Rania Zheng
- Rania Zheng struggled to relax while working at Amazon, so she sought out holistic wellness practices.
- She was laid off in October 2025 and turned her wellness interest into a full-time business.
- Rania's business offers curated trips in China focusing on different wellness themes.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rania Zheng, a 34-year-old former senior technical product manager at Amazon living in Bellevue, Washington. Zheng was laid off from Amazon in October 2025 and now runs her own wellness-travel business. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
When I learned last October that I was being laid off from Amazon after nearly six years, I was surprised. However, it didn't feel like the end of the world.
Layoffs had become common across the tech industry. I'd heard stories from friends who had been impacted at other companies. I also didn't feel like I was being targeted or that the decision was about my performance.
My official separation from the company only took effect in January, so I had time to pause and think about what I wanted at this stage of my life.
I could look for another job. Or, instead, I could spend more time on the side project I'd already started while working at Amazon. Losing my job gave me a push to see whether I could focus full-time on turning that early idea into an actual business.
I enjoyed my work at Amazon, but struggled to relax
I joined Amazon in 2020 as a business intelligence engineer, shortly before the pandemic began. About a year later, I was promoted to a senior engineer.
I'd taken product management classes at the University of Washington and let my managers know I wanted to explore more work in that area. They were supportive, and in 2022, I transitioned into a senior product manager role.
Overall, my experience at Amazon was very positive. I felt like I could continue challenging myself and exploring what I wanted to do.
However, as a woman in a competitive workplace, it could be hard to balance work, my husband, my children, and the invisible mental load. People would tell me that I should relax more, but I didn't really know how.
My interest in wellness became a side hustle
My efforts to relax more eventually led me to explore holistic wellness, including traditional Chinese medicine, tea practices, and Qigong. I found it very helpful, and thought more people should know about them.
So, early last year, I cofounded my wellness-travel business, Puyu Retreat, which offers curated trips of roughly five to seven days in China. Depending on the destination, the trips cover different wellness themes.
One trip, for example, focuses on tea and traditional Chinese medicine, while another destination focuses more on creative mindfulness.
At first, the business was more of an idea I was testing with my cofounder, who is based in China. I mostly worked on things like our social media posts about our destinations and the cultural side of the business. I spent around two to three hours a week on the business alongside my Amazon job.
My layoff gave me more time to turn the idea into an actual business
Our first retreat ran in November 2025 — the month after I was laid off.
We've since run some tours, are generating revenue, and the business is growing steadily. Our Instagram account has grown to over 20,000 followers. My cofounder and a founding member now lead our operations on the ground in China. Overall, I'm optimistic about our progress.
Still, I'm not paying myself from the business yet. We're not yet profitable, and we're reinvesting everything into the trips themselves. Each retreat is designed for a small group and is hand-curated, so a significant amount of time and attention goes into each one. Our next focus is on growing in the US market.
Rania Zheng
One of the reasons I felt comfortable pursuing the business is that my husband works, we have savings to fall back on, and our family isn't spending a lot right now. That gives us some financial runway, but I know this might not make sense forever.
When I decided to focus more seriously on the business, I gave myself roughly a year from when I was laid off to see whether it kept showing promise. If not, I could consider returning to the job market.
As the one-year mark gets closer, I find myself more and more drawn to work that leans into my strengths, such as creativity, sharp business instinct, and translating data into actionable insights.
Building the business draws on all of these skills, but I know other roles could as well. While I'm not actively looking for work right now, I've kept an eye on the market. I wouldn't rule out interviewing if the right opportunity came along and aligned with what I do best.
I still have stress, but it feels different now
When I started exploring wellness practices, my goal was to relax more. Since leaving Amazon, building a wellness business has been stressful in its own ways — but when you're working on something you genuinely care about, that changes the quality of the stress.
Working on the business has also helped me keep up with my wellness practices because I have to practice what I'm selling. I've gotten deeper into traditional Chinese medicine and have really come to appreciate its holistic view of health.
Overall, I'm focused on building a balance between work and life that actually holds.
One of the biggest things I've learned about building a business is not to build in silence. There are a lot of ways to validate whether your idea is promising; you can talk to people you trust, share on social media, and see whether people respond.
I'd also tell people who've been laid off not to take it personally. A layoff isn't the end of the story, and everything you accumulated in your previous roles is still valuable.
I appreciate all the experience I gained in product analytics, business intelligence, and product management. It taught me about technology, how to scale, and how to prioritize things.
Those skills don't disappear after a layoff. They can help you figure out what comes next.
Do you have a story to share? Reach out to the reporter via email at jzinkula@businessinsider.com, or via Signal at jzinkula.29.