January 25, 2026 • 22 mins
It’s not uncommon to think that as we get older our biggest chapters are behind us, and that once we hit ours 40s or 50s it’s too late to make any real change. Jayne Kiely proves this completely false, transitioning from elite athlete to TV personality. Then at 50 she completely reinvented herself again, proving it’s never too late to try something new.
In the episode, Toni and Jayne chat about how growing up the child of undertakers influenced her life, the natural transition from pro athlete to media personality, why she decided to make such a radical change once she hit 50 and so much more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, So we need to talk Tony Street's Lifestyle and
Wellness podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, welcome to We need to Talk. It's great to
have you with us again. There's a belief that can
creep in as we get older, that our biggest chapters
might be behind us, that if something worked once, we
should clink to it, and that starting again in your
late forties or your fifties is potentially risky, maybe embarrassing,
or simply too late. Today's guest proves that belief completely false.
(00:28):
Jane Kylie has lived many lives. She was an elite athlete,
winning ten national secondary schools titles, which I thought was
blooming impressive. She represented New Zealand at two Commonwealth Games
two World Championships. She then moved into television, becoming a
familiar face on our screens. She hosted Might Attempt Dream
Home for a decade, Mountain Jew on the Edge, which
I remember was such a cool show, and she even
(00:49):
commentated at the Sydney two thousand Olympics. Most recently, you'll
know that she's hosting Location, Location, Location on TVNZ one.
And then the work stopped at forty six, the phone
stopped ringing. She had no contracts no income to teenage
boys at home, a husband that was a way a
lot working internationally, and no idea what to do next.
Jane then made a brave call. At fifty, she reinvented
(01:11):
herself completely, starting again in real estate with Ray White,
and today, at sixty one, she says she's the most
successful that she's ever been. Jane, I loved her so much,
and I heard your speech that you delivered recently and
I found it utterly inspiring. Congratulations on being brave and
letting us know about your story properly as well.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Thank you, and it's great to be here.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
But it was a story that I didn't think was
that big a deal, but it really resonated with a
lot of women out there, and I got a lot
of phone calls afterwards, a lot of text lot of emails.
I even had coffee morning tea with a couple of
women that thinking of going into real estate or thinking
of switching and doing something completely different. And I guess
(01:55):
I've always been one not to smuck around.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I don't dwell on anything. I just get on with it.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
And you know, if it hadn't been for Megan Jeffy,
who's the principal Ray white Room. You were a sort
of saying to me one day at a charity fundraiser, Okay,
what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I said, well, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
I mean TV's kind of dried up, and a lot
of sponsorship deals ambassador ships weren't happening anymore. She said,
get into real estate, and I think I said in
my speech, oh God, my husband wouldn't let me do that.
He thinks all real estate agents are wankers. But then
I thought, maybe this is my next thing, you know,
maybe I should do this and put myself out there
(02:34):
and learn something new. And so yeah, I went off
to real estate school like a true boomer and sat
in the front row with my pack lunch and my
highlighter and got my license.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
And it wasn't easy though.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
It was tough getting into a cole new gig that
I had no I had background and buying and selling houses,
but you know, listening and negotiating and getting listings wasn't easy.
You know, you're a new People know who you are,
but they don't necessarily think that you're going to do
a great job because you've got no experience. So I
(03:07):
had to really work hard for the first two years
to get any credibility. But as soon as I had
a couple of sales, I know, my belt, then the
momentum started building.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, and you've been doing this now for nearly ten years.
How has your life changed in that ten years since
since being brave and switching careers.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Well, it was all consuming, and I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
There was a little bit of guilt in the beginning
because my sons were, you know, they were sort of
fifteen and seventeen, and sometimes older teenagers almost need you more,
if you know what I mean than the little ones.
And so, but they they were used to me coming
going and you know, being away with dream Home, you know,
(03:53):
for ten weekends in a row, and just and I
think it was a good example for them to see
their mom getting out there something you completely against the
grain of where she had been heating and then being successful.
So they're very proud of me, and they tell me
that now they're a little bit old and they look
back and they say, good on you, mum. You know,
you said you were going to do it, and you did.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It, and you did it and now you're enjoying the
fruits and the irony is so you switched because the
TV had dried up, and now you're back doing TV
again because of your real estate job.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yes, isn't that crazy?
Speaker 4 (04:25):
I mean here, I am a real estate agent, not
a TV presenter, and now I'm both. And I actually
said when screen Time called me and for the audition,
I sort of said, do.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
You guys know how old I am?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You know?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Seriously? And I said, Coops, you do you? No? No,
we think you know.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
We think you should try out for it. So we
did the old chemistry test with Paul Glover and that
went very well. He's such a cool guy.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
And who better to host it than you. You had
all the TV experience and the real estate experience, so
it was a perfect combination.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah, the whole camera thing and being back in front
of the on screen was very natural to me. And
it's great that it's not a scripted show. You do
a couple of piece of camera at the top, but
it's all just our personalities and I think that.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Works well with the talent because you put them at ease.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I want to go back to your upbringing now, because
sitting here as a forty two year old, I know
a lot of mums that would love to do what
you've done and retrain, but don't quite have the confidence.
