The Best Job! Julia's World Of Difference

As a child, Julia Capon (37) wanted to save sea birds. Today she runs an online jobs board connecting “do-gooders” with paid jobs at charities and non-profit organisations

- Julie Jacobson

My parents emigrated from the UK to teach here in the 1970s. I spent the early years of my life in Gisborne, but moved to Dunedin for high school and university, and to live with my dad after my parents divorced. My mum went to the UK to look after my grandma.

Growing up I was addicted to the TV show Captain Planet; I wanted to be a ‘planeteer’. I have really vivid memories of a storyline around birds and sea life caught in plastic six-pack can rings. It led me to form a conservation club with my neighbours. I’m not sure they were that keen, but they were younger than me and I was bossier! This pretty much meant picking up rubbish on the street on the way to the dairy to spend our pocket money on lollies.

I went to the University of Otago not really knowing what I wanted to study. I had a vague idea I wanted to be a businesswoman – earning good money – but had no clue what the work actually looked like, so I took the subjects I got the best grades in during my first year. That led me to a Masters in Business in Marketing, plus I picked up a Bachelor of Arts in Design, and a side of Spanish – resulting in a semester university exchange in Chile.