My name is Zack Monga.
I’m 26 years old.
I’m half Maori, half Cook Island.
I lost my job during the first run of the COVID lockdown.
So the hardest thing was... you know,
working my way up from being like a waiter to a manager,
to the food-and-beverage manager. Like...
you know, you see all your hard work just like go down the drain.
When I first lost my job, I was feeling really worried.
Worried about where I'm going to, you know, get my next pay-check.
I was feeling very anxious.
The one part of my life that has been like,
the backbone of like myself
and like discovering myself
and just being who I am is like...
definitely has been my partner...
I’m gonna name drop her, her name's Lisa.
*laughs*
And...
when I lost my job,
me and her,
we came together...
came in a huddle and we just like went on the floor
and we talked to each other face to face.
And just like, we're going to be all good,
we're gonna be fine...
Because... I believe in you and you believe in me.
After we had a little cry,
shook it all off and then went for a feed.
That's when the last of my troubles happened.
So...
one good thing about this whole journey about losing my job
through COVID is that I was able to go back and do what I really loved,
which was illustration and art,
and really gave me the time to really focus on my craft and
focus on what I wanted to put out.
Which like I never had the time before while working.
The future is looking… I don’t know.
To me, it looks cool. It looks happy because me and my wife,
we...
we do everything together.
So...
no matter what we're gonna do, it's gonna be cool.