So I want to see where that comes from. Tell
me about your upbringing because it was quite unique.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I've got four older brothers.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
There's quite a big gap between my four older brothers
and me, So I think there might have been a
nice mistake because after four boys, you're probably a bit worried.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
About your getting another board. Totally, I rocked on. But
my parents were funeral directors.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
So my father's father was a funeral director, so that's
sort of that succession type of way of getting into
the work. And then but I mum was one of
the first women of babas in New Zealand, and they
had a business in Alexandra in Central Otaga where I
grew up, which was fabulous.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
So we had a chapelain, a mortuary and all the
facilities next to our main house and a little intercom
system and I go home, Mum, I'm home, where are you?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
And she goes, oh, I'm in the mortuary, darling.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
My gosh, was that scary?
Speaker 4 (06:18):
No, because they never made it scary, you know, it's
a fact of life. And they very much protected me
from any side of the business that wasn't appropriate for
a teenage girl. But Dad always said, you know, don't
worry about the dead ones. Love, it's the ones that
are still alive you've got.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
To worry about, right, isn't he You tempted to go
down the family business route.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
No, Mom and Dad sold up and left Alex when
I was in my year.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Twelve sixth form.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
And because they'd lived in the community for so long
and it was a small community, they pretty much started
to know everyone that was had passed away, so they
just said, no, that's where And they fell in love
with Welcome Bay and Tower on driving home from one
of the New Zealand Secondary school champs up there, and
they bought a section. And plus they thought the North
(07:09):
Island would be give me a better opportunity with my sport.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Tap to make We Need to Talk podcast a preset
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Speaker 2 (07:20):
Now let's talk about your sporting career. How did it start?
How were you just naturally good at athletics?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:26):
I was quick both track and field. Yeah I was quick, yep,
yeah I was. You know, I'd go to Dunedin every weekend.
I have to travel two and a half hours there
and two and a half hours back to compete.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
How old were you when you knew you were quick?
Speaker 4 (07:38):
I would have been, yes, seven year eight an a minute. Yeah,
I was just fast and I could hurt it or
I could long jump, and I could sprint, and I
was skinny.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
And you had all the right features. Because I've got
kids that do athletics, and I know a lot of
kids that do one thing. I noticed it can be
a bit of a love hate thing with running, because
running can be painful as well. Did you find that
as a kid, No, you just loved it.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
I just loved it.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
And you know what, I was hugely fortunate because in
that small town of Alexandra, there was this gentleman called
Jim Westland who was an athletics coach and he was
retired and his knowledge was beyond a small town coach.
He had European practices and he did a lot of study.
So I was nurtured and guided from a very young
(08:25):
age into the right direction. So I had the right
winter conditioning, I didn't do weights too early, and he
was my little angel. And yeah, so I was hugely
lucky because I'm sure and there's a lot of talented
kids throughout New Zealand that don't get that break or
don't have that person mentoring them or coaching them or
(08:48):
getting them where they should be.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
So very grateful for that.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So you knew you were fast around year seven, year eight,
so you're like twelve thirteen, and what sort of steps
did you follow from that point? How did you train?
And did you have the desire to, you know, go
to the Commonwealth Games.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Always from when I was small, I wanted to go
to the Comwealth Games. I wanted to go to the Olympics.
I would play netballne if I got three in a
row would mean I was going to the Commonwealth Games.
I've got five in a row, I was going to
the Olympics. So I played all those games. Yeah, with
my superstition, yes, exactly. So I just went through the
secondary school athletics system. So South Island Champs, then New
Zealand Champs, which you know in New Zealand Champs this year,
(09:26):
got some great press pretty much records Sam Ruth. But
I mean that's what got me. I would win at nationals.
I would win one hundred hurdles, a long jump in
one hundred, and just kept doing it. Made New Zealand
secondary school teams went to Australia. Then what made sort
of pre Commonwealth teams toured Canada and the States the
(09:47):
West Coast, and then just kept going until I qualified
for my first real big event was the ninety eighty
six Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
What was that experience?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Amazing, amazing walking in wearing the laser silver fern opening ceremony,
my mom and dad came over and you know, it
was packed, and I thought I was never going to
see them. And I remember looking roughly knowing where they
were in the stand, and all I said, it was
this crazy woman. I was jumping up with these things
(10:18):
and my mother, I love that you could see her. Yeah.
