2021 Women of Influence Finalists
It’s been another tough year for Kiwi communities, but from CEOs to students, from researchers to historians, from grassroots social enterprises to the world stage, our amazing wāhine have stood up once again.
Please join us in celebrating the achievements of these inspiring women.
Arts & Culture
Julia Střelou | Managing director, Addicted to Media
Julia Střelou is a poet whose writing centres on female empowerment, particularly for victims of domestic violence. She has more than 46,000 social media followers and speaks openly about her own experiences with domestic violence, encouraging other women to speak up. She began writing poetry in 2015 after a series of abusive relationships, one that saw her jaw broken.
When Julia asked women to give her their stories of traumatic experiences, she received more than 200 responses, turning each one into a poem. With permission from each of the women, she released Her Story, a compilation of the poems. Her Story was stocked by selected book stores across New Zealand and became a best seller in its Amazon category in the week of its release. As with all her books, 10% of the profit from every copy sold is donated to Women’s Refuge.
Julia is now working with Women's Refuge to organise the first annual "Awards and Gala for Women's Refuge" in Queenstown, aiming to celebrate nspirational women in the region and raise further funds and awareness for the cause.
Qiane Matata-Sipu | Founder and Creator, NUKU
Qiane Matata-Sipu has produced award-winning works within the arts and media industries for nearly 20 years. NUKU is a creative, social impact, storytelling movement profiling 100 Indigenous women through photography, audio podcast, video, live events and a self-published book. NUKU invites wāhine to look at the world through a different cultural lens: one made by and for indigenous women mā hine mō hine kia hine. NUKU uses the arts to enhance self-confidence and reduce the impacts of racism discrimination and social exclusion.
Qiane is a co-founder of the SOUL Protect Ihumātao campaign and its communications lead. She presented evidence and negotiated with the government, peacefully marched to parliament, co-led the globally-recognised occupation, and communicated and developed strategies to reach resolution for Ihumātao.
Through her involvement with Ihumātao, Qiane is a whānau representative to Te Kiingitanga (Māori King movement). She was also a chairperson for Makaurau Marae Hauora kōmiti and currently supports Te Ahiwaru hapū, delivering outcomes for health initiatives and screening programmes.
Susan Boland | Managing Director and Artistic Director of Operatunity Ltd
Susan Boland co-founded the leading performing arts company Operatunity 20 years ago. Its seasons of concerts provide care and camaraderie to 70,000 seniors annually and employment for 40 New Zealand artists. Her music travel company opens the world to seniors, especially widows, nervous to travel on their own. Susan was awarded a MNZM for services to music and seniors in 2020.
During COVID-19 lockdowns, Susan’s 39 free online Happiness Half Hour concerts received 250,000 views, providing company and comfort to isolated seniors. It also boosted her artists’ morale, as the inability to perform on-stage had taken a significant mental health toll.
Susan initiated Seniors Offering Families Assistance, empowering seniors to make food and financial contributions to families impacted by the pandemic. She has organised numerous fundraisers including for The Hearing House, Alzheimers, Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquake recovery, supporting accessible music tuition to South Auckland students, and a sustainable water supply for Fiji’s Yasawa High School.
Fotuosamoa Jody Jackson-Becerra | Independent creative director
Fotuosamoa Jody Jackson-Becerra has elevated the tradition of fagogo (Samoan storytelling) and her expertise in her language and culture to collaborate with children (both in New Zealand and the Pacific), educators, dance companies, organisations and whoever needs help weaving a compelling story. This has led to dance productions, poetry, exploring Indigenous chanting, heritage artworks, academia and informing curriculum.
In her previous role of content committee chair for Pacific Media Network, she supported the transformation of the network by co-creating an identity strategy for the future of Pacific media. The Pacific Media Network designed a content strategy to lead from the front in messaging to Pacific communities during COVID-19 lockdowns. Jody’s efforts with the network culminated in a cadetship programme, in partnership with other media organisations. This was a ground-breaking initiative to train and develop 25 new journalism cadets, including those from Māori, Pacific and other communities traditionally under-represented in media.
Jody continues to engage young minds through art and culture, and is a regular in classrooms across Tāmaki Makaurau.
Ngaire Fuata | Tagata Pasifika Producer, Director of Sunpix and Sunpix Post
Ngaire Fuata has been involved in the screen industry for more than 30 years. When the Ministry for Pacific Peoples chose Sunpix as a partner to broadcast the Dawn Raids Apology, Ngaire led the television production team to deliver this historic event to a worldwide audience. Ngaire is a Pacific Music Awards Trustee, on the Film Auckland Board and Greenlit steering committee to strategise environmental sustainability in the Screen Sector.
As a producer of Tagata Pasifika, Ngaire champions Pacific Islands cultures - in particular through the Sunpix Pacific Peoples Awards which celebrates Pacific achievement in the community. She has produced a number of Pacific short films including the award-winning Liliu.
Ngaire plays an important role in capacity building in the sector by mentoring emerging Pacific Producers with hands-on support to become Pacific Independent Production Companies in their own right. Closely connected to her Rotuman community, she fronted Rotuman Language Week communications on TV, radio and live events to profile the culture and language in Aotearoa. She was the first recipient of the Rotuman Hall of Fame Award.
Jessie Rose | Owner and creator, Jessie Rose
Jessie Rose is a self-taught artist who runs a thriving art school, Inspire, where she teaches art to youth and adults with amazing results, encouraging her students to express themselves through art. Inspire also runs a sponsorship program set up for disadvantaged children and has many referrals from agencies who work with children, bringing significant benefits for the youth of Northland.
Following the death of a loved one in 2014, she also hand paints caskets, each one individually painted, to help provide comfort for families in one of life’s toughest times. She works with Davis Funerals in Auckland and many other leading funeral homes in Northland.
Jessie also designs clothing, accessories and more, which are sold in her boutique store and online. Her boutique earned her the Supreme Leadership Award at the 2020 Westpac Northland Business Awards, with the judges noting that for Jessie, “every dark experience was turned into a positive and the business thrived as a result, with all of her activities based on sound ecological principles.”
Hannah Watkinson | Founder and Manager, Salt Lane Studios
Hannah Watkinson is an artist, curator, studio manager and occasional lecturer in Photography at University of Canterbury. She recently finished a decade-long photography project titled The Near Future, considering the psychological landscape and uncertain future of the Buller region, culminating in solo exhibitions as well as a book.
In 2015, Hannah founded In Situ gallery, aiming to keep talented photographers in Christchurch post-earthquake. In 2017 she began the Corner Store collective, for resident artists to work/exhibit in a collaborative, supportive environment. The legacy of the Corner Store has led to Salt Lane Studios, which hosts diverse creatives including photographers, illustrators, videographers and fashion designers.
