Creative Welly Episode #21 | Shadoe Stone & Troy Hammond

Courageous conversations with bold humans (from the most creative little capital in the world).

Shadoe Stone, Creative Director + Storyteller, five and dime.

Shadoe is interested in stories. The ones that shape us, the ones that defy us, and the ones that tickle us. She runs a storytelling agency, five and dime, on a mission to reshape our beloved narratives into ones that are more inclusive, regenerative and consider what it means to be fully human. Warts and all.

Having started her career in design, then studying and working in marketing and comms, and now channeling her energy into narrative co-design and production, Shadoe is happiest when listening to others, and leaning into the discomfort so that she may grow and learn to be a better ally for positive outcomes – for our tangata and our taiao.

Troy Hammond, Founder of Talent Army, Cultivate, Mission Control & SalaryData.

Troy is not a thought leader or Ted Speaker. He is just a regular idiot trying his best and failing as much as he is succeeding.

He is a serial entrepreneur and most known as the Founder & CEO of Talent Army who are New Zealand’s premier and fastest growing IT recruitment company.

Having now successfully taken on the broken recruitment industry, Troy is spending more time focusing on other areas that he can help the tech ecosystem with People & Culture consulting, applications and remuneration software.

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Connecting Humans In A Beautiful Way | Taking A Break

Twenty discussions featuring forty intriguing humans equating to 1,943minutes / over 32hours.

More episodes will follow, although for now we’ll take a break for a couple of months. Feel free to explore the growing back catalogue here plus subscribe in the way most pertinent to you.

Full write-up here.

Quick shout-out to:

We recently organised an exclusive gathering just for those who have participated in the project to celebrate and connect them i further conversation with the growing community:

Creative Welly Episode #20 | Karen Fifield & John Holt

Courageous conversations with bold humans (from the most creative little capital in the world).

Karen Fifield MNZM, Chief Executive at Wellington Zoo Trust

Karen has been the Chief Executive of Wellington Zoo since 2006 and is a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit MNZM for Business and Animal Welfare. Karen is a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) Council and Chairs the WAZA Ethics and Animal Welfare Committee. She is a member of the WAZA Conservation and Environmental Sustainability Committee.

Karen won the 2009 HER Business Wellington award for outstanding business leadership and sustainability and the 2010 HER Business NZ National award for outstanding business leadership. Karen was 2010 Wellingtonian of the Year in the Environment category. Karen was a finalist in both the 2014 and 2015 Westpac/Fairfax Media NZ Women of Influence Awards in the Social Enterprise category and the Board and Management category respectively.

John Holt, Founder at All Things Considered

Serial Founder and Company Director committed to growing high impact, high growth ventures that will better New Zealand

Founder of All Things Considered – a trusted focussed lens on the sustainability and ethics of the global clothing and fashion supply chain

Driven by personal growth and embracing the innovative and unconventional. Passionate aviator in training and devoutly curious about all things.

Current projects / focus areas: The future of aviation, Sustainable Fashion, Waste minimisation and the growth of New Zealand’s technology and innovation ecosystem.

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Creative Welly Episode #19 | Paula Eskett & Ari Sargent

Courageous conversations with bold humans (from the most creative little capital in the world).

Paula Eskett, District Libraries Manager, Waimakariri District Council

Paula Eskett has worked in libraries since her parents told her she needed an afterschool job at 14.

Her belief and determination in the community building and strengthening power of libraries has been reinforced through her mahi in an array of library roles across Aotearoa.

She is most engaged when advocating for and designing services that promote equity of access to all that libraries can offer their communities; knowledge in all its different forms, the tools and technology to create and share new knowledge and spaces to grow understanding and social connections.

Paula currently leads Waimakariri Libraries, is a LIANZA past president, CORE Education eFellow and fellow of Creative Common’s Institute of Open Leadership

Ari Sargent, Managing Director, Octopus Energy NZ

Known for his ability to think deeply, he was once described by a colleague as a “Brainbox wearing sneakers and shorts”. This description exemplifies the intelligent disobedience he likes to apply problem solving and innovation.

A 30 year veteran of the energy industry makes him either a dinosaur or a guru. He describes his early career as being interesting and extremely rewarding – he set up Meridian Energy’s trading operation, negotiated the renewal of the Tiwai Point electricity contract and spearheaded the company’s renewable energy strategy. But he definitely felt like a square peg in a corporate round hole. No surprise he lept from that environment to create Powershop, one of New Zealand’s most loved consumer brands, and established the world’s first multinational energy franchise to take Powershop to the world.