So and then and then I went to a couple
of World Champs as well. I went to the I
went to the nineteen ninety Conwealth Games in Auckland, which
was what an amazing event, one of the best com
Wealth Games that everyone said. It was hot though I
remember that was a scorch and all the poor, the
(10:40):
Irish and Scottish and the English athletes were all getting.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Fried, come from the dead of winter.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Their first experience about yes, exactly, exactly so and then
I did World Champs ninety ninety one in civil and Spain,
and then the World Track and Field in Tokyo ninety
one where a lot of records got broken. But along
the way in the late eighties and early nineties, when
I was competing and based in London and competing.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
In Europe, there's a lot of drugs.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Yeah, so I was up against it for a lot
with a lot of these European athletes.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
It's a real era, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, So you're going all out for your athletics career.
Did you through high school as well? Have any idea
of what you might do outside of sport.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I wanted to be a travel agent.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
You love traveling, so I always thought I was going
to be a travel agent, but the sport took over
and then I did work and travel, and then I worked.
Julie Christy asked me to be on the panel of
a Question of Sport, which was before a game or
two halves.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It was so good.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
A Question of Sport was based on a BBC format,
so it was really good. And then next year she
asked me to be the team leader with In Smith.
He was the other team leader. So that's pretty much
how it all started.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Thank you, Julie.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I remember that show. It was fantastic, and then that
spiraled onto my deteen dream home and Mountain Jew on
the Edges. Yes, and then why why did it all stop?
Do you think? Do you think we were agists?
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Maybe you know. I wasn't a TV two girl anymore.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
I was too old, and potentially there was no forum
for me on TV one and I and I did
a lot of in message It's like Posted. I did
work for Posted, Posted plus back in the day, and Flybys.
I did a lot of big campaigns for them and
got all these lovely little gigs that paid well. And
so I always felt I always wanted to contribute to
the household income and I was used to earning my
(12:29):
share and and it helped us get ahead and get
properties and renovate homes and.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
That, and then but it just stopped. It was weird.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And Sarah Tetro was my agent at the time, and
she just said, I'm trying, but there's just it's not
just you either. There's no magazines weren't paying and there
was just it just stopped. And so I just thought, Shit, what.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Am I going to do?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
What am I going to do? How did you feel
at that time in terms of your day to day
like get up in the morning, going what am I doing?
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Well, I had a busy life and fairly but I
was used to being getting ready to go somewhere, so
to speak.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
And it was tough.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
And so that's when when I bumped into Meghan and
she said, have you thought about getting your license?
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And I thought, God, I don't know if I've got
the balls to do that.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
And I don't know if I can put up with
people that I work with, people that I don't really
want to work with. You know, but you can't you
have can't be picking. You can't pick your enders. You've
you know, they picked you so and for the majority,
eighty five percent of vendors are fabulous, by the way.
But and then I just thought, you know, because quite legal,
there's quite a legal side to real estate. And I
(13:41):
hadn't done anything like that before. But you know, I
just you learn, and you just sit around yourself with
good people, with mentors. You listen, you suck it up,
you go to every training session that that Ray White provides,
and yeah, you just around yourself with people that you're
(14:01):
going to learn best practice from you can and also
realistate at the time was quite buoyant, so you were
just kind of action option self self self. You didn't
learn how to negotiate, we you didn't learn how to
get a tricky property over the line. So it was
it was great selling, but you know, I would honestly
(14:22):
say it was probably year three before I felt confident
that I could list and sell and know I would
be the person to get the best price for that person.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yes, yeah, so that's a third.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
You know, it's like going back to university and getting
a three year in degree.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
And that is something that I think puts people off.
Like I started an online communication course about four months ago,
and I've been thinking about it for a couple of years,
and I kept thinking, I'm already really busy. I don't
know if I have the time, and when you've got
kids and I have a morning job as well, I.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Thought I can't.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I'm not going to be able to do it. But
then you kind of do it and you find I
found I found a different pocket of energy because I
started to really enjoy learning the You think.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
You got to keep this turning over, and that's one
thing that I was worried about is that I didn't want.
I wasn't ready for tennis and a gent at four o'clock.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I mean, even though that's nice. Sure there are days
where you go, trust me, there are.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
It's not every day, no, But I just knew that
I needed to keep getting tested and pushed and I
wanted to learn. And I ended up working with people
or what everyone was actually going to be younger than me.
But I love the energy that working people that are
tend to twenty years younger than me, and it kept
me young and it kept me relevant with my kids.
(15:38):
But I just loved their energy and I could bring
in the steady hand and like, don't get to upset.
