When a life-changing event happens, Wilhelmina Shrimpton says it makes you re-evaluate everything.
So when she lost her dream job at Today FM only a year after leaving a long-term role at Newshub, the broadcaster found herself taking stock of her goals, her purpose and her happiness.
And so came the realisation that perhaps the most significant part of her life wasn’t fulfilling her and that, after five years of marriage, she and husband Mike Sanders loved each other but they were no longer in love. Just weeks after the abrupt closure of Today FM, the Auckland couple decided to separate.
“Having the courage to go through with that at a time when there was so much uncertainty around my job was a lot,” Wilhelmina admits. “It was the hardest point in my life.
“But when something significant happens in your life – a big jolt like a job loss – it makes you take stock and re-evaluate, and I realised we were better as friends. If one pillar of your life isn’t quite right, it’s easy to ignore. But when the pillar that’s going well turns to custard, it becomes really obvious.
“The whole thing [the break-up] was really positive and amicable. We were both really sad because there was a lot of care there and there always will be. We had five wonderful years – we’ve had some great times. We’ll always be friends. But you’re always going to grieve the end of what was a really significant chapter in your life.”
The past two years have definitely been tumultuous for the 33-year-old. She remembers waking to an all-staff meeting request for the Today FM team in March.
“I was in such a fluster, I almost left my house in my pyjamas,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘I can’t not have a job again.’
“When I left Newshub in July 2021, I remember thinking, ‘I’m not going to get to do what I love any more’. And then I got the job at Today FM and it was the happiest I’ve ever been in my career. It was the best work I’ve done in 15 years as a journalist.
“I was given opportunity, support and, most importantly, I was allowed to be myself and I flourished. The broken person I arrived as was slowly pieced back together and shone brighter than before. Today FM was the brilliant confidence boost I needed to teach myself that I am capable.”
Only days after the station was taken off air, Wilhelmina had four nominations at the New Zealand Radio Awards in three different categories and she went on to win Best Long Form Video for a documentary on fentanyl, as well as Best News Journalist.
“I was meant to be on this really big high, but it was bittersweet celebrating these amazing wins for work I was so proud of while digesting Today FM and the separation.”
And job-hunting had started to take its toll as one week became two, then four. “I got to about week six and that’s when panic started to set in.”
A friend who works in public relations asked Wilhelmina if she could help design a media training course, then MC work started to pick up and contacts asked her to help create content.
“I had this lightning-bolt moment: Why don’t I just do my own thing? I’m a go-hard-or-go-home kind of gal, so I launched Wils & Co Media. I designed my website, I got a logo, I’ve taught myself to film and edit, and the great thing is, no one can make me redundant but me!”
It also coincided with a totally unexpected request to go to India for a month, working with an international news network and its journalists in preparation for the G20 Summit in Delhi.
“If you’re on the right path, things just fall into place,” she says. “If you’d said to me five months ago that I would be living and working in a newsroom in India, having the time of my life, I would have laughed.
“The work was amazing, really challenging, but super-rewarding. The people were wonderful. I’ve made friends for life and I hope I get to work with them again.
“But I will always have imposter syndrome. There were days when I worried, ‘Am I good enough?’ I was working beside people who report from war zones and anchors from the BBC. But now when I have those moments, I have to silence that voice.”
So Wilhelmina has taken stock, determined to live in the moment and embrace opportunities.
“We’re so used to thinking and planning so far ahead. But sometimes that can do us a disservice because we pigeonhole ourselves on to a particular pathway.
“As I found out, you never know what’s around the corner. There’s immense gratitude now when I think about the fact that five months ago, I was at the lowest point in my life.
“I feel like I’m starting a brand-new life now. It’s exciting and it’s scary doing my own thing. But I’ve always been good at juggling a lot. I’m in my state of flow when I’m bouncing at my limit and when I’m so busy, I barely have time to do anything – that is my happy place.”
