Quinn Ojala

Quinn Ojala couldn’t be happier about the career path he’s on, even if it took him a while to find it.

With both parents in the medical field, Quinn felt an expectation to follow in their footsteps after finishing high school at St Andrews in Christchurch. He started a qualification in paramedicine at AUT but quickly realised it wasn’t what he wanted to do.

“I couldn’t do it as a career, it just wasn’t me,” the 24-year-old says. He worked for a while in landscaping, then started a degree in engineering but that didn’t gel either. “After a semester at UC I thought ‘what am I doing?’. I’ve got a brain, but it was very heavy on theory, and I didn’t want to study for that long.”

While his friends and peers knew what they wanted to do and were getting on with their careers, Quinn was decidedly undecided about what to do next.

To keep himself busy, he got a job as a kitchenhand at suburban Italian restaurant Formaggio’s. Before long he was made responsible for desserts, then plating up. Although he’d always loved cooking, he’d never considered it as a possible career – until then.

“I really enjoyed the work and I realised ‘I’m built for this’. I’m good under stress and I love being busy.” With his employer's encouragement, he enrolled in Ara’s Level 4 New Zealand Certificate in Cookery.

Quinn says studying at Ara was a big contrast to his university experiences. “Instead of 200 students in a lecture theatre, it’s 15 students and a tutor. It’s also more hands on, accepting and accommodating and you build closer connections.”

Those attributes were especially important to Quinn. “I struggle with ADHD and a bunch of other things, and the tutors and staff at Ara are great – very approachable and understanding. I had help from Learning Services and my tutor Mark [Sycamore] was very good at explaining and talking me through things. He was also flexible with my written assignments, and we developed strategies together that really helped me.”

Quinn says he enjoyed “everything” about his course. “The people you get to work with, the classrooms and facilities, there’s everything you need as a chef in one place. All the practical lessons and even the theory work was pretty good and interesting.”

As part of his course, Quinn did two weeks’ work experience at top Christchurch restaurant Inati. He’s now landed a job there as an apprentice chef. He’s also very busy preparing to compete in the Global Chefs Challenge at the 2024 Worldchefs Congress & Expo in Singapore, as commis chef to his teammate and fellow Ara graduate, Cameron Davies. The pair are being mentored by their Ara tutors and supported by the NZ Chefs Association.

In the future, Quinn would love to work in France and maybe one day have his own restaurant. In the meantime, he hopes his story will inspire others to get into the hospitality industry, even if they might not see it as a career option.

“Back yourself, jump in the deep end – it's a great way to get your foot in the door and get into the wonderful world of food. Getting into cheffing was the right decision for me. It is a career.”

Quinn has a message for Ara too, and especially his tutors: “Thank you for changing my life!”