Hannah sits on boards which encompass her love for Otautahi. Green Effect Trust (governs native nursery Trees for Canterbury) employs intellectually and socially disadvantaged people, educating on regeneration. Te Tira Kahikuhiku, Christchurch Red Zones transformative land use consultative group, provides recommendations to Council. Watch This Space Trust celebrates Christchurch's street art scene, fostering a sustainable and vibrant ecosystem.
Lesley Whyte | Founder, Women in Photography
Lesley founded Women in Photography (WiP) in 2017. It’s believed to be the only photography organisation globally led by women for women, working with photographers at the hobbyist, beginner and intermediate level. She runs workshops, networking events and tours, aiming to create a safe space for young female photographers to hone their skills in a traditionally male-dominated industry. Her organisation also prioritises Kiwi-owned and female-owned businesses in its supply chain.
Lesley promotes the power of photography to focus on positive life experiences, nurture support networks, reduce stress and enhance self-worth. In 2021, WiP launched an annual Photography & Mindset Retreat, with the aim of providing a mental health getaway. It also offers teenage girls a six-week mentoring programme, culminating in a four-week photography exhibition.
A lifelong photographer who as a teenager converted her parents’ bathroom into a darkroom, Lesley left corporate life in 2021 to focus on WiP and mentoring a new generation of photographers
Board & Management
Rebecca Thomas | Chief Information Officer, PwC
Rebecca Thomas is passionate about creating careers in technology for graduates, women and minorities. Rebecca has used kindness, creativity and inclusion to build a team culture where her staff and their whānau thrive. In three years, staff satisfaction among the technology team at PwC has risen from 52% to 96%. Through deliberately inclusive strategies women now make up 43% of the team, people in their early careers 30% and the team represent 15 nationalities. Rebecca and her highly engaged team have delivered technology that has been pivotal to business success, particularly during Covid. It includes numerous cloud first software, hardware, resilience and security programmes for PwC, as well as the innovative technology component of the move from PwC Tower to Commercial Bay.
Rebecca also drives PwC's Net Zero programme and the alignment of its corporate responsibility strategy to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Rebecca is a Trustee for the PwC Foundation which aims to improve child welfare through education. She is passionate about the role technology can play in achieving a better world.
Kylie Reiri | Partner at PwC
Kylie is the second wāhine Māori Partner at PwC. She is dedicated to changing the way Aotearoa uses data. Before joining PwC, Kylie built two start-ups focused on using data for a more equitable, sustainable, and brighter future. She was CEO of Nicholson Consulting, a data science consultancy, where she formed a leadership team of 50% Māori and 50% women, and a wider team with 30% Māori and 50% women - well over the underrepresentation seen in the sector.
Driven by community, Kylie is committed to increasing the Māori capability in the tech sector, so Māori can lead the technical solutions to support iwi, hapū and whānau to design their own futures. Kylie lectures on Māori Data Sovereignty at multiple universities, and her work includes educating the government sector on upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Kylie’s leadership style is described as a braided awa between kaupapa Māori and western approaches. Her commitment to people first technology has seen her win the IT Professional of the year 2021 and the IT People Leadership Award.
Sally Morrison | Co-chair, Wellington Rugby League
Sally has been a champion of grass roots community sports, manaakitanga and whanaungatanga, her entire adult life, and her leadership has made a significant difference for communities in Wellington. In 2009, she became the first woman elected to the Cricket Wellington Board, and in 2016 became the first woman to Chair any regional or national cricket board in New Zealand. Retiring in 2019, she left the organisation in excellent health with rising participation in women’s cricket.
In 2018, Sally joined the Wellington Hockey Board, leading it out of $400,000 of debt and through COVID-19 disruptions with huge participation increases and budget surpluses. She was awarded the Wellington Sport Leadership Award in 2019 for services to sports governance.
Sally is also the Head of Governance at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). She recently fulfilled a lifetime ambition by project managing the production of the book, The Warm Sun on my Face: the story of women’s cricket in New Zealand and the most comprehensive account of women's cricket in the world.
Ana Wilkinson-Gee | Creative Director and Founder, Holi Boli Fashionz
Ana Wilkinson-Gee lived in India for 10 years, training women to sew in an effort to empower women into meaningful work in villages. She trained more than 170 women in Sambalpur and in 2013, she started an ethical, sustainable fashion label called Holi Boli.
When Ana returned home to New Zealand because of COVID-19, she immediately got to work on making the New Zealand Holi Boli business operational to keep the women in the villages paid. She has grown the business to 23 staff, based in New Zealand and working with similar enterprises in two other Indian states and in Cambodia. Some of the important outcomes have been reducing the risk to village women of being trafficked, reducing poverty, and helping enable women to send their children to school.
Holi Boli was selected to feature at the 2021 NZ Fashion Week’s sustainability show as a label that is leading the way.
Sam Tyson | Managing director, Climate & Plumbing
Sam Tyson is a leader in a male-dominated industry. She’s grown her Taranaki business from a team of seven to 35 highly qualified people, while making a significant contribution to the industry. She is the only female representative of Master Plumbers New Zealand and is the Taranaki branch president. A strong advocate for women in trades, she’s passionate about mentoring other business owners and sharing her experiences to help others. She’s also spoken up about the role of natural gas in helping drive New Zealand’s transition to a zero-carbon economy.
The 2015 Master Plumber of the year, Sam is also involved in the Master Plumbers’ Women in Plumbing programme. She is a board member of the Industry Centre of Excellence, an industry training centre that delivers world-class trades training across New Zealand.
Cassandra Crowley | CEO, Te Arawa Management Limited and Independent Director
Cassandra Crowley works to support the aspirations of Māori, Pasifika, youth, migrant, and refugee women. She is Chair of Taranaki DHB, Deputy Chair of Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency), Chair of KLC, voluntary chair of Nisa, member of the (interim) Health NZ Board, and a director of Aratu Forests, Skills Consulting Group, Ngati Manawa Developments and Western Institute of Technology. She works to support employee diversity and promote opportunities for women in all organisations she’s involved with.
Cassandra has grown Te Arawa’s balance sheet from $24m to over $107 million in under four years. This included purchasing an iconic Bay of Plenty business in receivership: Maketū Pies. In its first year under Cassandra’s guidance, it turned over a small profit, but more significantly 40 staff kept their jobs, representing 13% of the town's households.
At Aratu Forests, the company also launched an initiative to restore native ecosystems that were not suited to logging, improve practices and setting new environmental standards on the east coast, at the same time increasing its use of Māori owned businesses.
Business Enterprise
Chloe and Florence van Dyke | Co-founders, Chia Sisters
Chia Sisters was Nelson’s first Living Wage employer (2017), first solar-powered juicery (2018) and first zero-carbon beverage company (2019). Focused on healthy and nutritious drinks, the business has grown by 50% over the past two years and now exports to Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia. In 2021, Chia Sisters won the Beverage Category at the New Zealand Food Awards and Climate Action Leader at the Sustainable Business Awards.
