Jenny West went from planning her family's move to New York to being unemployed in a matter of weeks.
The former senior bureaucrat today told a NSW parliamentary inquiry how she was offered the role as the state's trade commissioner to the US before the offer was withdrawn and the job was given to former deputy premier John Barilaro.
The role came with a salary package worth about $500,000 per year.
Here's five key moments from today's evidence.
1. Dream job turned into a nightmare
Ms West gave evidence that she was told on August 12, 2021, that she was the successful candidate for the trade commissioner role.
She says she began making plans to move to New York and even contacted a removalist company when her boss, Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown, started to raise issues with her appointment.
"On 18th of September 2021, Ms Brown emailed me advising that any contract for me in the senior trade commissioner America's role would have to wait the outcome of the cabinet decision," Ms West said.
"On 27th of September 2021, Ms Brown told me that cabinet had endorsed the request for senior trade commissioner roles to become political appointments.
"In the space of four weeks, I went from having been appointed to the role of the senior trade and investment commissioner for the Americas to potentially not having a job.
"I felt so confused."
Ms West was later made redundant from the department entirely and received a statutory payout for being "terminated with no cause".
2. Claims job 'would be a present'
In the weeks after she received word the job was hers, Ms West says she chased up her contract, which she was told had been delayed due to complications with US tax advice.
But by October, it had all come to a crashing halt.
"On 14th of October 2021 I had a Teams meeting with Miss Brown at her request," Ms West told the inquiry.
"She told me that I would not be getting the senior Trade and Investment Commissioner role for the Americas.
"She added, and I again quote, 'you are an extraordinary performer and I am upset that this has happened'.'"
Ms West read the inquiry an email she wrote to her lawyers immediately after that meeting, where she recounted that Ms Brown had met with Minister Stuart Ayres earlier.
"I have spoken to Minister (Stuart) Ayres who has taken over the deputy premier's portfolio and he has confirmed that you will not be getting the Americas role," Ms West wrote of Ms Brown's comments.
Ms West says she was then told her usual job, as the deputy secretary of Investment NSW, would also be made redundant.
She said no one had given her any negative feedback about her work or raised any concerns.
3. Berejiklian signed off on job
Ms West was asked by the inquiry how she was so sure she had the job in mid-August.
She said the then-premier Gladys Berejiklian had signed off on a briefing note and she was sent a copy.
NSW Labor frontbencher Daniel Mookhey questioned Ms West.
Mr Moohkey: "So then-premier Berejiklian had literally signed the briefing note that day, before you were told?
Ms West: "Yes. Correct."
Mr Mookey: "And I can only presume that when you were offered this job with a signed briefing note from the (then) premier of New South Wales, at this point, who was also managing a lockdown ... you may have been pleased?"
Ms West: "Yes, I was, and I phoned my family to let them know the news."
4. Statue of Liberty emoji
Ms Brown has given evidence during the inquiry that Ms West was unsuitable for the job.
In response, Ms West has said she doesn't know why Ms Brown would be critical of her publicly as she believed they had a good and open working relationship.
She used a text message from Ms Brown on August 12 as an example.
"I was told I was the preferred candidate and Amy called me and sent me a text to congratulate me on the role," Ms West said.
"She sent me a text message saying, 'Congratulations, this is one to frame,' and she had an emoji of a Statue of Liberty and a champagne bottle."
5. Request for explanation went unanswered
Ms West said she came to accept that the New York job would be a political one and that she could no longer go.
But she said she didn't understand why her usual role, as Investment NSW deputy secretary, was also being made redundant.
She claims her requests for an explanation went unanswered.
"On October the 11th I emailed my one-up manager, Mr Michael Coutts-Trotter, the Secretary of Department of Premier and Cabinet.
"I asked Mr Coutts-Trotter for a 15-minute meeting to explain my situation.
"I did not receive a response from him [and] the next I heard from him was by way of a formal letter terminating my employment one month later."
