Kaz von Heraud-Parker is no stranger to re-invention. Her career choices have taken her from architectural designer to interior design guru, and now a new business helping women navigate menopause. 

A gift for mathematics led Kaz to completing her first degree in building science. At that stage, Kaz’s inner artist wasn’t fully formed, but the design elements of the degree attracted her.

She worked in a range of different roles in the building industry, from hands-on with the “dirt doctors” and engineers, to project management.

Eventually she moved to Wanaka, drawn back to the southern mountains where she had spent a lot of time with her family. Here, she discovered the book ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron, which set her on a new path.

In 1999 she started an interior design business. Kaz Designz brought Kaz’s artistic skills together with her building industry experience. 

Next, she and her husband Greg launched the high end luxury fashion label Von Avi - "metal fashion with attitude” - in 2009. 

Greg had made her a metal wallet that attracted so much attention that when their son was born Kaz told Greg she must “have graduated to a handbag by now”. 

“I couldn’t go anywhere without someone commenting on the handbag or the wallet,” she said.

With Greg’s background in aircraft engineering (working with Sir Tim Wallis) and Kaz’s creativity and business skills, they developed a range of hand bags for the international market. 

The handbags drew attention at both Auckland and Sydney fashion weeks, and they succeeded in setting up outlets in New Zealand and exporting to Dubai, until they came head to head with the global financial crisis. 

Von Avi bags

The ambitious, underfunded label soon became unstuck. Kaz and Greg realised they needed to change tack if they were to survive the challenging times.

At that point Kaz’s reinvention skills came into play as she launched “operation city bitch”, taking on a corporate job in Wellington to help pay for their Wanaka property. Having lived in Wanaka for 17 years, she said moving to the city felt very foreign.

She was quickly promoted from her role as marketing manager to general manager at an interior design import supply company. She designed an acoustics education programme for architects, wrote training books, ran seminars and sustainability-proofed the business.

But the high achieving “city bitch” was also struggling with insomnia, hypothyroidism, and low energy. 

"The combination of huge financial stress, the move to Wellington, and a history of hormonal imbalance meant that I created the perfect storm and crashed head long into menopause,” Kaz said.

A doctor prescribed a range of medications, but Kaz was brought up to believe food is medicine. “I just threw it all away and started researching.” 

She came across an interview about adrenal fatigue with functional medicine practitioner Dr Kalish in San Francisco, and was so impressed she contacted him to ask if she could study with him.

Functional medicine involves saliva, urine and stool testing, providing a snapshot into the body at a cellular level, Kaz said. This tangible record appealed to her, as she had been spending a lot of money on supplements in the hope they were what she needed.

She adopted functional medicine whole-heartedly. “Every step I made along the pathway my energy levels got better.” 

Kaz at Sydney Fashion Week with Von Avi.

She realised she was not the only woman hit hard by menopause, and wanted to help others.

Kaz “got her geek on” for the next steps: studying functional medicine online, including a two-year mentorship programme with Dr Kalish, then studying for a double diploma in nutrition and naturopathy - at double-speed.

Meanwhile, she and her family returned to Wanaka and this past year has been devoted to setting up her new business, Reset Lab, drawing on her “city bitch” experience implementing a systemised education programme.

And all the while, she has been healing herself, not just of menopause symptoms, but of a lifetime of adrenal deficiency. There’s some detective work involved in understanding yourself - and other people - but it’s not rocket science, Kaz said, it just takes time

“I am passionate about being able to couple my natural desire to help people with the creativity of biochemistry and nutrition.”

She now specialises in helping women through menopause and offers packages, both online and from her beautifully designed Reset Lab Clinic, including testing, lifestyle and nutrition advice, and follow up support from two health coaches.

Kaz’s latest reinvention is an exciting place to be, she says. “I always believed the body could heal itself given the right circumstances. When I was in the thick of menopause I felt like an old lady - I felt shipwrecked, and taking medication just didn’t sit well for me. But you can have that energy back. Knowledge is power - to know when you’re out of balance, and to heal yourself.”

Kaz held her first Wanaka seminar, Sailing through Menopause, last month, and is offering another this week (Wednesday October 9, from 6.30-8.00pm) at the Lake Wanaka Centre. Find more about the Reset Lab here.

PHOTOS: Supplied