Co-founders Chloe and Florence Van Dyke are using their experience and know-how to help other businesses on their sustainability journey. In 2019, they founded Businesses for Climate Action. To date they have presented workshops on reducing carbon emissions to over 1,000 businesses. For their work in business and sustainability, the Chia Sisters have been named Obama Leaders, on the Forbes 30 under 30 List and as Edmund Hillary Fellows.
Latesha Randall | Co-founder, Raglan Food Co
Raglan Food Co, or RFC, is helping accelerate the shift to a plant-based diet for humankind. It started over 7 years ago with coconut yoghurt made in Latesha Randall’s home kitchen, and has gone on to place multiple times on the Deloitte Fast50 list, with sales of over 1.3 million units in 2021. RFC now employs 30 local staff, and last year built a new factory on the outskirts of Raglan, producing the first Carbon Zero and B Corporation certified yoghurt in Aotearoa.
Last year, through RFC, Latesha masterminded the Game Changers Challenge, inviting three couples who usually ate meat and dairy to go plant-based for one month, tracking the mental and physical benefits. RFC has also encouraged more than 650,000 pieces of plastic to be collected from beaches, and rewarded beach cleaners with free jars of yoghurt.
In 2020, Latesha was named in Forbes Asia 30 Under 30, described as an entrepreneur who is “taking matters into her own hands” when it comes to promoting sustainable eating habits.
Anthea Madill | Founder, Clever Green
Anthea Madill runs Remix Plastic, a sustainability business that engages people with circular economy and conservation. Embedding her 100% hand-made, recycled plastic jewellery with concepts of kaitiakitanga and circular economy has allowed her to connect with people outside sustainability circles: 41% of her customers report behaving in a more environmentally conscious way after purchasing from Remix Plastic and 93% use their Remix Plastic product to teach other people about environmental issues.
In 2020, Anthea highlighted the issue of fast fashion by creating recycled plastic huia feather earrings; the raw material for the earrings is 3D printer waste sourced from a collaboration with Tūranga Christchurch Library. The earrings were worn by Jacinda Ardern during a televised statement, resulting in a 140,000% increase in demand. Anthea's decision to only ship domestically gave her the platform to discuss the huia’s extinction due to international demand for its feathers.
Anna Mowbray | CEO, Zuru Toys
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, frontline workers were in a critical position, grappling with low PPE and other resources. Anna Mowbray used her influence and contacts in China to tackle the issue. She formed and led a body of New Zealand business leaders, lobbied the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, sourced supplies and single-handedly coordinated 98 million pieces of PPE, including seven full flights from Shanghai to New Zealand. This provided health care workers with the significant boost they needed to support New Zealand through COVID-19.
Meanwhile, through all the disruption to business, ZURU grew from the eighth largest privately owned toy company in the world to the third largest, creating more than 300 new roles across offices in 23 countries. In total, under Anna's leadership during 2020, ZURU produced the best selling Outdoor Toy and best selling Explorative Toy in the world with Bunch O Balloons and 5 Surprise Mini Brands. ZURU's annual sales are over $1b billion and growing.
Nicola Relph |Owner of Adulttoymegastore
Twelve years ago, Nicola Relph saw a gap in the digital market for an online adult store that provided a clean, safe, discreet and engaging online shopping experience that was also female friendly. She founded Adulttoymegastore (ATMS), which is now New Zealand’s largest online retailer for adult toys and sexual wellness products with more than 14,000 different products, shipped to 11 countries.
Armed with a mission and vision to help Kiwis improve their sex lives and explore their sexuality in their own way, on their own terms, Nicola took a unique approach to advertising and growing the business including through education (articles, videos, podcasts, social media), PR and partnerships, and has built a sex-positive community.
ATMS fundraises for LGBTQI+ charities, sponsors events, supports and raises awareness for environmental and social causes; it launched New Zealand’s first sex toy recycling programme and was the first New Zealand adult retailer to switch to 100% recyclable and compostable packaging.
Carla McNeil | Managing director, Learning MATTERS
Six years ago, Carla McNeil founded Learning MATTERS, with a focus to reverse our declining literacy rates and provide learning support to children i with literacy learning differences. She endorses an approach called Structured Literacy; the gold standard for teaching all students, including students with dyslexia. The demand for learning support was high and the results were incredible.
As a former principal, Carla realised these practices needed to be brought to the mainstream classrooms to make the biggest possible impact. Carla and her team founded the iDeaL Approach to Structured Literacy, an online learning platform that builds teacher knowledge and provides tools to teach foundational literacy with a Structured Literacy approach. Today, iDeaL has guided more than 1,300 teachers, specialists, and school leaders across 200 schools to move forward with their knowledge and evidence-based practice, empowering and enabling them to reach every learner.
Carla is also a member of the steering group Lifting Literacy Aotearoa, presents nationally, and instigated a review of the Ministry of Education’s dyslexia resource kete.
Debbie Sorensen | Chief executive, Pasifika Medical Association and Pasifika Futures Limited
Debbie Sorensen has built the Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) Group and Pasifika Futures Ltd (PFL) from scratch, with both organisations now large employers of Pacific people. PFL is the Pasifika Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency and it has engaged with more than half of New Zealand’s Pasifika population. PFL has an extensive network of provider partners throughout New Zealand and has made a huge impact on families traditionally managed by Ministry of Social Development services. She has also led the agency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The PMA Group provides professional development for health professionals in Aotearoa and the Pacific region, as well as funding and scholarships. PMA has also provided medical support following natural disasters such as the deployment of Pasifika health professionals to assist with the measles epidemic in Samoa. PMA has also established the Moana Women’s network to support Pacific women.
In 2015, Debbie was invested with the Royal Order Crown of Tonga Commander award by His Majesty King Tupou VI in recognition of her services to the people of Tonga.
Agnes Loheni | Director, MENA International
Agnes Loheni and her three sisters have managed and grown their family business into the successful Pacific fashion label MENA. Now in its 20th year of operation, Agnes’ focus on strategies to increase international sales has helped to buffer the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns. International sales now make up almost 40% of the business’s revenue. A recipient of the Pacific Business Trust ‘Export’ Award (2010) and the SunPix Pacific Peoples Award for Enterprise (2015), Agnes enjoys giving freely of her time as a business mentor.
Agnes was the first Pacific woman Member of Parliament for the National Party in 2019. She served as associate spokesperson, Small Business, Pacific Peoples and Health; and Pacific Parliamentarians’ Women in Power member (Fiji). In 2019 she was a panellist and speaker at the Global Cooperation Training Framework, held in Taipei, and attended the Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on the Prevention of Violence against Women, held in Laos
Jessie Wong | Director, Yu Mei
Jessie Wong founded leather goods label Yu Mei in 2015 after struggling to find a bag that could carry her essentials. Since then, Jessie has grown her team to 16, built a wholesale network of 37 stockists, and opened three stores. NZ Trade & Enterprise recently featured Yu Mei as a success story for building omni-channel retail and pivoting during lockdown; highlighting how the brand sold 600 units in 17 minutes during an online event in 2020.
