Snapshot: YAWYNNE Y EM

PAST: Out- of- date copies of tween (preteen) magazines are often trashed when left unsold in supermarkets. A solution was provided for one Wellington supermarket by Yawynne’s mum who took them home from her checkout job. Thus began an obsession with magazines (such as Creme and Total Girl) and a vital education for Yawynne, a first- generation immigrant from Cambodia. After leaving Wellington Girls’ College, she bid farewell to her hometown for a gap year in Europe, surviving on plain rice to pay for such treats as a tube ride to allow her to sneak into London Fashion Week. She returned inspired to start her Bachelor of Communications at AUT, a degree she had begun researching aged 12 after realizing a Creme writer had met the band,

One Direction. Yawynne celebrated her first published piece on The

Spinoff alongside her 21st birthday last year, an occasion requiring her to wear a dress printed with newspaper headlines.

PRESENT: In her role as NZ Life & Leisure’s assistant, Yawynne has mastered the art of multitasking. Her little red 50cc scooter pulls up to the office each day, depositing her ready to answer subscription enquiries. Yawynne, as one of the cashless, Gen Z generation, has never been more challenged than by the concept of a cheque.

FUTURE: Yawynne will graduate with a degree in journalism at the end of this year and hopes to match that with another badge of grown-upness, a restricted licence. Her excuse of “you’re not a true Wellingtonian unless you still have your learner’s” is becoming weaker by the day. And when the time comes, Yawynne dreams of returning to London Fashion Week as an accredited journalist. To her, this is far better than being the trespasser (cheeky but chic) she was at 18.