploma in journalism. My lectures encouraged me to stay on and continue studying for my masters. My masters is a practical piece of journalism investigating better prevention strategies for child abuse. I am proud of the footprints I have left on this earth to date, but I am yet to make my mark on the world, and hope to by being an excellent journalist.