Tag: creativity

Creative Welly Episode #45 | Michelle Farrell & Dave Greenberg

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

Michelle Farrell, Senior Learning & Development Consultant

Michelle is super-passionate about creating connections and communities within organisations. She takes a human-centred approach to everything she does, which has helped her build thriving communities.

She’s keen on connecting people with technology and loves finding ways to make their work lives more manageable.

Her roles range from Knowledge Management Collaboration Specialist to her current Senior Learning and Development Consultant position.

Dave Greenberg, Keynote Speaker / Trainer / Consultant

Dave moved to Wellington, from the USA, for a one-year IT contract in 1990 and never left.

He served as a rescue crewman on the Westpac Rescue Helicopter for 25 years, taking part in nearly 4000 missions. In 2017 Penguin Random House published his memoir, Emergency Response: Life, Death and Helicopters.

Dave was part of the Ministry of Health’s Covid Response Team, helping coordinate NZ’s health response to the pandemic for over two years.

Today he is an emergency management speaker/consultant/trainer. He regularly travels between NZ, Australia and the USA, but Wellington is, and always will be, his home.

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Creative Welly Episode #44 | Jenny Cameron & Chris Jackson

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

Jenny Cameron, Chief Transformation Officer, Ministry for Primary Industries – connector and stubborn optimist for people-centred solutions

I really enjoy jobs that draw on my ability to bring people together to effect system change. I like to connect people together who seek solutions, with nature and humans at the heart. I thrive on working on gnarly issues that are at the nexus of where regulatory and social intersect – drawing on my psychology and legal background.

A consummate Gemini, I like to converse, debate, and relish being thrown in at the deep end. I’ve been a lawyer, a diplomat, I’ve worked in the brewing, electricity, and dairy sectors. My current role is Chief Transformation Officer for the Fit for a Better World vision for Aotearoa New Zealand’s food and fibre sectors in the Ministry for Primary Industries. In some of our biggest challenges are our greatest opportunities.

Chris Jackson, Strategist, Foresight Practitioner, Designer, Researcher, Artist, Coach, Writer, Skateboarder, Business Owner

When you don’t know where you are going, are unsure about what the future holds or dealing with a complex, strategic challenge – that’s where I come in.

I thrive in spaces where others have been but have yet to figure out. I’ve got a slightly dented toolbox that’s two decades old. In it, you’ll find a socket set from futures thinking, a collection of design screwdrivers, some research chisels and lots of strategic hand-saws.

Whether you’re a CEO, a middle manager, or a design practitioner, I’ve helped you and your organisation before. But it’s probably in an adjacent sector.

And that’s the difference.

Connecting the dots to understand your ever-changing operating landscape to embed change that sticks.

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Creative Welly Episode #43 | Tania Anderson & Nick Fox

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

Tania Anderson, System participatory designer and Hoa Haere (learning partner)

Tania is a puppy mum, recently a wife to a wonderful husband, obsessed with food and cooking for loved ones and has a hobby of acquiring new hobbies. She geeks out about complex systems and shifting them towards a world that lives below the ecological ceiling and above the social floor.

They are an interdisciplinary system and participatory designer and recovering project and change manager. Creating solutions and embedding change for social outcomes and impact. Believing that compassion, evidence and lived experience leadership are key to co-creating change and making a real difference with people.

Nick Fox, Founder, Jumping Fox Interactive Ltd

Nick is the Founder and CEO of Jumping Fox Interactive – a salesmaking consulting company – working with B2B sales organisations and helping them get fit for a digital-first world.

He has made his career within and then leading B2B sales and marketing teams. Just prior to starting Jumping Fox, Nick had worked at New Zealand Post. First as GM of Customer Experience – looking after all customer-facing aspects of the business, including sales, marketing, and digital channels. And then as GM of Digital Platforms. As part of the digital role, Nick went to the d.school at Stanford University to learn and apply user-centred design techniques. He’s been back a number of times since to speak – and is now also a d.school-trained design thinking coach.

