New year, New Life

The pandemic threw certainty to the wind and changed lives. Alley Pascoe meets four women who reinvented themselves in 2020 – some out of necessity; others because the COVID shake-up gave them permission to chase their dreams.

- Alley Pascoe

Jessica Nguyen, 31

From publicist to home cook, recipe creator

It’s February 2020 and flight attendant Suzi Hannan is working her usual Melbourne to Sydney route. In her sensible heels, perfectlytailored Qantas uniform and red lipstick, Suzi, 54, does the safety demonstration, serves customers tea with milk on the side and cheerily talks about the weather in Sydney – just as she’s done for 30 years, since joining Qantas in 1989. Suzi has no idea this will be her last flight for the year – and potentially longer. In the galley, her crew members are chatting about the coronavirus that’s been in the newspapers. Their voices are hushed and tinged with mild concern, but it’s not until the following month that the harsh reality of the situation hits them like a jarring jolt of turbulence.

Lulu Dougherty, 51

From production manager to quilter

Suzi is on holiday in India with her husband in March when flights start to be grounded and countries begin to close borders. “It wasn’t until the Taj Mahal closed down for the first time in history that we realised the world was shutting down,” recalls Suzi, who immediately booked flights home to Sydney, and quarantined for two weeks on return.

Back at home on March 30, Suzi received an email from Qantas saying she was being stood down. “To see that written in black and white was confronting. I thought, ‘This is real, my job’s gone’. We were all in shock,” she says. In the click of her computer mouse, Suzi’s 30-year career was put on hold indefinitely.