These days he is heading up UK unicorn Octopus Energy’s entry into the NZ electricity market and wants to make accessing clean energy easy and affordable.

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Creative Welly Episode #18 | Anne-Marie Brook & Cody Ellingham

Courageous conversations with bold humans (from the most creative little capital in the world).

Anne-Marie Brook, Co-founder, Human Rights Measurement Initiative

Anne-Marie is an economist and social entrepreneur with a passion for helping to bring about systemic change. She is one of the founders of the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI), a global data platform tracking the human rights performance of countries. Unabashedly working to change the world, the HRMI team want to make sure everyone can see the world through a human rights lens.

Anne-Marie has a Masters of Public Affairs from Princeton University, she is an Edmund Hillary Fellow, and was a 2020 finalist in New Zealand’s Women of Influence awards, in the Global category.

Cody Ellingham, Photographer

Cody Ellingham is a New Zealand photographic artist. Cody lived in Japan for six years and published two photobooks during his time abroad focusing on the story of the places we call home explored through wandering and nocturnal photography. His photography has been exhibited in Japan, South Korean, Taiwan, and New Zealand and has been featured in The Guardian, Wired, RNZ, The Dominion Post and CNN.

Cody has published two photobooks to date, Danchi Dreams (2018) and Bangkok Phosphors (2019) as well as publishing an ongoing journal of urban photography, Derive Wanderer.

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Creative Welly Episode #17 | Victoria Spackman & Mark Bradford

Courageous conversations with bold humans (from the most creative little capital in the world).

Victoria Spackman ONZM

Victoria Spackman ONZM is an independent director and leader based in Wellington, New Zealand. She is recognised as one of New Zealand’s most influential business women and advocates for the creative and arts sectors. She is currently Chair of high-growth trans-Tasman technology company Ackama Group, on the Board and Audit and Risk Committee of Manapou ki te Ao Education New Zealand (a Ministerial appointment) and is chairing the interim establishment board of the Toi Mai Workforce Development Council, which serves the creative, cultural, technology and recreation sectors.

Recent executive roles include Manager Legal and Procurement of Greater Wellington Regional Council and founding executive Director of Te Auaha New Zealand Institute of Creativity, where she established a tertiary education facility teaching 1000+ students every year in the creative industries including film, music, theatre, writing, dance, digital media and more. Prior to that, Victoria was Chief Executive of Gibson Group, one of New Zealand’s largest and longest standing screen and visitor experience production companies which exports to Australia, China, America, Europe and beyond. Victoria led a management buyout of that company in 2014 and remains a shareholder and director.

Dr Mark Bradford, Senior Lecturer, Massey University, Ngā Pae Māhutonga Wellington School of Design

Dr Mark Bradford is a designer and academic at Massey University, Ngā Pae Māhutonga Wellington School of Design in Wellington, New Zealand. Mark has a PhD in Business from Massey Business School.

His interdisciplinary research investigates how design(ing) action is increasingly enacted relationally between people. Through his PhD research process – inspired by the Japanese martial art of Aikidō – he designed the ‘BeWeDō® framework.’ BeWeDō is a unique way of enabling people to feel heard through designing inclusive spaces where physical movement amplifies thinking, enriches exchange and transforms conversations into action. Everyone’s voice matters.

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Creative Welly Episode #16 | Natasha Zimmerman & Ben Preston

Courageous conversations with bold humans (from the most creative little capital in the world).

Natasha Zimmerman, Meaning Maker

Natasha is the founder and creative force behind Unchatter, an organisation focused on bringing meaningful connection to the world. She creates spaces where small talk is banned and an array of thoughtfully curated exercises get participants to dig deep.

Natasha’s fab accent will tell you from the US, where she was a healthcare executive before coming to NZ to pursue her PhD at the University of Canterbury. Her current research is centered on belonging and connection in organisations, and she loves finding the juicy intersection of science, humanism, and practical application.

When she’s not engaged in a deep conversation, you’ll find Natasha getting lost in a good book, looking at the moon, organizing things for fun, and baking ridiculous cakes. She’s an old soul, an introvert, and a poetry zealot. Natasha lives in Christchurch with her joy-givers: her partner Hassan and her baby boy Bodhi.