In 2020, Jessie rallied her business networks to raise $51,590 for the Wellington City Mission through the ‘Bags for All’ collaboration. The first-of-its-kind initiative offered Yu Mei bags for sale at the Mission’s second-hand store, generating funds and awareness. Jessie devised a novel way of maximising returns for the charity, spreading the production costs across a number of Wellington businesses via sponsorship, leveraging her brand, community of customers and business networks.
Jessie has big ambitions for Yu Mei to become an innovative regenerative brand and is currently working to build scalable end of life solutions into Yu Mei's product life cycle.
Community Hero
Kim Murray and Rebecca Morahan | Co-CEOs and co-Founders, WELLfed
Kim Murray and Rebecca Morahan are the founders of WELLfed, a registered charity providing free cooking education and food-based support for whānau in Porirua. WELLfed is inspired by the simple idea that to create healthy communities, key adults within households need effective cooking skills and suitable equipment; teamed up with confidence, connections and ongoing support. WELLfed have been making “living healthy” a daily reality in households in low-decile areas.
WELLfed is an adult education programme that “nourishes and connects through food”. Rebecca and Kim have co-designed the programme with the community over thousands of volunteer hours. The classes and associated life skills programmes are accessible and have been carefully crafted to have a deep and lasting impact, and Kim and Rebecca’s learner focus means many learners have gone on to become tutors and staff in the organisation.
In the first five years of operating, there have been more than 7,000 meals made, 42,400 people fed by the community for their families, and 5,700 items of kitchen equipment given out.
Sarah Page | CEO and Founder, the Kindness Collective Foundation
The Kindness Collective Foundation started as a side hustle, with Sarah Page corralling her friends into helping her provide food, clothing and Christmas gifts. That became a community of more than 15,000 like-minded people, donating their time and money for worthy projects, and in 2020, Sarah turned that community into a registered charity.
Sarah recently gave up a successful career to dedicate herself fulltime to the Kindness Collective. The charity has now provided a better Christmas for more than 5,000 families, redeveloped community spaces including a Women's Refuge playgroundand fed thousands of whānau each year. Sarah has also started a massive campaign, 100 Acts of Kindness, with a goal of making Aotearoa the kindest place on the planet.
By Christmas 2021, the Kindness Collective had donated over $1.2 million of practical kindness to the community including opening a free toy shop, the Christmas Joy Store. Sarah plans to take on even bigger and more creative projects in 2022.
Denise Arnold | Founder, Cambodia Charitable Trust
Lawyer Denise Arnold founded the Cambodia Charitable Trust in 2007 after reading about the horrific level of poverty, child sex trafficking and slavery in Cambodia. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Denise and the trust to shift focus over the past 12 months, raising funds to provide families with rice, and 157 schools with stationery to support children to learn from home while their schools are closed.
Denise’s vision is to put an end to poverty, child trafficking and slavery in Cambodia by re-establishing quality, accessible education for children (especially girls). As well as more than 400 sponsored children, there are thousands attending school regularly, and there has been a significant improvement in the quality of teaching and a new national teacher training programme. While schools are closed, children from CCT’s 23 sponsored schools still have remote access to learning via homework sheets delivered to individual villages.
Denise Astill | Executive officer, Foetal Anti-Convulsant Syndrome New Zealand
For the past six years Denise Astill has been advocating for families and children affected by anti-seizure prescription medications for epilepsy, pain and mental health, where the baby was exposed in utero. Her role is solely voluntary and receives no government funding, yet has brought a huge positive impact for those families.
Denise advocates for families and children affected, working with governmental bodies such as Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, ACC, Pharmac, Medsafe and pharmacies nationwide. In 2020, she was able to get a pregnancy pictogram on the foil for Epilim (sodium valproate), the first time this has been done in New Zealand, and warnings on the boxes of Epilim (sodium valproate) saying not to take whilst pregnant.
Denise is currently working with the Ministry of Health to get a Health Pathway for Fetal Valproate Spectrum Disorder, to make it easier for both healthcare professionals and families to get a diagnosis.
Ruth Money | Volunteer Victim/Survivor Advocate
Ruth Money is a victim advocate who volunteers more than 60 hours a week to help survivors of crime in Aotearoa. She gives a voice to the voiceless, providing 24/7 support for survivors, not only for the duration of the justice process but for life. Her work includes helping survivors and their whānau navigate the justice system and media; educating survivors on their rights and the resources available to them; walking them through the process of making a police complaint; and sitting beside them in court.
Ruth supports survivors of both high-profile crimes and regular Kiwis whose lives are upended by crime. Alongside supporting survivors, Ruth lobbies the government and advocates for victim-focused, trauma-informed systems. She has a strong media presence, and helps corporations write sexual violence policies and educate their staff. Recently, Ruth was a member of the Minister of Justice’s Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group and is currently a member of the NZ Police’s Frontline Safety Improvement Programme Consultancy Reference Group. In 2020, Ruth was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to victim advocacy.
Dr Bernadette Pinnell | General manager, Compass Housing
Bernadette Pinnell is working to improve the social and economic circumstances of people reliant on public housing and the communities in which they live, by ensuring social sustainability issues are given attention in urban development. In 2015, she established Compass Housing Services New Zealand, a social enterprise and registered charitable community housing organisation, with the goal of delivering high-quality affordable housing in mixed tenure communities. Working with iwi, private and public sector agencies, she has attracted $400m in funding to deliver new public housing properties across Auckland and more recently Whanganui, Palmerston North and Wainuiomata, providing high quality housing for over 500 residents.
Compass Housing offers a range of community development activities for residents designed to foster social inclusion and personal development, contributing to 96% resident satisfaction levels. Bernadette is also a founding board member of the Urban Development Institute of NZ and is working with regional bodies to improve planning and delivery models for affordable housing.
Sarah Brown | Co-founder, She is Not Your Rehab
Sarah Brown (Ngāpuhi/Te Rarawa) co-founded the global movement, She is Not Your Rehab, to eliminate family harm by working empathetically with those who perpetrate violence. She is an anti-violence ambassador for the Ministry of Social Development’s “It’s not Ok” campaign, Aviva Family Violence services in Christchurch and for a domestic violence research department in Griffith University in Australia. She co-authored the #1 best-selling book, She is Not Your Rehab, purchasing over 9,000 copies to donate to every person incarcerated in Aotearoa. She’s launching an accompanying book club programme in collaboration with Corrections.
Sarah also manages the movement’s social media channels, which have more than 280,000 followers, and is working to create innovative, meaningful content and viral digital campaigns to encourage discussion around family harm. She works alongside her husband to use their barbershop to hold free group therapy for men, and co-facilitates family harm prevention events and wānanga around the country.
