A CAREER IN KINDNESS Sheridan’s a Christmas angel

While many teens are out earning extra cash for clothes, concerts or a new phone with jobs at fast-food chains or clothing stores, at 15, Sheridan Jackson followed a starkly different path.

The young West Aucklander started working in independent-living homes at a residential service, assisting those with disabilities through wellbeing programmes ranging from swimming to gardening.

“Most of my friends worked in hospitality or retail, so I had a pretty different job from everybody else,” she tells the. “But I really enjoyed it and became passionate about it from a young age, so I stuck with it.”