It's not a big deal, you know, as an experienced
life experience that I could bring to the party. And
if I needed their energy, I got that. So it
was a great synergy working with all these younger ones.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
You're listening to.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
We need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
How did you work the juggle with the teenage sons
and a husband who was flying and away for chunks
and you trying to learn this whole new thing.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I just did it. I just did it.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
I mean I still was at every prizegiving and every
rugby game and whatever it was. But you've got to
work smart. Like when you've got that two hours, that's
when you get into the box, or you read something,
or you go and have a meeting with someone about
you know, I did this, and I don't think I
did it very well, But what could I have done better?
Don't beat yourself up about it. You still got to
(16:33):
have a life. You can and you've got to be careful.
You don't want to let go of your friends either.
That's a very easy thing to do when you get busy,
is you let go of your friends and you know
they get pissed off.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
But I haven't seen you. What are you doing. You've
got to make time and schedule it for me.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So if you had to sort of give some words
of wisdom or advice for others that might be, you know,
around your age or what the age you were fifty,
what would you say about starting again?
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Don't waste any more time. Go for it.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
It is daunting, and you do have self doubt, but
just go for it and trust your instinct, trust your experience,
trust the fact that you know you've navigated budgets in
a household. You've stopped crises in your life with either
friends or your family.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You've got all this.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Life experience, and that's gold when it comes to especially
real estate, because you're dealing with vendors that it's a
very emotional time for a lot of people selling their home.
And if you can be that empathetic yet you know,
confident person on the other side, you're not necessarily like
that when.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
You're thirty two.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
You've got life that has taught you don't stress the
small stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
What's the best part do you think of your career
for the last ten years in real estate?
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Finding my not my truth, but finding myness? Yeah, yeah,
finding my purpose? Yeah, finding in fact that you know,
I've felt a very successful business team with two other women,
and Amy Robertson's my selling partner and my business partner,
and then we've got business manager Deanutia. We just just
three of us and this all female team, and it's
(18:13):
just we just get shit done and we don't there's
no excuses.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
We don't.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
We just if something bad happens, we deal with that,
we move on. Or something's out of control, it's out
of that control, right. I found my people and that's
been empowering for me and for them. You know, Amy's
twenty years younger than me, and we we're in business together.
That's the beauty of real estate too, there's no age limit.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
You know.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Amy's got her sort of set of friends that are
all upsizing, and I've got my set of friends all
are all downsizing.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
So got the.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Market actually quite smart? Yeah, so it works really well.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Do you see yourself doing this for how much longer?
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Like?
Speaker 2 (18:56):
What's the plan?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Well, as long as I feel I'm getting the right
result and doing the job well. But I you know,
there are days when I'm exhausted. Yeah, and it's busy
at the moment. We've got a lot of stock and
we're coming. We're roaring into twenty twenty six. We're not
taking the foot off the pedal. But I see myself
for a few more years and then maybe even doing
it as a buyers agent after that when I get older,
(19:19):
just working buyers and looking after them rather than listenings.
And who knows. Yeah, but while Paul's still working, I
might as well be working as well. And the kids
are in Europe, so you know.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Gives you something to do as well.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Let's keep going.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Did you have doubts initially when you decided to do this,
doubts that you might not be able to cut the mustard?
Or did you not let them creep in?
Speaker 3 (19:41):
I have doubts.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
I actually nearly quit about eighteen months and I was
in an all male team. And I'm not having a
bash here, but they were didn't really have the time
for me, and I was probably should have asked more,
but they were busy, and I just felt like I
was I didn't want to interrupt them, but I should
(20:02):
have moved on from that team to maybe someone that
had more time to spend with me or would let
me in. And so that was tough, and I nearly
I nearly pulled the pin.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
What kept you going?
Speaker 4 (20:15):
I had a break over the Christmas and booked to
Paul and he just said, you're not you don't give up.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
This is not you.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Go out there and prove yourself that you can do it.
You know, I know you can. You know you can
do You've got to back yourself. And that's all I needed,
and I just felt, right, he's right, I'm not going
to give up. And I never gave up in my athletics.
You know you're a long jumper. You've got six attempts
and you're coming third, and you've got one more jump,
And I would often win competitions on that last jump.
(20:46):
That's a muscle that is still there. I think that
resilience to not give up and to push.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
And to get there.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Yeah, I think that's that's been ingrained to me and
my parents. I think the way I was brought up,
I never took no for an.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Answer as well.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
I always found some way of getting around it or
achieving what I needed to get do or what wanted.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I think you're a bit like.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
That, absolutely, And I love that analogy of it's not
over till that last jump, because I think that's it's
actually a really good metaphor for life. Yes, particularly, I
feel very inspired that you were able to change your
career at fifty and to be possibly more successful than
you've ever been.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
I am you are right, financially, way more successful I've
ever been in my life.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Jane, thank you so much for telling us your story today.