Diversity
Angela Meyer | Director, Angela Meyer Consultation
In June 2020, Angela Meyer decided to develop an intersectional feminist matrix to rate political parties’ policies. Five days later, she had 22 individuals, organisations and businesses on board – and the Gender Justice Collective was created. The Gender Justice Collective is an independent, non-profit network that created a world-first Election Scorecard, designed to rank and measure how well political party policies are supporting gender equity. Working with Professor Jennifer Curtin, they analysed 200 policies, held online Q&As with political parties, and published articles. The collective recently made a submission to the Health Select Committee, drawing on international best practice examples, supported and endorsed by over 50 health organisations including Victoria University, National College of Midwives, RANZCOG and others.
During the past year, Angela also project-managed Trade Careers, a project focused on the more than 20,000 women who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19, to help find them new opportunities in the construction industry.
Dana Youngman | Network executive, Sky Television
Dana Youngman is a champion of diversity in the New Zealand screen industry - working for over 20 years to provide a voice for Pasifika and other minority communities in primetime. In her role at Sky, Dana has secured long-running news show Tagata Pasifika its first ever primetime viewing and commissioned several NZ firsts - Pasifika-made drama series Teine Sa, Chinese bilingual drama Inked along with a Pakistani Iranian comedy Raised by Refugees.
In earlier years, Dana produced New Zealand’s first Pasifika documentary for primetime television – Life After Footy, Legends of the Pacific. This was the first Pasifika-made content to be nominated for an NZ TV Award in the Best Sports TV category. Previously, at TVNZ, Dana created the first children’s Pasifika animation series, Legendary Polynesia and co-created TVNZ’s first bilingual Māori lifestyle series, Whānau Living.
Dana is one of three New Zealand members of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmys) and her hit series INSiDE won a 2021 International Emmy.
Maria Jose Alvarez | Investment manager, New Zealand WNT Ventures
Maria Jose (MJ) Alvarez is a mentor and leader in the investment process for early-stage tech start-ups. In the past year, she worked with 120 start-ups and participated in 27 capital raises, completing investment rounds surpassing $45 million. As an ex-founder herself, MJ works to help first-time female founders; 22% of the companies she has worked with in the last year had a female founder or co-founder. She also mentors first-time founders through incubator programmes such as Velocity, Ministry of Awesome and CreativeHQ.
MJ is part of the first Women In Leadership Development NZ programme, focused on enhancing diverse representation in governance and senior management. She has been recognised as a Top Diverse Board-Ready Director by the Superdiversity Institute for her governance work. MJ also mentors women with a STEM background transitioning into the workforce through Chiasma and the Young Women In Finance programme, aiming to increase the number of women going into venture capital.
Nurain Janah | CA; Founder, Authenticity Aotearoa; Senior Consultant, EY
Nurain Janah is the founder of Authenticity Aotearoa, a charity empowering young women from minority backgrounds. Authenticity Aotearoa has grown from a community of young women of colour sharing stories to become a charity offering structured programmes aimed at creating a lasting, positive impact.
In 2021, she launched New Zealand’s first official coaching programme for women of colour, the Mu Coaching Programme, which allows women from all backgrounds and ages to explore their cultural heritage and identity in a safe and supportive environment.
Nurain is a Senior Consultant at EY New Zealand’s Turnaround and Restructuring Strategy team, in an industry where women of colour are underrepresented. Nurain is a role model and EY ambassador for improving diversity within the industry and firm, leading the way for a career in professional services. She is a Trustee of Foundation North, one of New Zealand’s 12 community trusts providing grant funding for social impact; and Trustee of Belong Aotearoa, working on systems change for resettled communities.
Environment
Associate Professor Trisia Farrelly | Senior Lecturer, Massey University
Associate Professor Trisia Farrelly is New Zealand’s voice on global plastic pollution. Her work encourages national, regional, and international governance to design toxic and fossil fuel-based plastics out of production and to support effective product stewardship schemes. She is Co-Director of Massey University’s Political Ecology Research Centre, and co-founder of the NZ Product Stewardship Council and the Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance. Trisia sits on the executive committee of New Zealand’s Association of Social Anthropologists and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship, and the Moore Institute, Ireland. She was also a nominee for the NZ Prime Minister’s National Teaching Excellence Award.
Trisia is a member of UNEP’s Scientific Advisory Committee and the UNEA Expert Group (Marine Litter and Microplastics). Other advisory committees include the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, and New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment. Trisia’s research and advocacy reaches international media including National Geographic and The New York Times.
Professor Bronwyn Hayward | Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Canterbury; director of the Sustainable Development and Civic Imagination: Hei Puāwaitanga Research Group
Professor Bronwyn Hayward is recognised internationally for her expertise on sustainability, climate change and youth. She leads a UK economic and social research council-funded project to understand how young people in cities can live flourishing, sustainable lives and co-leads Deep South National Science Challenge: Mana Rangatahi: supporting young Maori and Pacific New Zealanders with whanau, to lead climate action. She was the only New Zealander on the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees and serves on the IPCC’s core writing team.
Bronwyn has been a trustee on the Spark Foundation and Givealittle. She was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2021 for services to political science, particularly sustainability, climate change and youth, and a Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Local Hero 2019. She was the joint inaugural recipient of the UC College of Arts Conscience & Critic of Society research award in 2014, and received the UC 2019 Supreme Sustainability Award.
Cheryl Reynolds | Conservation and entrepreneurship leader
Cheryl was the first CEO of the Endangered Species Foundation New Zealand, a charitable organisation committed to saving “the rarest of the rare” among Aotearoa’s 7,500 endangered species. The foundation mobilises everyday New Zealanders in conservation efforts by supporting community projects and lobbying against environmentally-harmful practices.
Cheryl is currently co-founder of a new philanthropic trust and founder of a new ethical business, both of which are primarily focused on the climate crisis. Previously Cheryl was CEO of Xtreme Zero Waste Raglan which diverts over 80% of the community’s waste from landfill. She was the inaugural CEO of Momentum Waikato, a philanthropic trust funding social and environmental projects all around the Waikato region, and she also founded and ran SODA Inc., Waikato's entrepreneurship hub, which helps local start-ups succeed.
A mentor to many young Waikato women in business, Cheryl was welcomed into the Edmund Hillary Fellowship in 2018.
Dr Christine Liang | Programme Manager, Environmental Management at Southern Institute of Technology; Founder, Micro-Investigators
Prominent in the Southland conservation community, Dr Christine Liang has undertaken internationally recognised research and is the Southland representative for the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand. In 2020, she started Micro-Investigators, now a nationally recognised programme selected by Te Pūkenga (NZ Institute of Skills and Technology) as a project of focus.
The programme is run in coordination with national organisation Enviroschools, and sees primary school students collect samples from local waterways, secondary school students analyse and extract microplastics in a lab, and tertiary students lead the project and share the results. Recently students from seven primary schools presented their findings to MPs, councillors, and representatives from Runanga as a call to action. Micro-Investigators went on to win the Environment Southland 2021 Environmental Action in Education Award.
