Vanessa van Uden's phone starts ringing about 30 seconds after the Queenstown Times reporter walks in the door to the mayor's office.
It's her husband, Peter Laurenson, trying to organise the couple's daughters' itinerary for the night.
After jokingly giving her whereabouts as "in the office of the mayor", Ms van Uden advises she has netball at 7.30pm, but can transport Laura (14) to one of her many activities.
Moments after she hangs up she's advised another journalist would like to interview her - and no sooner is the door shut than her phone rings again.
Politely excusing herself to take the call, Ms van Uden already has a real understanding of the demands on her time her new position as the mayor of the Queenstown Lakes District will have.
Her phone, she says, has not stopped ringing since late Saturday afternoon.
"I've been very good and left it on, but right now I'm just going to put it on silent".
On Monday morning Ms van Uden had conducted three radio interviews before 7.45am - "I told them after that my priority was taking my children to school".
And over the next three years, Caitlin (15) and Laura will continue to be her priority while she serves the community and the council.
"I know there are more demands in terms of the official functions, but the key thing for me is it's quality, not quantity.
"I've always been hugely involved in the kids' lives, whether it's netball or delivering them to their numerous activities.
"I'm on the board of trustees at [Wakatipu] high school and I'm not going to give [that] up.
I made a commitment and I don't see any reason why I can't continue to do it.
"But when it's kids' time, it's kids' time."
And when it comes to her children, Ms van Uden is fiercely protective and adamant "they are not public figures".
"They did not sign up for this ... They're pretty pumped [at the result], but we've talked about it and they are well aware that with this job, more than the councillor job, they have the potential to read things they won't like about me."
The family had also talked about the impact of Ms van Uden's job on her daughters.
"Caitlin said to me 'what happens if I do something bad' and I've told her that the answer the media will get is 'it's none of your business'.
"They don't get many positives [from me being mayor], so they don't need any negatives at all."
For the new mayor, Saturday's result was the realisation of a dream which began three years ago, when Ms van Uden (43) first stood for council.
She says she never had political aspirations until she got "frustrated" with the decisions of the previous council.
And while she initially stood as a councillor, her motivation was becoming the mayor in 2010.
"That was my vision [and] I'm a can-do person."
Born in Lumsden to Anton, who arrived from Holland in 1951, and Rosemary van Uden, Vanessa van Uden was the middle of three girls.
Her older sister, Johanna Hargest, is a primary school teacher, while Louise Pagan is the communications manager for the Southland District Council.
"I grew up in Te Anau. Mum and Dad were on a ballot farm at The Key ... they were sheep farmers.
"I went to Mararoa Primary School, which was 26 miles from where we lived ... my Mum and Dad drove the school bus."
At the age of 11, Ms van Uden moved to Dunedin, boarding at St Hilda's Collegiate School.
"By the grace of God and good luck, I managed to stay until I was 17."
When asked if she was a studious pupil, Ms van Uden's response is a fierce shake of the head combined with a roll of her eyes.
"My principal when I left school was Miss Braddock.
"She said 'Vanessa's study habits do not augur well for her future'.
"I wasn't pushed at school. I had to do UE because I didn't work hard enough. I had to get 200 to get into seventh form. I got 201."
When she was 16, she met Mr Laurenson through mutual friends, who were dating each other.
"They kept saying 'you two have to meet each other, and we didn't until about six months later, when we were both at a farewell party for a mutual friend.
"The first thing I said when I saw him was 'he looks about 13'."
The couple have now been together 27 years and married for 21.
At high school, Ms van Uden wanted to be a lawyer or a personnel manager, but "the likely outcome was a barmaid at Zouga's [Ballantyne's, formerly and latterly the Bowler] in Dunedin".
Yet, in 1985, Ms van Uden began studying for a commerce degree at the University of Otago - the beginning of a varied and interesting career.
After graduating from university in 1987 she went to work for Shand Computers, selling computer peripherals, until being made redundant about eight months later.
Then, it was off to Cadbury, where she worked as a temp over the Christmas period as a production assistant, before applying for and getting the job as the company's assistant accountant.
"So I did that for a couple of years and then I went back to university and did my accountancy papers."
The qualification stood her in good stead and she became Cadbury's factory accountant.
In 1993 the couple moved to Invercargill, where Mr Laurenson had been transferred as the manager of John Edmond Building Supplies, now known as Carters.
"I got a job as the administration manager at Southland Boys' High ... I loved Southland Boys'.
It was a very interesting baptism in terms of working with a hugely diverse range of people and parents and the community.
"I had the girls when I was there ... I remember they were doing a life skills programme on parenting when Laura was about 6 months old.
"I was talking to the teacher and said 'why don't you have live babies?'
"So, Laura came along and was looked after by the life skills kids and they were just amazing with her."
In 1996 the family moved to Manukau, Auckland after Mr Laurenson got another job transfer, this time as national purchasing manager for Carters.
"I loved Auckland.
I still remember people looking at us with that condescending look when we said we would `go home for lunch', because we lived five minutes away ... people in Auckland didn't do that."
In Auckland Ms van Uden was appointed as the Manukau City Council contracts manager - and while she was working fulltime, managed to complete her MBA, thanks to "a very supportive family", including Mrs Hargest, who had come to live with the couple.
Two years later, in 1998, it was Ms van Uden who prompted the family to move again, this time to Queenstown.
"I applied for the position [as contracts manager for the QLDC] and didn't tell Pete ... I didn't think I'd get it.
"We did want the kids to be home, in Southland, to go to school."
For Ms van Uden, there is little difference between Otago, Central Otago, the Lakes District and Southland, with the exception of "some healthy competition".
"I think [they] are very similar communities ... the people are similar, the things we believe in and the things that are important to us are similar."
The couple also set up two businesses at the time, one 3D Marine Services, a boat shop at the marina, and the other Ms van Uden's business, Admin and Business Solutions, which she still has.
Mr Laurenson was with Carters until 1993, when he was appointed as CivicCorp - now Lakes Environmental - building manager, a position he still holds.
Ms van Uden will be the first to admit her career history "has no consistency", but that, she says, is the beauty of life.
"We grew up being told `you have to have a plan, a vision, what you want to do with life', but I think you've got to roll with it and take advantage of opportunities."