This will be very inspiring for a lot of people,
me included. And thank you for also just sharing the
story as well. From that speech you gave on the
stage to hear as well, because I think we need
to hear more of them. You know, I suspect you've
got lots more to do, Soosh, the space just getting going.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Thanks for having me, Tony Pleasure, Thanks for.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Listening to We need to talk. Get in contact with
us on Instagram at we need to Talk with Tony
Street or email we need to talk at coaston Line
dot co.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Dott In is it
Welcome, So we need to talk Tony Street's Lifestyle and
Wellness podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, welcome to We need to Talk. It's great to
have you with us again. There's a belief that can
creep in as we get older, that our biggest chapters
might be behind us, that if something worked once, we
should clink to it, and that starting again in your
late forties or your fifties is potentially risky, maybe embarrassing,
or simply too late. Today's guest proves that belief completely false.
(00:28):
Jane Kylie has lived many lives. She was an elite athlete,
winning ten national secondary schools titles, which I thought was
blooming impressive. She represented New Zealand at two Commonwealth Games
two World Championships. She then moved into television, becoming a
familiar face on our screens. She hosted Might Attempt Dream
Home for a decade, Mountain Jew on the Edge, which
I remember was such a cool show, and she even
(00:49):
commentated at the Sydney two thousand Olympics. Most recently, you'll
know that she's hosting Location, Location, Location on TVNZ one.
And then the work stopped at forty six, the phone
stopped ringing. She had no contracts no income to teenage
boys at home, a husband that was a way a
lot working internationally, and no idea what to do next.
Jane then made a brave call. At fifty, she reinvented
(01:11):
herself completely, starting again in real estate with Ray White,
and today, at sixty one, she says she's the most
successful that she's ever been. Jane, I loved her so much,
and I heard your speech that you delivered recently and
I found it utterly inspiring. Congratulations on being brave and
letting us know about your story properly as well.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Thank you, and it's great to be here.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
But it was a story that I didn't think was
that big a deal, but it really resonated with a
lot of women out there, and I got a lot
of phone calls afterwards, a lot of text lot of emails.
I even had coffee morning tea with a couple of
women that thinking of going into real estate or thinking
of switching and doing something completely different. And I guess
(01:55):
I've always been one not to smuck around.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I don't dwell on anything. I just get on with it.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
And you know, if it hadn't been for Megan Jeffy,
who's the principal Ray white Room. You were a sort
of saying to me one day at a charity fundraiser, Okay,
what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I said, well, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
I mean TV's kind of dried up, and a lot
of sponsorship deals ambassador ships weren't happening anymore. She said,
get into real estate, and I think I said in
my speech, oh God, my husband wouldn't let me do that.
He thinks all real estate agents are wankers. But then
I thought, maybe this is my next thing, you know,
maybe I should do this and put myself out there
(02:34):
and learn something new. And so yeah, I went off
to real estate school like a true boomer and sat
in the front row with my pack lunch and my
highlighter and got my license.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
And it wasn't easy though.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
It was tough getting into a cole new gig that
I had no I had background and buying and selling houses,
but you know, listening and negotiating and getting listings wasn't easy.
You know, you're a new People know who you are,
but they don't necessarily think that you're going to do
a great job because you've got no experience. So I
(03:07):
had to really work hard for the first two years
to get any credibility. But as soon as I had
a couple of sales, I know, my belt, then the
momentum started building.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, and you've been doing this now for nearly ten years.
How has your life changed in that ten years since
since being brave and switching careers.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Well, it was all consuming, and I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
There was a little bit of guilt in the beginning
because my sons were, you know, they were sort of
fifteen and seventeen, and sometimes older teenagers almost need you more,
if you know what I mean than the little ones.
And so, but they they were used to me coming
going and you know, being away with dream Home, you know,
(03:53):
for ten weekends in a row, and just and I
think it was a good example for them to see
their mom getting out there something you completely against the
grain of where she had been heating and then being successful.
So they're very proud of me, and they tell me
that now they're a little bit old and they look
back and they say, good on you, mum. You know,
you said you were going to do it, and you did.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It, and you did it and now you're enjoying the
fruits and the irony is so you switched because the
TV had dried up, and now you're back doing TV
again because of your real estate job.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yes, isn't that crazy?
Speaker 4 (04:25):
I mean here, I am a real estate agent, not
a TV presenter, and now I'm both. And I actually
said when screen Time called me and for the audition,
I sort of said, do.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
You guys know how old I am?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You know?
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Seriously? And I said, Coops, you do you? No? No,
we think you know.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
We think you should try out for it. So we
did the old chemistry test with Paul Glover and that
went very well. He's such a cool guy.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
And who better to host it than you. You had
all the TV experience and the real estate experience, so
it was a perfect combination.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah, the whole camera thing and being back in front
of the on screen was very natural to me. And
it's great that it's not a scripted show. You do
a couple of piece of camera at the top, but
it's all just our personalities and I think that.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Works well with the talent because you put them at ease.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I want to go back to your upbringing now, because
sitting here as a forty two year old, I know
a lot of mums that would love to do what
you've done and retrain, but don't quite have the confidence.
