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

An Amazon layoff gave one working mother the push to turn a side project born from her struggle to relax into a growing wellness-travel business.

Rania Zheng, 34, was laid off from Amazon in October 2025 after nearly six years at the tech giant. Her separation officially took effect in January, leaving her to decide whether to look for another job or devote more time to the side business she had been developing. Rather than return to the job market, Zheng chose to focus full-time on Puyu Retreat, the wellness travel business she co-founded.

From Amazon Career to a Different Kind of Work

Zheng joined Amazon in 2020 as a business intelligence engineer and was promoted to senior engineer roughly a year later. In 2022, she transitioned into a senior product manager role after taking product management classes at the University of Washington.

She described her time at Amazon as positive, saying the role allowed her to keep challenging herself and explore product management. Still, balancing the demands of a fast-paced technology career with family life proved challenging. As a wife and mother, Zheng said she struggled to balance work, family responsibilities, and what she described as the 'invisible mental load'.

Her Interest in Wellness Became a Side Hustle

Zheng's efforts to relax led her to explore traditional Chinese medicine, tea practices, and Qigong. She found them helpful and felt more people should know about them. That interest led her to co-found Puyu Retreat with Rachel Xia, offering wellness-focused trips in China centred on themes including tea, traditional Chinese medicine, and mindfulness. Xia was a former classmate whom Zheng met through a joint US-China hospitality program.

While still at Amazon, Zheng treated Puyu Retreat as a side project, spending about two to three hours a week on the business. She mainly handled social media, destination content, and the cultural side of the business, while her China-based co-founder handled work on the venture from China.

'I found it very helpful and thought more people should know about them,' Zheng said. She later announced on LinkedIn that the business's first tea and traditional Chinese medicine retreat was already fully booked with two weeks to go before the event.

With her husband working and the family having savings, Zheng said they had enough financial breathing room to give the venture a chance. 'I gave myself roughly a year from when I was laid off to see whether it kept showing promise,' she said. 'If not, I could consider returning to the job market.'

From First Retreat to Steady Growth

Puyu held its first retreat in November 2025. Since then, the business has run several tours, generated revenue, and, according to Zheng, continued to grow steadily. Its Instagram account has surpassed 20,000 followers, while Zheng's co-founder and a founding team member now oversee operations on the ground in China.

Zheng said she remains optimistic about the business, although it has yet to become profitable or pay her a salary. She said the revenue is being reinvested into the trips, which are designed for small groups. The company's next focus is expanding into the US market.

The Stress Is Still There, but It Feels Different

Running a young travel business has brought its own pressures and challenges. The difference, Zheng said, is that the pressure now feels more meaningful. 'When you're working on something you genuinely care about, that changes the quality of the stress,' she said.

Zheng said working on Puyu Retreat has also helped her maintain the wellness practices that inspired the business, including traditional Chinese medicine. Her Amazon experience remains useful, too. She said her background in product analytics, business intelligence, and product management has helped her apply lessons about technology, scaling, and prioritisation to the business.

'A layoff isn't the end of the story, and everything you accumulated in your previous roles is still valuable,' Zheng said. She remains focused on growing her business but has not ruled out returning to the job market if the right opportunity comes along. 'Those skills don't disappear after a layoff,' she said. 'They can help you figure out what comes next.'