Lee returned to Whanganui in 2016 after producing costumes for stage and screen for over a decade at Weta Workshops creating costumes for Peter Jackson’s King Kong and The Hobbit series as well as a host of other productions.
She has also worked as a costume technician for World of Wearable Art (WOW) and for the Royal New Zealand Ballet and has been in charge of wardrobe and props for the New Zealand Opera School production ‘Great Opera Moments’ since 2016. Lee is still regularly called on for film productions and has also been wardrobe supervisor for NZ Opera.
Lee runs workshops through her company ‘Paetuia’ to teach students not only to sew but to craft costumes to a high standard. She is also a Fashion and Textiles Lecturer at Te Pūkenga, UCOL Whanganui.