Discovering that you’re losing your passion, feeling burnt out or wanting to make a big change in your current career or choice of study is always a hard thing to grapple with, but making the tough decision to jump into something completely new is also pretty dang scary – how do other people decide to do it?

We recently spoke to Tess Healy (who started her career in costume design) on how she developed a new desire for animal care and what other people can do if they’re also pondering about making a career switch.  

Howdy Tess! Please introduce yourself. Hi, I’m Tess! I currently work in pet nutrition but I have always considered myself a pretty creative person, and I still love making clothes.

So, what is your relationship to costume design? Well, my mum had an old sewing machine that she had gotten as a wedding gift and had never used, and I was always obsessed with it as a young girl. I was maybe in grade one or two and I pulled out because I wanted to make a pair of blue shorts. It was basically nothing and it tore apart almost instantly, but it like was so inspiring to have something that you can create yourself and it was just a really great feeling that I really wanted to pursue. I kind of felt like I was one of those people that already knew what I wanted so I could never relate to other people who didn’t know. Costumes and designing them just seemed so magical to me.What did you like and not like about costume design? I studied costume design at Uni, which was very practical based course which I actually really loved. I still love creating something from scratch and have it become a physical thing you can touch. I always loved fashion history and how costume could indicate so much about a time period. I was really fascinated about the actual construction, the garments, and what that said about certain periods of time, and I think the intersection between history and costume is really fascinating. On the flip side, I discovered that the actual industry itself was not something that I wanted to get into. Maybe a lot of other creatives can relate to this; when you get into an industry you soon begin to realize that your creativity is just seen as a service to other people. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, I think I realized that I didn't want something that I found so much joy in to then become solely work that was especially underpaid and underappreciated. I lost a bit of passion for it, and I wasn’t ever using this medium to be creative since I was working all the time for other people.

Talk to us about your relationship with animals. I grew up with dogs and I have always loved animals, but what did maybe trigger it becoming such a deep passion was when I got my first cat with my partner during a hard time in my life. I remember it was also around the same time that we were going through those awful bushfires in early 2020, where there was just so much destruction and loss of native life. I felt so helpless because I knew how many animals were dying and suffering, but there was little I could really do. I did do some volunteering and I did some sewing work to make pouches to raise money for kangaroo charities and that felt really good, but it didn't feel like enough. That really impacted me, and because I already felt burnt out and disillusioned with costume design, I really focused my attention on how I can help animals instead.How did you get started in animal care? I've just completed my first certificate on animal studies and I’m now looking at doing another certificate and the next step in my career  –  wildlife conservation. But I also think getting your foot in the door in the industry is equally as important, since I can only go so far with education credentials alone. We’re living in such a bad cost-of-living crisis so sometimes studying all the time can feel like I’m drowning, but this is still such a passion for me and when I actually get to care for animals and use my knowledge to help them it makes it all worth it

What advice would you give to other people who also want to switch career paths? I would say I think that regretting not switching careers is way worse than the headache of actually going through with it. I remember being scared because I spent so much time in my life dedicated to costume design and I was worried that I was just throwing that all away, but now my relationship with making clothes is stronger than ever because I found joy in it again. It’s not as scary or even as uncommon as you might think! In the end, you have to try and pursue something that matters to you. Who cares if you think you’ll fall behind; you’ll learn more about the world and about yourself at the very least.