So I want to see where that comes from. Tell
me about your upbringing because it was quite unique.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I've got four older brothers.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
There's quite a big gap between my four older brothers
and me, So I think there might have been a
nice mistake because after four boys, you're probably a bit worried.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
About your getting another board. Totally, I rocked on. But
my parents were funeral directors.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
So my father's father was a funeral director, so that's
sort of that succession type of way of getting into
the work. And then but I mum was one of
the first women of babas in New Zealand, and they
had a business in Alexandra in Central Otaga where I
grew up, which was fabulous.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
So we had a chapelain, a mortuary and all the
facilities next to our main house and a little intercom
system and I go home, Mum, I'm home, where are you?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
And she goes, oh, I'm in the mortuary, darling.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
My gosh, was that scary?
Speaker 4 (06:18):
No, because they never made it scary, you know, it's
a fact of life. And they very much protected me
from any side of the business that wasn't appropriate for
a teenage girl. But Dad always said, you know, don't
worry about the dead ones. Love, it's the ones that
are still alive you've got.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
To worry about, right, isn't he You tempted to go
down the family business route.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
No, Mom and Dad sold up and left Alex when
I was in my year.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Twelve sixth form.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
And because they'd lived in the community for so long
and it was a small community, they pretty much started
to know everyone that was had passed away, so they
just said, no, that's where And they fell in love
with Welcome Bay and Tower on driving home from one
of the New Zealand Secondary school champs up there, and
they bought a section. And plus they thought the North
(07:09):
Island would be give me a better opportunity with my sport.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Tap to make We Need to Talk podcast a preset
on the free iHeart app and never miss an episode.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Now let's talk about your sporting career. How did it start?
How were you just naturally good at athletics?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:26):
I was quick both track and field. Yeah I was quick, yep,
yeah I was. You know, I'd go to Dunedin every weekend.
I have to travel two and a half hours there
and two and a half hours back to compete.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
How old were you when you knew you were quick?
Speaker 4 (07:38):
I would have been, yes, seven year eight an a minute. Yeah,
I was just fast and I could hurt it or
I could long jump, and I could sprint, and I
was skinny.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
And you had all the right features. Because I've got
kids that do athletics, and I know a lot of
kids that do one thing. I noticed it can be
a bit of a love hate thing with running, because
running can be painful as well. Did you find that
as a kid, No, you just loved it.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
I just loved it.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
And you know what, I was hugely fortunate because in
that small town of Alexandra, there was this gentleman called
Jim Westland who was an athletics coach and he was
retired and his knowledge was beyond a small town coach.
He had European practices and he did a lot of study.
So I was nurtured and guided from a very young
(08:25):
age into the right direction. So I had the right
winter conditioning, I didn't do weights too early, and he
was my little angel. And yeah, so I was hugely
lucky because I'm sure and there's a lot of talented
kids throughout New Zealand that don't get that break or
don't have that person mentoring them or coaching them or
(08:48):
getting them where they should be.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
So very grateful for that.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So you knew you were fast around year seven, year eight,
so you're like twelve thirteen, and what sort of steps
did you follow from that point? How did you train?
And did you have the desire to, you know, go
to the Commonwealth Games.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Always from when I was small, I wanted to go
to the Comwealth Games. I wanted to go to the Olympics.
I would play netballne if I got three in a
row would mean I was going to the Commonwealth Games.
I've got five in a row, I was going to
the Olympics. So I played all those games. Yeah, with
my superstition, yes, exactly. So I just went through the
secondary school athletics system. So South Island Champs, then New
Zealand Champs, which you know in New Zealand Champs this year,
(09:26):
got some great press pretty much records Sam Ruth. But
I mean that's what got me. I would win at nationals.
I would win one hundred hurdles, a long jump in
one hundred, and just kept doing it. Made New Zealand
secondary school teams went to Australia. Then what made sort
of pre Commonwealth teams toured Canada and the States the
(09:47):
West Coast, and then just kept going until I qualified
for my first real big event was the ninety eighty
six Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
What was that experience?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Amazing, amazing walking in wearing the laser silver fern opening ceremony,
my mom and dad came over and you know, it
was packed, and I thought I was never going to
see them. And I remember looking roughly knowing where they
were in the stand, and all I said, it was
this crazy woman. I was jumping up with these things
(10:18):
and my mother, I love that you could see her. Yeah.
