Snapshot: FIONA FRASER

Past: A Southland farmer’s daughter, Fiona wrote almost as soon as she could talk. A pivotal moment came when, aged eight, her business- minded dad asked her to write a 500- word essay on how the stock market worked. She found that horrendously dull, but it came with a reward — $ 100 in Brierley shares. Sadly, they plummeted in value just a few months later. All was not lost, though, as the exercise piqued an early interest in journalism, leading (eventually) to studying broadcast journalism and a career as a writer and editor (she led the teams at the Australian Women’s Weekly and then the NZ Woman’s Weekly.) Present: In 2016, Fiona, husband Scott and son Salvador moved from Auckland to Hawke’s Bay, purchasing property a few minutes from Havelock North. Their 1920s house has a terminally leaking roof, and a kitchen that was so damp they discovered a crop of mushrooms growing in a dark cupboard. It is now in various stages of renovation and likely to remain that way for some time. They have four moody chooks, an adopted dog (the ubiquitous Hawke’s Bay black lab) and Fiona has founded a PR and communications business, Contentment Agency (contentment. co. nz). It’s what she likes to call boutique — i. e. it currently involves just her, but there are plans to grow. Future: There’s a shed out the back of her property that was begging to be remodeled into Contentment Agency’s office, so that’s underway. And she and keen cook Scott frequently toss around ideas for establishing dumpling houses in Hawke’s Bay.