Christine was presented the Excellence in Tertiary Teaching Award at SIT in 2019. She also serves on the Southland Biodiversity Forum and Predator Free Southland Community Forum.
Dr Danielle Shanahan | Chief Executive, Zealandia
In her role at Zealandia, Dr Danielle Shanahan has established the Centre for People and Nature – an interdisciplinary centre of research excellence for all areas of research related to conservation and people. The centre now has more than 80 researchers engaged in a variety of ways and in a variety of projects.
Danielle also created the Sanctuary to Sea Kia Mouriora te Kaiwharawhara restoration programme – a model for urban catchment restoration founded on a Te Tiriti-based partnership with mana whenua and tangata whenua. A major part of the 100-year Sanctuary to Sea project has been the lake restoration project at Zealandia, Te Māra a Tāne. It included the live removal and relocation of thousands of native fish, lowering the reservoir water level, aerial application of a fish-specific toxin, and monitoring the water catchment and structural integrity of the historically significant dam wall. Its successful completion means the headwaters of the catchment are now free of non-native fish species, and a healthy freshwater ecosystem is now re-establishing itself.
Aroha Te Pareake Mead | Research associate, Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Chair Emeritus of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy
Aroha Te Pareake Mead (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou) is a highly respected advisor and researcher on all aspects of mātauranga Māori and Indigenous knowledge conservation, as well as Indigenous cultural and intellectual property issues. She has dedicated her life to the recognition of te ao Māori in the areas of conservation, biosecurity and environmental management. Aroha has held numerous leadership roles in government, academia, the United Nations, international organisations and Iwi/Māori, with a significant portion of these roles being voluntary.
Aroha has contributed significantly to the recognition of the rights of indigenous people. As well as helping draft the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in 1993, Aroha led the organisation of the world's first international conference on cultural and intellectual property rights of Indigenous peoples, which resulted in the formation of the Mataatua Declaration. This was, and remains, a fundamental articulation of the challenges kaitiaki (Indigenous guardians) face in trying to protect nga taonga tuku iho (treasured cultural and environmental ancestral heritage).
Innovation, Science & Health
Chris Duggan | CEO, House of Science
Chris Duggan is the founder and CEO of the House of Science (HOS), a charitable trust providing science resource kits for primary and intermediate students to boost resources in schools and increase teachers’ confidence in delivering science. Chris left her teaching position in 2013 after reading an ERO report revealing over 70% of schools lack an effective science programme. Her library of kits are packed full of quality equipment, to teach simple science concepts in a fun and engaging way.
Founded in 2014, HOS now serves more than 120,000 students in 16 regions, with the science resource kits available at more than 20% of primary schools. Chris’ determination has seen her secure significant new funding in the last 12 months to make up for a shortfall due to COVID-19 which includes a new partnership with DairyNZ. By December 2021, more than 130 sponsors backed HOS, committing enough funds to supply 700 kits to 500 schools.
Professor Beverley Lawton | Founder and Director, Centre for Women’s Health Research – Te Tātai Hauora o Hine
Professor Beverley Lawton is an internationally recognised expert in women’s health. She addresses health inequity by driving kaupapa Māori (by Māori, with Māori, for Māori) research innovation to transform health services, systems and policy across Aotearoa and around the world. She was recently congratulated in parliament by Associate Minister for Health Dr Ayesha Verrall for her team’s input into the government’s decision to approve $53m funding for an HPV self-test cervical cancer screening programme – a method she has been advocating for in the media and other forums for many years.
She founded and leads the Centre for Women’s Health Research—Te Tātai Hauora o Hine at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, where she mentors a team of researchers and provides research positions, training and development. The centre plans to screen more than 4,000 women for cervical cancer prevention by 2023.
Beverley is an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Professor Julia Rucklidge | Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Canterbury
Professor Julia Rucklidge, a clinical psychologist, is the Director of Te Puna Toiora, the Mental Health and Nutrition Research Lab at the University of Canterbury. She is internationally renowned for her research and clinical trials on nutrients and mental illnesses, and emphasising the importance of eating well for optimising mental health.
Julia helps people find alternative treatments for illnesses like ADHD, depression and stress through translation of research to practice and making nutritional interventions mainstream. In 2021, she co-authored The Better Brain: Overcome Anxiety, Combat Depression, and Reduce ADHD and Stress with Nutrition; her 2014 TEDx Christchurch talk has been viewed over 2.2 million times; and her free online EdX course on Mental Health and Nutrition has been taken by over 25,000 students from 146 countries. Through these efforts, thousands of people have benefitted from nutritional interventions.
In 2015, Julia won the New Zealand Psychological Society’s Ballin Award, which recognises notably significant contributions to clinical psychology in New Zealand.
Anna Kominik | Asia Pacific Region Director, Wisk
Anna Kominik is part of an international organisation developing a world-first, all-electric, self-flying air taxi. As Asia-Pacific director/company director for Wisk, a Boeing/Kitty Hawk joint venture, she has led the growth of Wisk NZ, flown the flag internationally for Aotearoa as a great place for innovation and R&D, and helped nurture the country’s wider aerospace sector, now a $2 billion local industry.
Anna has leveraged sustainable technology to attract further international investment and talent, build a partnership with Air New Zealand, and support an environment for other local start-ups to grow and thrive.
Wisk has invested millions in education, training, research, development and employment. Working with Ngāi Tahu, Anna has opened up positive opportunities for rangatahi and demonstrated the social and economic benefits of collaboration between iwi, business and community.
Anna is a trustee of Tāwhiri arts events and festivals, sits on the New Zealand-US Business Council, is independent chair of the Electricity Retailers Association, and was formerly a board member of the JR McKenzie Trust’s Peter McKenzie Project, working to end child poverty.
Dr Angela Lim | CEO and co-Founder, Clearhead
As a medical doctor, Dr Angela Lim saw that NZ had the highest youth suicide rate in the OECD and set about making it easier for people to get the help and care they need. She co-founded Clearhead, which now provides free therapy to 14% of the NZ population, for businesses that use Clearhead as an Employee Assistance Programme provider. Users can book therapy with more than 300 registered therapists and be seen as quickly as 12 hours, compared to the public mental health system's average wait time of four months. Clearhead also developed an artificially-intelligent therapist that is available 24/7 and provides tools to self-manage.
With Māori making up 40% of mental health service users but only 4% of clinicians, Clearhead designed a world-first AI therapist that is able to converse in Te Reo Māori in order to provide culturally responsive support. Clearhead also ran a programme that saved the lives of three Māori rangatahi from suicide.
Primary Industries
Tia Potae | Whānau Ora navigator, Tokomairiro Waiora
Top wool handler and wool classer Tia Potae has been in the shearing industry all her life, representing New Zealand in Wool Handling in 2005 and 2013. She is a rural navigator for Tokomairiro Waiora, a Kaupapa Māori Health Service providing Whānau Ora services in South Otago. During the 2020 lockdown, she developed an online service for wool, forestry and fishing industry workers who find it difficult to access services after hours, and has helped workers access the Wage Subsidy Scheme. Her rural navigator programme was a response to a Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu 2019 survey of wool harvesters which found they needed better access to health and social services.
