Broken heart leads to business idea

Does belting out Taylor Swift, surrounded by tissues and icecream sound familiar?

Instead of continuing this cycle, Christchurch resident Saskia Shaw decided to turn her heartbreak into a business plan.

The Break Up Box is a range of custom gift boxes, each with a theme to suit whatever breakup someone is going through.

Shaw came up with the idea while having a breakup celebration party with her girlfriends after leaving a toxic relationship a couple of years ago.

Her friend brought a cake that said ‘‘bye-bye toxic’’, which had since become the name of one of her boxes, and she thought there needed to be something readymade for such occasions.

After discussing business ideas with her workmates, taking a couple of online courses in business, and the Covid-19 lockdown providing lots of time to work on her idea, the Break Up Box launched in April this year.

‘‘Once I started I never stopped working on it, I love it,’’ Shaw said.

The Break Up Box’s mission is to create beautiful gifts for broken hearts, as well as a world they immerse themselves in, with curated playlists, movies, an engaging Instagram account, and a private Facebook group in the works. ‘‘The idea was that you get a nice gift but that is not going to fix the deeper issue of going through a breakup because that is really hard,’’ Shaw said.

‘‘I wanted to create something that goes beyond a product but works on building a community.’’

Although it was a niche product, business had been good so far, she said. With Covid-19 lockdowns causing a spike in breakups, Shaw had a boom of orders from Aucklanders during this year’s lockdown. Each box she created was inspired by a breakup that either she or one of her friends had been through.

Shaw’s favourite was the Glow Up Box, which she described as the ‘‘healthiest box’’. It encouraged people to look and feel their best, which was how she dealt with her own breakup.

Shaw’s top breakup tip for anyone going through one now is to shift focus from the breakup to something you are passionate about – in other words, refocus your energy.

Her experience of a toxic relationship had opened her eyes to the horrors some women experienced in relationships, and she wanted to give back.

A portion of the proceeds from each box sold is donated to Women’s Refuge.

Shaw was now working on growing the Break Up Box community and releasing more boxes. ‘‘I have always wanted to own a big business,’’ she said.

‘‘I hope to be able to . . . expand further into the business world.’’