Shaynna Blaze opens up about kids and career: "Just don't embarrass me"
She’s the interior designer on two hugely successful TV shows and now Shaynna Blaze has revealed the secrets to her career success as she sets to add another bow to her feather.
In an interview with the Herald Sun, Shaynna admitted, “Probably what drives me is that I don't want to be boring and I don't want to be bored. I always need a project.”
The 53-year-old is gearing up for Channel Nine’s new property series, Buying Blind, her latest reality housing show that is expected to be another hit alongside Lifestyle's Selling Houses and The Block.
It was 11 years ago that Shaynna first applied to part of Foxtel's Lifestyle production with Andrew Winter and Charlie Albone.
“The whole time my son just kept saying 'mum, just don't embarrass me,' and I just thought 'that's every parent's revenge, isn't it?” Shaynna recalled.
After raising two children after separating from their father early on, Shaynna says the key to her success has always been about reinventing herself.
She started her flourishing interior business, Blank Canvas, which now works on multimillion dollar projects around the world.
Admitting that raising children as a single parent has its share of difficulties, she said she channelled her energy into her will to succeed.
“I never travelled when I was younger, so being able to sink your teeth into projects that take you all around the country, now they're taking me all around the world, it's an adventure,” she shared.
She also credits her late parents, Basil and Annette, for continuing to inspire her to this day.
Of her father, Shaynna fondly recalls how he was always looking to master a new craft or skill, “then would be on to the next project and the next one … I definitely get that from him, without a doubt”.
Her mother’s slow death from Alzheimer's disease broke Shaynna’s heart so when an aged care developer approached her a few months after her mother passed away in 2016, she jumped at the chance to turn her painful personal experience into a positive one.
“They didn’t know what I’d been through because I kept it quiet. So to be approached to do [Bellmere, in Brisbane], after everything we’d been through 12-13 years with my mum, it was something I felt came at the right time. I had so much personal knowledge, not just about the person but the families who come with them,” she said.
“If someone goes into a home and they don’t get any visitors, they regress,” Shaynna added. “I remember when my kids were little, going to see their nan, they were scared. So we created an environment where there is a parkland for kids to play, shops and a cafe, or they can go to the movies, or get their hair done.”
“It wasn’t just about giving back, I just felt I could take it to another level from a personal understanding.”
A decade on Blaze says she’s still hungry for the next thing.
“The one thing I’ve learned is that I don’t expect anyone to make it happen for me. If you’re relying on somebody all the time, it means you’re waiting around and I can’t wait for anybody … who’s got the time?”