Tia has a small business, Taki Toru Woolshed Services, where she runs her own training programme. In 2018 she wrote a training booklet, and over the years has been contracted to training entities such as Elite Wool Industry Training and WOMOlife to support their training regimes.
Carolyn Clegg | Vice president, New Zealand Shearing Contractors Association
A long-time shearing contracting business co-owner, Carolyn Clegg is also vice president of the New Zealand Shearing Contractors Association. During COVID-19 border closures, the shearing industry was faced with the prospect of significant worker shortage. Carolyn rallied the industry; firstly, she petitioned the Ministry for Primary Industries for a class border exemption to bring in a small number of highly skilled workers, and then, once her advocacy paid off, worked to get these workers to New Zealand.
She called every single employer, collecting the information she needed to support workers to come across the border. When MIQ spaces fell through, she negotiated work-arounds that required cross-employer support, with workers sharing rooms. When the general election caused delays, she ensured that animal welfare continued to be monitored. When the shortage became acute in the North Island, she helped South Island shearers heading north to support their colleagues.
Kristy McGregor | Editor-in-chief and Publisher, Shepherdess
Shepherdess is a quarterly print magazine which celebrates the resilience, entrepreneurship and resourcefulness of rural women and their communities. Launched in print just days before the 2020 lockdown, Kristy looked at how she could expand its reach through social media., The magazine now has an estimated readership of 20,000 per edition, with over 17,500 social followers.
Moving to Horowhenua from aQueensland in 2014, Kristy was surprised by the degree of social isolation in rural Kiwi communities, despite their relative geographic proximity. The cornerstone of Shepherdess is the improving wellbeing of rural communities through storytelling. Kristy is dedicated to weaving Te Reo and Te Ao Māori into Shepherdess, and building a team that’s both culturally and geographically diverse. In this way she has been able to share compelling stories from all around the country.
Tina Armstrong | Organic farmer
An eco-warrior who’s trying to change the way we farm in New Zealand, Tina Armstrong and her partner converted their Bay of Plenty dairy farm to organic. To eliminate the need for fertiliser, they acquired around 1,800 chickens that graze on their farm, following the cows around and mimicking nature. They also collect food scraps, which they allow to break down and collect maggots, which they can feed to the chickens.
Tina has set up a circular system, reducing waste to landfill by subscribing to a collection service and then purchasing eggs laid by the same chickens. She nominates a school or a group to donate a proportion of the profit to each month. She has made submissions to both local and regional authorities through their long-term plan, to gauge interest in scaling up the project, collecting food waste from every household and encouraging the same practices on other farms in the area by collaborating with councils.
Public Policy
Leilani Tamu | Pacific manager, Ministry for Business, Innovation and Enterprise
Leilani Tamu is a poet, social commentator, Pacific historian, Fulbright scholar, former diplomat, and a leader in the public service. In 2019, she was recognised as a University of Auckland 40 under 40 influencer, and under her leadership the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) won the Supreme Award at the 2020 Diversity Awards NZ for its flagship Tupu Tai internship programme.
As the manager of Pacific policy at MBIE, Leilani’s team is improving Pacific peoples’ long-term economic wellbeing by contributing to strategic policy advice and through programme management and delivery. Signature programmes overseen or delivered by the team include the Tupu Tai Pasifika Public Sector Internship, Alo Vaka Auckland Pacific Skills Shift initiative, the Pacific Procurement Support Service and Tῡ Mau Mana Moana Pacific Public Sector Scholarship programme. In addition, Leilani is a reference group member for the Human Rights Commission’s Pacific Pay Gap Inquiry and one of the judges for the 2022 Ockham NZ Book Awards..
Megan Main | Deputy Secretary of Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment for MIQ
Up until November 2021 Megan Main led MIQ, overseeing more than 4,500 staff at a unique and ever-evolving agency, stood up urgently in early 2020. MIQ is now one of New Zealand’s largest-ever public service efforts. Megan led the rapid set-up of the framework, enabling 31 MIQ facilities across five cities. Rapid development of systems and processes was key to delivering for guests and communities.
Megan led MIQ policy development, overseeing the introduction of bespoke systems designed to manage MIQ operations. She’s earned praise for her ability to advise at the highest levels at short notice across a range of areas of responsibility, with no ‘playbook’ for operating in a pandemic to refer to.
During this time Megan remained Executive sponsor and ardent supporter of MBIE’s Arahanga Wāhine (Women’s Network) and Women of Colour Network, enabling women and allies at MBIE to feel valued and supported.
Now Chief Executive at ACC, Megan leads a team of 4,000 people committed to ACC’s purpose of improving New Zealanders’ lives every day through injury prevention, support and rehabilitation.
Dr Jessica Young | Postdoctoral fellow, Victoria University
Dr Jessica Young was Executive Director of the Yes for Compassion campaign, a non-profit, non-partisan organisation founded to provide high-quality information to the public in the lead-up to the 2020 End Of Life Choice ACT referendum. With the support of a small team, she planned and executed an evidence-based public education campaign that included medical, legal, political, Māori and religious perspectives on assisted dying. The new law came into force in November 2021.
Jessica completed her PhD on assisted dying in 2020, featuring interviews with 14 terminally-ill patients and their whānau. Her doctoral research and the campaign she then undertook, including multiple media appearances, helped voters make informed decisions at the ballot box. She continues to help with implementation policies, and has been appointed to The Support and Consultation for End of Life in NZ Group and the End of Life Choice Act Implementation Advisory Network.
Louise Aitken | Outgoing Chief Executive, The Ākina Foundation
Louise Aitken recently left Ākina Foundation after four successful years as CEO, having helped build Ākina into a leading New Zealand impact consultancy. She embodies the meaning of ‘ākina’ – to challenge – both in her role as CEO and as a well-known advocate for economic change that improves lives and the environment.
In 2018, Louise brokered and delivered a three-year, $5.5m partnership with Government, known as The Impact Initiative. The programme created momentum for Government and businesses to use practices like impact investment and social procurement to address challenges like inequality, poverty, waste, biodiversity loss and the effects of climate change.
Louise is a founding board member of New Zealand’s first impact investment fund, and the lead judge for the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards in 2020 and 2021.
In 2022, Louise plans to direct her passion and enthusiasm towards climate innovation, accelerating the solutions we need to achieve our Zero Carbon future.
Sharon Mason | Buller District Council CEO and Buller Health Trustee
As CEO of the Buller District Council, Sharon Mason has championed its transformation. It now leads economic growth within its district and across the West Coast, and has significantly improved district economic indicators for the first time in over a decade. She has achieved this by working in partnership with her team, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae, local businesses and the community.
