From Olympic hopeful TO COOKING QUEEN!

How the pandemic helped Kiwi inflencer Kelsi score her dream job

- Morgan Reardon

While many of us spent large chunks of last year baking bread and doing puzzles, Kelsi Boocock was busy making her dreams a reality.

A competitive swimmer her whole life, the 23-year-old from Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast hoped to one day represent New Zealand at the Olympic Games, but after parting ways with her trusted coach in 2018, the grueling training sessions started to leave her “crying into my googles” and she realized the sport she once treasured no longer brought her joy.

After agonizing deliberation, Kelsi traded in her swimming cap to embrace her other great passion, travel, planning a two-year bucket-list adventure around the world with her partner Andrew Trembath, 24.

But a week before the duo were set to leave for their first stop, a three-week hike through Nepal, COVID slammed our borders shut, ending Kelsi’s once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Retreating to her parents’ home in Mangawhai, Kelsi admits she was devastated that first week of lockdown.

“I had a full-on breakdown,” she confesses. “I just kept thinking, ‘What am I going to do with my life? I’m not good at anything!’”

But after a pep talk from her mum, it wasn’t long before Kelsi, who had recently completed a Bachelor of Business, set about researching potential careers. However, after spending hours online, she finally had her lightbulb moment while baking a batch of chocolate-chip biscuits.