Reinventing Rachel WHY I HAD TO DISAPPEAR

The popular broadcaster tells how taking time off to recharge led to an exciting new adventure and a much-wanted radio comeback

- Wendyl Nissen

When Rachel Smalley returns to radio next week, it will be with a happy heart and new energy, thanks to two things: a four-year break from broadcasting and the support of a close a group of women friends.

Her show First Light on the new radio station Today FM means an early start at 5am every day, but she has done this before when she hosted Early Edition for four years at Newstalk ZB. She left in 2017 because she needed a life change and, she realised afterwards, she was exhausted.

"I had a few coffees with really smart women in the corporate world at the time and I told them I didn't know what to do," she recalls. "I didn't know what my transferable skills were. To be honest, I didn't even know what transferable skills were back then!

"I was so fortunate because a lot of them said to me: You're exhausted. You've been living in a crazy world for so long that you can't see the wood for the trees.

“They told me to extend my mortgage, take six months off work and spend a bit of time trying to work out what to do with my life, and I'm really pleased I did."

She then went to work for the Ministry of Housing for a year, which taught her about public service and how that interacts with government.

But then she signed up for a year-long Global Women Breakthrough Leadership programme and for the first time in a long time she felt supported.

"I realised that I had become quite isolated with the work I was doing and this programme gave me a network of 30 women from all walks of life who became my besties, and they still are. We have a fantastic a WhatsApp group, and we all know so much about each other and the challenges we've faced in life.” Rachel says during that time the women wrapped themselves around her and encouraged her to set up her own business.