Sharon has led the development of an Economic Strategy for Buller, which has led to job creation, positive GDP for the first time in 10 years, and $18 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for strategic assets. By reporting a positive GDP even through the COVID-19 pandemic, Buller has unexpectedly bucked the national trend.
As Buller Health Trustee, she championed the purchase of Coast Medical Practice to ensure GP and health services were retained for the Buller community.
Sharon is a former British Army officer and has more than 20 years’ leadership experience in the health sector.
Fiona Michel | Director – Sector Engagement, Workforce and Welfare – COVID-19 Vaccination Immunisation Programme, Ministry of Health
Having previously held executive roles at NZ Police, Auckland DHB and Vector, Fiona Michel accepted a secondment offered by Dr Ashley Bloomfield to the COVID-19 Vaccination and Immunisation Programme at the Ministry of Health.
Fiona led a team that lifted the number of trained vaccinators in New Zealand from a few hundred, to over 15,000 in a matter of months and introduced a new role which has significantly increased the number of Māori and Pacific vaccinators, enabling a legacy for the future. They also delivered a recruitment pipeline in four languages to build diverse vaccination teams, and well-being materials to assist employers to look after their people.
Fiona and her team operated in an extremely challenging environment, working at unprecedented pace and under tremendous daily scrutiny from parliament and the public.
At the end of her secondment, Fiona was appointed to the position of Chief Executive of Braemar Hospital in Hamilton.
Melanie Mark-Shadbolt | Deputy Secretary Māori Rights and Interests, Ministry for the Environment
Melanie Mark-Shadbolt joined the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) in 2018 as chief advisor Māori. She leads a team delivering gains for Māori rights and interests, across MfE and Government. Her approach changed the role of the Treaty partner, notably in addressing environmental issues. She was subsequently appointed deputy secretary Māori rights and interests.
A priority for Melanie is building the competency of public servants to engage with Māori effectively. This saw the creation of MfE’s Te Ao Hurihuri, Māori capability strategy. Through Melanie’s leadership and vision Tūmatakokiri was also formed to lead Treaty partnering, Māori engagement, capability and science for MfE. Tūmatakokiri was a finalist for the 2021 public Service Māori Crown Relationships Award, and Diversity Works Mātauranga Māori Award.
Melanie has been chosen for Crown-led committees on kauri dieback, myrtle rust, Predator Free 2050 and science acceleration, in addition to the boards she sits on.
Fiona McTavish | Chief Executive, Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council
Fiona McTavish has used her influence to create greater gender equality internally and strengthen the council’s relationship with Māori since 2018. She has prioritised building an inclusive workplace, resulting in an increase of 9% towards women in leadership roles over just 12 months, a new system of pay equity and the creation of several roles for specialised Māori knowledge, including Kaiwhakamānawa Māori to increase staff capability in Te Ao Māori. She also weaves Mātauranga Māori into development so leaders are developing in Te Ao Māori.
Fiona is also on the Waiariki Regional Leadership Group, where iwi, central and local government come together to achieve locally-led and regionally-enabled joined up delivery for communities, starting with improving COVID-19 readiness for the people of the Bay.
Fiona was a member of the Ministerial Freshwater advisory group supporting freshwater reforms and is currently a Quayside Director, Priority One Director (Economic Development Agency) and Tauranga Girls’ College Trustee.
Young Leader
Kate Gatfield-Jeffries | Diversity Champion for Young Women in Business and Law
Kate Gatfield-Jeffries co-founded the Women in Law mentoring programme in 2019, which has supported more than 500 women and increased the diversity of entrants into Auckland Law School and the legal profession. The programme includes a confidential selection process to support diversity, and pairs mentees with senior female students to provide support. It is the largest student-led mentoring initiative for wāhine at the University of Auckland. Kate has helped launch similar programmes in the University of Auckland Business School, Global Studies Faculty and in India.
Kate is the Co-President of Women in Business which launched a pilot programme in 2021 for 60 women students, providing career opportunities in male-dominated pathways including supply chain, digital and corporate finance. She won EY Global Corporate Finance Woman of the Year 2021 from a pool of nearly 3,500 women worldwide. Kate was also named on IFSA’s global 25 under 25 list.
After finishing University, Kate has launched Moodi, a mental wellness brand for women.
Riley Hathaway | Educator and activist, Young Ocean Explorer
After interviewing a turtle expert for a school project about plastic in the ocean, Riley Hathaway started Young Ocean Explorers (YOE) with her dad. YOE is a movement inspiring youth to be guardians of marine environments. She presented ocean adventures on local TV show What Now, sharing her passion for protecting underwater sea life with kids around Aotearoa.
In 2017, YOE created an online educational platform with Greenstone TV. Thousands of classrooms around the world accessed it, with more than 2.3 million pieces of content viewed (not including the thousands of teachers that have used the platform for their classroom). Riley interviewed surfer Bethany Hamilton, sailor Peter Burling, shark expert Rodney Fox, freediver William Trubridge, orca expert Ingrid Visser and explorer Paul Nicklen.
Riley has presented at TedX, National Young Leaders Day, Global Ocean Symposium and to thousands of school children around Aotearoa.
Tara Shepherd | Student and climate advocate, University of Otago
Tara Shepherd supports climate change initiatives in an effort to help her community in the Buller District. She championed a petition to the central government at age 17, to seek funding for remediation of the Hector Landfill site, a legacy issue containing many harmful substances from mining days which had become exposed following Cyclone Fehi in 2018. She successfully secured $1m from the Provincial Growth Fund, and remediation of the dump has now been completed, averting a potential environmental disaster.
Westport’s devastating 2021 floods damaged hundreds of homes and left more than 500 people displaced. Tara was on holiday in Westport and worked in the welfare team on night shift during the extreme weather event. Tara then stepped up as the waste management coordinator for the Emergency Operations Centre and wrote the waste management plan. She has also championed free degassing of fridges for the Buller district, encouraging private enterprise to fund the project, reducing the burden of cost to the residents.
Tara’s efforts for her community have been recognised by her recent award as a 2022 Kiwibank Local Hero Medallist.
Shuari Naidoo | CEO and founder, Moraka Menstrual Cups
In 2019, aged just 16, Shuari Naidoo founded Moraka Menstrual Cups – a business and social enterprise to help tackle period poverty, provide an affordable, sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to disposable period products, and to destigmatise periods. Her product has the potential to last for ten years, saving users thousands of dollars over that time, and reducing waste to landfill.
Shuari was named Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 for Bay of Plenty, and her team won the Teamwork Award. In 2021, Shuari was awarded nationwide Student Volunteer of the Year and was twice nominated for a Youth Spirit TECT Award. She has been selected as one of the Y25 for 2021, an award for women doing amazing work in the community. Shuari was a YES Alumni finalist in the category of community leader and has been selected as a finalist for the Girls in Business Awards in the category of excellence in sustainability.
Shuari studies Political Science and Criminology and Victoria University Wellington.