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Creative Welly Episode #42 | Vida Christeller & Digby Scott

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

Vida Christeller, Manager City Design, Wellington City Council

Vida leads the City Design team at Wellington City Council, a team focused on influencing and delivering people-centric spaces which build on the best of Wellington and transforms the City to be fit for the future. Her focus is on ensuring that Councils Strategy and Policy is implemented and the city becomes more sustainable in the whole holistic sense of the word – that densification is done well through empowering Wellingtonians of all ages and abilities to get around safely on foot and by bike, urban greening, public space upgrades and place-based regeneration. Wellington City Council is turning strategy into action and are beginning a decade of transformative change.

Digby Scott, Mentor, guide, and catalyst for leaders and change-makers

I’m a trusted mentor, guide and catalyst for leaders and change-makers. I’m deeply interested in how in this age of flux and uncertainty, we can better design our lives, our organisations and our societies to enable people to live well, purposefully and sustainably. I reckon this stuff matters more than ever now.

With 25+ years in the people game, my expertise is all about cutting through to get to what matters, and bringing energy and fresh thinking to get people unstuck and moving forward.

Originally from Western Australia, I’ve made Wellington my home. I love this place for its creativity, how nature is right there in your face, and the diversity of people that hang out here.

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Creative Welly Episode #41 | Hollie Arnett & Joe Hopkirk

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

Hollie Arnett, Founder of Maker & Moxie

Hollie Arnett is a brand strategist and coach for creatives, and the founder of Maker & Moxie. With a background in graphic design and experience with her own art practice, Hollie knows the power of creativity and how building a brand can enable your creative business to thrive. That’s why she’s on a mission to help creators build their brand, grow their audience, and share their work with the world so that together we can make the world a more creative place, one brand at a time.

More creativity, colour, and joy in the world? Yes please!

Joe Hopkirk, Strategy Development Manager, Greater Wellington Regional Council

I’m Joe, a long time ago, climbing on a cliff face somewhere, I realised that finding the easiest way to do the most difficult thing was a beautiful shortcut to living a satisfying life.

This has led me down a long a windy path via a fair few rocky trails and hill tops to working in systems and strategy design. Looking for connection in concepts and shifting how problems are framed, to find ways of addressing the challenges of the climate, biodiversity crisis.

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Creative Welly Episode #40 | Dr Hazel Bradshaw & Derek Sivers

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

Dr Hazel Bradshaw, Curious technologist – Emerging Tech lead for Datacom

As a lifelong sci-fi enthusiast, I love exploring the intersection of technology, creativity, and psychology. I’m currently leading the development of Datacom’s Emerging Technology Practice. It’s all about helping our customers navigate emerging tech and use it to create better experiences and new ways of working that can help them achieve their goals.

Beyond work, I researched gameplay psychology during my PhD studies and established a studio focused on ‘Serious Games’ addressing environmental issues. Applying research findings to gameplay designs, I aimed to create in-game signals for real-life behaviour change. I believe games have untapped potential for addressing global issues.

Derek Sivers, author

He’s been a musician, producer, circus performer, entrepreneur, TED speaker, and book publisher.

He’s a pluralist introvert, slow thinker, and loves finding a different point of view.

California native, he’s been in Wellington since 2014.

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Creative Welly Episode #39 | Kristen Lunman & Tim Pointer

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

Kristen Lunman, Serial Entrepneur

As a Canadian-Kiwi, I’m comfortable feeling like a newbie and being the most curious at the table. For as long as I remember, I wanted to challenge the status quo, leading me to circles of like-minded entrepreneurs. Those that seek to deliver a vision of a different world.

My superpowers tend to lean in the area of growth and leadership. Until last year, it was at Hatch and more recently a new venture called Powrsuit. When I look at the stats of women in positions of influence in business, it’s dire. 8% of big companies have women at the helm, and we have less than 30% board representation. Powrsuit exists to amplify the impact of women leaders to shape the future of work. When I do have spare time, it’s spent with my teens or on a surfboard in freezing cold Lyall Bay.

Tim Pointer, Founder at RescueMetrics.com & CEO at Reason

Tim has 15+ years in the digital advertising industry and is the Co-founder of one of NZ’s largest digital advertising agencies Reason with over 50 staff across the region. He’s most recently the Founder of RescueMetrics.com, a technology solution that saves a lot of marketing spend by fixing tracking and conversion issues.

