Catalyst for change: How the pandemic changed the way we live and work We’re sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. Dismiss Catalyst for change: How the pandemic changed the way we live and work December 12, 2020 Massimo and Millie Di Maio with their children, Leo and Luca and their dog, Tilly, at their rural property in Jembaicumbene, near Braidwood. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Normal text size Very large text size For Millie Di Maio, 31, the 2020 pandemic provided an unexpected opportunity to escape the rat race. At the start of the year, Di Maio was living in Macquarie Park in northern Sydney with her husband and five-year-old twins, travelling to and from the Sydney CBD each day for a demanding job with KPMG. She'd leave home at 7am, then race back in the afternoon to collect her sons from after-school care by 6pm before hustling them through dinner and bed. "It was just jam-packed from start to finish," she says.