Ben Preston, Independent Creative Consultant + Project Director at MOTIF

As an engineering technologist and regenerative practitioner, Ben supports revitalisation of the life-giving patterning in social, environmental and economic systems in business and place-based design.

This involves placing living, ecological processes of environments and cultures at the core of project team operations, engaging new forms of collaboration, procurement and design that are inclusive and holistic, and re-integrating individuals and groups in the re-patterning processes of their surroundings.

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Creative Welly Episode #15 | Queen Olivia & Pat Shepherd

Courageous conversations with bold humans (from the most creative little capital in the world).

Queen Olivia, Meta Drag Queen

Named one of New Zealand’s 10 most Iconic Drag Queens.

On Twitter simulating life on Space Station 1 in geosynchronous orbit about Wellington, NZ with their trusty pussy cat Cuddle Unit 5.

A regular at Rainbow Story Times. (also known as drag queen story time) in libraries across the Wellington region.

Featured in internationally renowned GayTM campaign for ANZ NZ, and modelled for Höpt Soda’s Nön Usual campaign, running nationwide, online, busses, and billboards.

Currently in collaboration modelling for Dave Roil of Hand Sewn Atelier, photo shoots for London Pacific Fashion week, and NZ photographers Tink Lockett, and Bern Stock.

Pat Shepherd – Chief Doer of Things at One Percent Collective

Pat Shepherd is a photographer, graphic designer and founder of NZ-based charity One Percent Collective. He loves making things better through creativity. He’s been doing that for years through his work with SpinningTop on the Thai/Burma border with refugee and migrant children and more recently through One Percent Collective and The Generosity Journal they produce.

One Percent Collective is a super simple concept. Over the past 8 years, almost 700 donors have collectively raised over $2 million dollars for Kiwi-based causes by giving just 1% of their income.

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Creative Welly Episode #14 | Audrea Topps Harjo & Alex Matthews

Courageous conversations with bold humans (from the most creative little capital in the world).

Audrea Topps Harjo – COO at A44 Games & Founder of InclusionFX

Audrea Topps Harjo has worked in the entertainment industry for over twenty-five years.

She has worked for Sony Pictures (CONTACT) Rhythm and Hues, Electronic Arts, WETA Digital (RISE OF THE PLANETS OF THE APES), James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment (AVATAR SEQUELS). She produced three independent films (SECRETS, ALL IN, THE AVAILABLE WIFE). She served as Mind & Machine’s VFX Producer on Ridley Scott’s (RAISED BY WOLVES).

She is currently COO at A44 Games and founder of InclusionFX, which is a platform designed to support and amplify underrepresented voices in the VFX for features, television and games industries in Wellington, NZ.

Alex Matthews – Xequals CEO

Alex is a Wellington business person and ‘serial entrepreneur’ with businesses in digital production, web/app development, gaming, and heavily engaged in the innovation sector.

An avid futurist focused on emerging technologies and social trends, Alex is passionate about discussing the future of society and how we can best shape it towards a world we all want to live in.

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Creative Welly Episode #13 | Mayu Suzuki & Trent Yeo

Courageous conversations with bold humans (from the most creative little capital in the world).

Mayu Suzuki – Petite Queen Bee of mariri New Zealand / JFW organiser

Mayu is a bridge between Japan and New Zealand – or at least that’s my goal! During the day I am a Mānuka honey expert gifting New Zealand Taonga to Japanese customers on e-commerce, I also organise one of the biggest cultural events “Japan Festival Wellington”.

As a Japanese-Kiwi, I am passionate about culture and identity issues. My mission is to connect Japan and New Zealand in all business, culture, sports and all sectors.

Trent Yeo – Loves team sports

Trent is Executive Director of Ziptrek Ecotours in Queenstown. Ziptrek is an adventure ecotourism zipline business that utilises the power of adventure to help create meaningful memories of place.

Ziptrek is a long time communicator about The Natural Step and now a Future-Fit Pioneer. Ziptrek’s business model assists tens of thousands of guests to learn about sustainability.

Trent is also an ex TEDx event organiser, once produced an online vodcast about NZ for China travellers, represents on board of Tourism Industry Aotearoa and co-starter of Startup Queenstown Lakes.

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