His businesses have been some of Asia Pacific’s fastest growing digital companies, having been recognised in the Deloitte Fast50 and Asia Fast500 Growth.

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Creative Welly Episode #37 | Kimberley Gilmour & Joseph Harawira

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

Kimberley Gilmour, Chief People Officer, Groov

Kimberley has spent most of her career leading People & Culture in startups / scaleups, helping build foundational people processes/practices and nurturing strong cultures. She has worked with some of New Zealand’s most iconic and successful high growth companies through periods of global expansion, including Icebreaker (in its Wellington days), Vend, 8i, UneeQ and currently Groov. She is passionate about using her experience to help individuals and organisations thrive.

Outside of People and tech, Kimberley is passionate about supporting wellbeing in all its forms and is partway through her masters in Health Psychology.

Kimberley spent 12 years living in Wellington and always loves returning to see old friends and run familiar trails.

Joe Harawira, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Wai Mānuka

Joe is of Ngāti Awa and Ngāi Te Rangi descent. He is the Co-Founder and Managing Director at Wai Mānuka – a premium non-alcoholic beverage that builds off the off the success of New Zealand’s mānuka honey industry. Joe has served in the military and prior to starting Wai Mānuka he worked for New Zealand Rugby leading the national injury prevention strategy.

He is passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation, Māori culture, wellness and paying it forward. In 2015, Joe also founded a social enterprise to support youth well-being in school. Joe comes from Whakatāne, Bay of Plenty and holds an Executive MBA and Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science.

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Creative Welly Episode #36 | Laurinda Thomas & Guy Marriage

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

Laurinda Thomas, Advocate for libraries, digital equity, and public spaces.

Curious librarian, local government person, optimist. I like kicking the tyres on stuff. I was once called the consummate public servant and I’m still not quite sure how to take that comment.

My career keeps on coming back to libraries. They’re so amazing! Who would dream up a library these days? I love their potential, the people they can help. They are such satisfying places to make things happen.

I like to make things happen. Finding the best opportunities out of a crisis. Getting in the thin end of the wedge. Figuring stuff out. My career has been about turning problems into good stuff: in libraries, IT, archives, information management.

In the weekends I watch the kids swim and the broccoli grow. Sometimes it rains, and we watch Disney movies.

Guy Marriage, Architect

Guy Marriage is an Architect. Teaching construction at Victoria University in Wellington, and practising architecture at First Light Studio, he is an architecturaholic and a bookaholic too. He not only reads lots of books, but writes them as well – Tall, Medium, MAD. And get this: he raves about buildings, and space, and knows a thing or two about libraries as well.

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Creative Welly Episode #35 | Freda Wells & Dan Neely

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

Freda Wells, Curator / Communications Advisor / Yoga teacher / mum

My curiousity about people, behaviour and the invisible forces between things, and my tendency to daydream, doodle, and sympathise with the underdog, have carved a winding life path around many countries, conversations and adventures.

In Europe, seeing our ecological trajectory, I added environmental science to my mishmash of uni papers, including psychology, neuropsyc, french, philosophy, graphic design, and music.

My work ‘portfolio’ includes comms & engagement advisor for the Wellington Regional Leadership Committee, teaching yoga, and curating The Kiwi Diary – a diary designed to share art and ideas that are good for people and planet.

I see many global woes as social in nature, that we need to “bring heart back”. We need to better understand how our inner world constructs our outer world, and the importance of psychological safety, I’m excited about co-curating experiences to cultivate these!

Dan Neely, Manager Community Resilience | Wellington CDEM Group Recovery

Dan Neely is the Manager of Community Resilience and Group Recovery Manager at the Wellington Emergency Management Office (WREMO). Dan is a community development practitioner – who happens to work in the Emergency Management.

He started in this field more than 20 years starting as a Peace Corps Volunteer working in the recovery of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and later with the International Organisation for Migration in Sri Lanka after the Boxing Day Tsunami.

He leads a team of passionate and innovative people who make a real difference to peoples’ lives. Their work has been adopted by cities across Aotearoa, Australia, USA and Canada.

Originally from Arizona, he also knows a good taco when he sees one.

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