1 00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:03,240 My name is Zack Monga. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:04,240 I’m 26 years old. 3 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:07,040 I’m half Maori, half Cook Island. 4 00:00:08,120 --> 00:00:13,920 I lost my job during the first run of the COVID lockdown. 5 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:17,320 So the hardest thing was... you know, 6 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:21,480 working my way up from being like a waiter to a manager, 7 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:23,760 to the food-and-beverage manager. Like... 8 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,760 you know, you see all your hard work just like go down the drain. 9 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:33,440 When I first lost my job, I was feeling really worried. 10 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,440 Worried about where I'm going to, you know, get my next pay-check. 11 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:38,600 I was feeling very anxious. 12 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:42,240 The one part of my life that has been like, 13 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:44,520 the backbone of like myself 14 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:46,000 and like discovering myself 15 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,080 and just being who I am is like... 16 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:49,800 definitely has been my partner... 17 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:51,720 I’m gonna name drop her, her name's Lisa. 18 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:53,520 *laughs* 19 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:55,160 And... 20 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:56,480 when I lost my job, 21 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:57,680 me and her, 22 00:00:57,680 --> 00:00:58,680 we came together... 23 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:00,920 came in a huddle and we just like went on the floor 24 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:03,080 and we talked to each other face to face. 25 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:05,280 And just like, we're going to be all good, 26 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:06,440 we're gonna be fine... 27 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,520 Because... I believe in you and you believe in me. 28 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:11,960 After we had a little cry, 29 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:14,120 shook it all off and then went for a feed. 30 00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:16,480 That's when the last of my troubles happened. 31 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:17,800 So... 32 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,080 one good thing about this whole journey about losing my job 33 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,680 through COVID is that I was able to go back and do what I really loved, 34 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:27,160 which was illustration and art, 35 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:31,240 and really gave me the time to really focus on my craft and 36 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,200 focus on what I wanted to put out. 37 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:36,960 Which like I never had the time before while working. 38 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,600 The future is looking… I don’t know. 39 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:45,640 To me, it looks cool. It looks happy because me and my wife, 40 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:46,360 we... 41 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:48,360 we do everything together. 42 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:49,320 So... 43 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,000 no matter what we're gonna do, it's gonna be cool.