So and then and then I went to a couple
of World Champs as well. I went to the I
went to the nineteen ninety Conwealth Games in Auckland, which
was what an amazing event, one of the best com
Wealth Games that everyone said. It was hot though I
remember that was a scorch and all the poor, the
(10:40):
Irish and Scottish and the English athletes were all getting.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Fried, come from the dead of winter.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Their first experience about yes, exactly, exactly so and then
I did World Champs ninety ninety one in civil and Spain,
and then the World Track and Field in Tokyo ninety
one where a lot of records got broken. But along
the way in the late eighties and early nineties, when
I was competing and based in London and competing.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
In Europe, there's a lot of drugs.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Yeah, so I was up against it for a lot
with a lot of these European athletes.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
It's a real era, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, So you're going all out for your athletics career.
Did you through high school as well? Have any idea
of what you might do outside of sport.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I wanted to be a travel agent.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
You love traveling, so I always thought I was going
to be a travel agent, but the sport took over
and then I did work and travel, and then I worked.
Julie Christy asked me to be on the panel of
a Question of Sport, which was before a game or
two halves.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It was so good.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
A Question of Sport was based on a BBC format,
so it was really good. And then next year she
asked me to be the team leader with In Smith.
He was the other team leader. So that's pretty much
how it all started.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Thank you, Julie.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I remember that show. It was fantastic, and then that
spiraled onto my deteen dream home and Mountain Jew on
the Edges. Yes, and then why why did it all stop?
Do you think? Do you think we were agists?
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Maybe you know. I wasn't a TV two girl anymore.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
I was too old, and potentially there was no forum
for me on TV one and I and I did
a lot of in message It's like Posted. I did
work for Posted, Posted plus back in the day, and Flybys.
I did a lot of big campaigns for them and
got all these lovely little gigs that paid well. And
so I always felt I always wanted to contribute to
the household income and I was used to earning my
(12:29):
share and and it helped us get ahead and get
properties and renovate homes and.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
That, and then but it just stopped. It was weird.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And Sarah Tetro was my agent at the time, and
she just said, I'm trying, but there's just it's not
just you either. There's no magazines weren't paying and there
was just it just stopped. And so I just thought, Shit, what.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Am I going to do?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
What am I going to do? How did you feel
at that time in terms of your day to day
like get up in the morning, going what am I doing?
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Well, I had a busy life and fairly but I
was used to being getting ready to go somewhere, so
to speak.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
And it was tough.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
And so that's when when I bumped into Meghan and
she said, have you thought about getting your license?
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And I thought, God, I don't know if I've got
the balls to do that.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
And I don't know if I can put up with
people that I work with, people that I don't really
want to work with. You know, but you can't you
have can't be picking. You can't pick your enders. You've
you know, they picked you so and for the majority,
eighty five percent of vendors are fabulous, by the way.
But and then I just thought, you know, because quite legal,
there's quite a legal side to real estate. And I
(13:41):
hadn't done anything like that before. But you know, I
just you learn, and you just sit around yourself with
good people, with mentors. You listen, you suck it up,
you go to every training session that that Ray White provides,
and yeah, you just around yourself with people that you're
(14:01):
going to learn best practice from you can and also
realistate at the time was quite buoyant, so you were
just kind of action option self self self. You didn't
learn how to negotiate, we you didn't learn how to
get a tricky property over the line. So it was
it was great selling, but you know, I would honestly
(14:22):
say it was probably year three before I felt confident
that I could list and sell and know I would
be the person to get the best price for that person.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yes, yeah, so that's a third.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
You know, it's like going back to university and getting
a three year in degree.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
And that is something that I think puts people off.
Like I started an online communication course about four months ago,
and I've been thinking about it for a couple of years,
and I kept thinking, I'm already really busy. I don't
know if I have the time, and when you've got
kids and I have a morning job as well, I.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Thought I can't.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I'm not going to be able to do it. But
then you kind of do it and you find I
found I found a different pocket of energy because I
started to really enjoy learning the You think.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
You got to keep this turning over, and that's one
thing that I was worried about is that I didn't want.
I wasn't ready for tennis and a gent at four o'clock.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I mean, even though that's nice. Sure there are days
where you go, trust me, there are.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
It's not every day, no, But I just knew that
I needed to keep getting tested and pushed and I
wanted to learn. And I ended up working with people
or what everyone was actually going to be younger than me.
But I love the energy that working people that are
tend to twenty years younger than me, and it kept
me young and it kept me relevant with my kids.
(15:38):
But I just loved their energy and I could bring
in the steady hand and like, don't get to upset.
It's not a big deal, you know, as an experienced
life experience that I could bring to the party. And
if I needed their energy, I got that. So it
was a great synergy working with all these younger ones.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
You're listening to.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
We need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
How did you work the juggle with the teenage sons
and a husband who was flying and away for chunks
and you trying to learn this whole new thing.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I just did it. I just did it.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
I mean I still was at every prizegiving and every
rugby game and whatever it was. But you've got to
work smart. Like when you've got that two hours, that's
when you get into the box, or you read something,
or you go and have a meeting with someone about
you know, I did this, and I don't think I
did it very well, But what could I have done better?
