Amazon Layoff Forces Working Mom to Rethink Her Career as She Goes Full-Time With Wellness Travel Business

Rania Zheng, 34, was laid off from Amazon in October 2025 after almost 6 years at the tech giant. Her separation formally worked in January, leaving her to choose whether to search for another task or dedicate more time to the side organization she had actually been establishing. Instead of go back to the task market, Zheng picked to focus full-time on Puyu Retreat, the health travel organization she co-founded.

Travel From Amazon Career to a Different Kind of Work

Zheng signed up with Amazon in 2020 as a company intelligence engineer and was promoted to senior engineer approximately a year later on. In 2022, she transitioned into a senior item supervisor function after taking item management classes at the University of Washington.

She explained her time at Amazon as favorable, stating the function enabled her to keep tough herself and check out item management. Still, stabilizing the needs of a hectic innovation profession with domesticity showed difficult. As a partner and mom, Zheng stated she had a hard time to stabilize work, household obligations, and what she referred to as the ‘unnoticeable psychological load’.

Travel Her Interest in Wellness Became a Side Hustle

Zheng’s efforts to unwind led her to check out conventional Chinese medication, tea practices, and Qigong. She discovered them practical and felt more individuals need to understand about them. That interest led her to co-found Puyu Retreat with Rachel Xia, using wellness-focused journeys in China centred on styles consisting of tea, standard Chinese medication, and mindfulness. Xia was a previous schoolmate whom Zheng satisfied through a joint US-China hospitality program.

While still at Amazon, Zheng dealt with Puyu Retreat as a side job, investing about 2 to 3 hours a week on business. She generally dealt with social networks, location material, and the cultural side of business, while her China-based co-founder managed deal with the endeavor from China.

I discovered it extremely valuable and believed more individuals must understand about them,’ Zheng stated. She later on revealed on LinkedIn that business’s very first tea and standard Chinese medication retreat was currently totally scheduled with 2 weeks to precede the occasion.

With her hubby working and the household having cost savings, Zheng stated they had adequate monetary breathing space to offer the endeavor a possibility. ‘I offered myself approximately a year from when I was laid off to see whether it kept revealing pledge,’ she stated. ‘If not, I might think about going back to the task market.’

Travel From First Retreat to Steady Growth

Puyu held its very first retreat in November 2025. Ever since, business has actually run numerous trips, produced profits, and, according to Zheng, continued to grow progressively. Its Instagram account has actually gone beyond 20,000 fans, while Zheng’s co-founder and a starting staff member now supervise operations on the ground in China.

Zheng stated she stays positive about business, although it has yet to end up being successful or pay her a wage. She stated the profits is being reinvested into the journeys, which are created for little groups. The business’s next focus is broadening into the United States market.

Travel The Stress Is Still There, however It Feels Different

Running a young travel service has actually brought its own pressures and difficulties. The distinction, Zheng stated, is that the pressure now feels more significant. ‘When you’re dealing with something you truly appreciate, that alters the quality of the tension,’ she stated.

Zheng stated dealing with Puyu Retreat has actually likewise assisted her preserve the wellness practices that motivated business, consisting of conventional Chinese medication. Her Amazon experience stays helpful, too. She stated her background in item analytics, company intelligence, and item management has actually assisted her use lessons about innovation, scaling, and prioritisation to business.

A layoff isn’t completion of the story, and whatever you built up in your previous functions is still important,’ Zheng stated. She stays concentrated on growing her service however has actually not dismissed going back to the task market if the ideal chance occurs. ‘Those abilities do not vanish after a layoff,’ she stated. ‘They can assist you determine what follows.’