That is how Southland woman Lana Marshall describes her progression through the transtasman Zanda McDonald agribusiness award to finalist.
The winner — to be announced in March — receives a personal development package, including a mentoring trip across both Australia and New Zealand, $10,000 towards further education or training and ongoing networking opportunities.
Mrs Marshall, 31, is a client director at NZAB in Invercargill and balances her professional advisory role with hands-on farming as a 50:50 sharemilker with her husband, Elliott.
Fearing she was not good enough to apply for the award, Mrs Marshall said she was pushed into it and decided she would give it a crack.
The application process itself involved plenty of self-reflection and included a one-minute video to outline who she was, what she did and explain her passion for the industry.
"One minute is not long enough for me to tell them that I’m a bit of a talker," she laughed.
But going through that process and thinking about what she did both at NZAB and outside of that was a reflection tool she did not use often enough.
She had somewhat of an "aha" moment as she reflected on what she had already achieved and what she wanted to achieve.
Travelling to Greytown for the interview alongside the other finalists was "super inspiring", the highlight being meeting new people, hearing their stories and what they were achieving.
The interview was a relaxed environment and the judges were genuinely curious about her career and her future, she said.
Born in Timaru, Mrs Marshall moved to Southland as an infant with her parents, settling at Greenhills, near Bluff, where her father was a fisherman.
She had always been interested in farming. She loved the outdoors and working with animals, and the potential of the agricultural sector.
Her grandparents were sheep and beef farmers near Temuka and both her cousin and her husband farmed at Mandeville where, every school holiday, she would visit and learn new skills.
"It’s a lifestyle where you have to work really hard, but it’s super rewarding. Being outside ... there’s so much variety," she said.
She finished her examinations at James Hargest College in Invercargill on a Friday and started work in the banking industry the following Monday.
She spent nearly nine years with ANZ and then got offered a job in Westpac’s agribusiness team. She had previously had a secondment in agribusiness at ANZ, covering maternity leave, and enjoyed it, finding it very relatable.
She met her future husband, who came from a sheep and beef farming background in the Waikawa Valley, at a wedding when he was best man and she was a bridesmaid, and they married in January last year.
Deciding to give dairy farming a go to build some equity, the couple got their first contract milking role in 2021 and were now 50:50 sharemilking on the same property.
Mrs Marshall was as hands-on as much as possible, including looking after the calves at calving time, and her practical experience meant she could understand and relate to things on a farmer level with her other role.
She joined NZAB in 2024 and worked alongside farmers to build financial accountability, strengthen balance sheets and achieve long-term strategic success.
While she had never expected to leave banking, she loved her latest job, saying the best part was helping someone achieve something they never thought possible.
She was also keen to push the message to future generations to consider a career in agribusiness, and point out that the sector was not just about being a hands-on farmer: there were so many jobs involved.
Mrs Marshall, who has been accepted for the Fonterra governance development programme, was keen to pursue governance.
"I’m prepared to put the hard work in and make a difference to our sector," she said.
