Rina Nzuve: I quit my job when my child called me ‘auntie’

Bakery Business in Kenya: BY SATURDAY NATION: Rina Nzuve, the proprietor of Rina’s House, is a former travel consultant who found her niche in sugar crafting and artful cake making

“One cold July evening five years ago, I was feeding my then five-year-old daughter. Deciding that she’d had enough of the food, she took her plate and emptied it into the dustbin.

I spanked her and in anger she told me that she was going to report me to her mother, meaning her nanny. This was the wake-up call I needed to walk out of my nine-year travel career.

“I grew up seeing an uncle who worked with an airline always come home with cakes and chocolate. An aunt who worked for another airline loved to bring photos of the amazing places she visited at work and these fascinated me.

How my cows produce 50 litres of milk each, heifers cost Sh. 600,000

A career in travel came naturally for me. I did not even hunt for a job; an internship at a local airline birthed a career that had me working for four international airlines.

I could just hop onto a plane and go to any destination I chose on my off days and I got to meet interesting people.

For a young person, this was a lot of fun – until that July evening. It had bothered me that I had barely seen my daughter over the years but that evening simply broke my heart. I knew that I couldn’t live with myself if my son, who was just a few months old at the time, called me ‘auntie’.

The following morning I returned my laptop to the office and resigned from my job. I just quit. I didn’t even wait for my severance pay. I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself. I just knew that I needed to rest.

“I was a valuable ticketing agent at the time and my employer offered me double my pay to go back to work but my mind was made up.