Kiane von Mueffling was stuck. A banker by trade, the Australian – who moved to New York City in 2002 – was working at Bain & Co when she realised she needed a change.

“I know this is going to sound so dramatic, but I was sitting on the subway and I felt like every time I went to work it was like someone taking blood from me,” she says from her apartment on the Upper East Side. “Every day, the commute felt sad. I decided to do something drastic.”