Don't beat yourself up about it. You still got to
(16:33):
have a life. You can and you've got to be careful.
You don't want to let go of your friends either.
That's a very easy thing to do when you get busy,
is you let go of your friends and you know
they get pissed off.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
But I haven't seen you. What are you doing. You've
got to make time and schedule it for me.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So if you had to sort of give some words
of wisdom or advice for others that might be, you know,
around your age or what the age you were fifty,
what would you say about starting again?
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Don't waste any more time. Go for it.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
It is daunting, and you do have self doubt, but
just go for it and trust your instinct, trust your experience,
trust the fact that you know you've navigated budgets in
a household. You've stopped crises in your life with either
friends or your family.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
You've got all this.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Life experience, and that's gold when it comes to especially
real estate, because you're dealing with vendors that it's a
very emotional time for a lot of people selling their home.
And if you can be that empathetic yet you know,
confident person on the other side, you're not necessarily like
that when.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
You're thirty two.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
You've got life that has taught you don't stress the
small stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
What's the best part do you think of your career
for the last ten years in real estate?
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Finding my not my truth, but finding myness? Yeah, yeah,
finding my purpose? Yeah, finding in fact that you know,
I've felt a very successful business team with two other women,
and Amy Robertson's my selling partner and my business partner,
and then we've got business manager Deanutia. We just just
three of us and this all female team, and it's
(18:13):
just we just get shit done and we don't there's
no excuses.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
We don't.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
We just if something bad happens, we deal with that,
we move on. Or something's out of control, it's out
of that control, right. I found my people and that's
been empowering for me and for them. You know, Amy's
twenty years younger than me, and we we're in business together.
That's the beauty of real estate too, there's no age limit.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
You know.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Amy's got her sort of set of friends that are
all upsizing, and I've got my set of friends all
are all downsizing.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
So got the.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Market actually quite smart? Yeah, so it works really well.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Do you see yourself doing this for how much longer?
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Like?
Speaker 2 (18:56):
What's the plan?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Well, as long as I feel I'm getting the right
result and doing the job well. But I you know,
there are days when I'm exhausted. Yeah, and it's busy
at the moment. We've got a lot of stock and
we're coming. We're roaring into twenty twenty six. We're not
taking the foot off the pedal. But I see myself
for a few more years and then maybe even doing
it as a buyers agent after that when I get older,
(19:19):
just working buyers and looking after them rather than listenings.
And who knows. Yeah, but while Paul's still working, I
might as well be working as well. And the kids
are in Europe, so you know.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Gives you something to do as well.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Let's keep going.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Did you have doubts initially when you decided to do this,
doubts that you might not be able to cut the mustard?
Or did you not let them creep in?
Speaker 3 (19:41):
I have doubts.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
I actually nearly quit about eighteen months and I was
in an all male team. And I'm not having a
bash here, but they were didn't really have the time
for me, and I was probably should have asked more,
but they were busy, and I just felt like I
was I didn't want to interrupt them, but I should
(20:02):
have moved on from that team to maybe someone that
had more time to spend with me or would let
me in. And so that was tough, and I nearly
I nearly pulled the pin.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
What kept you going?
Speaker 4 (20:15):
I had a break over the Christmas and booked to
Paul and he just said, you're not you don't give up.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
This is not you.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Go out there and prove yourself that you can do it.
You know, I know you can. You know you can
do You've got to back yourself. And that's all I needed,
and I just felt, right, he's right, I'm not going
to give up. And I never gave up in my athletics.
You know you're a long jumper. You've got six attempts
and you're coming third, and you've got one more jump,
And I would often win competitions on that last jump.
(20:46):
That's a muscle that is still there. I think that
resilience to not give up and to push.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
And to get there.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Yeah, I think that's that's been ingrained to me and
my parents. I think the way I was brought up,
I never took no for an.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Answer as well.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
I always found some way of getting around it or
achieving what I needed to get do or what wanted.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I think you're a bit like.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
That, absolutely, And I love that analogy of it's not
over till that last jump, because I think that's it's
actually a really good metaphor for life. Yes, particularly, I
feel very inspired that you were able to change your
career at fifty and to be possibly more successful than
you've ever been.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
I am you are right, financially, way more successful I've
ever been in my life.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Jane, thank you so much for telling us your story today.
This will be very inspiring for a lot of people,
me included. And thank you for also just sharing the
story as well. From that speech you gave on the
stage to hear as well, because I think we need
to hear more of them. You know, I suspect you've
got lots more to do, Soosh, the space just getting going.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Thanks for having me, Tony Pleasure, Thanks for.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Listening to We need to talk. Get in contact with
us on Instagram at we need to Talk with Tony
Street or email we need to talk at coaston Line
dot co.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Dott In is it
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