housing – Creative Welly – Courageous conversations with bold humans.

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 #31 | Victoria Crockford & James McCulloch

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

Victoria Crockford, Chief Executive Officer, Community Housing Aotearoa Ngā Wharerau o Aotearoa

Vic is the Chief Executive at Community Housing Aotearoa-Ngā Wharerau o Aotearoa (CHA), a peak body for Aotearoa’s community housing sector. With 90 members providing homes for over 18,000 households, CHA is working everyday towards a future where all New Zealanders are well-housed. With a builder husband and parents in the trades, Vic lives and breathes housing, and views it as the core around which all our lives revolve. Before joining CHA, Vic worked in the energy sector in communications and government relations, as well as in general community rabble rousing and the television sector in Tāhuna / Queenstown. She loves places where cultures collide and has lived in France, Italy, Ghana and the United Kingdom.

The work part adds colour, but the heart of Vic’s life is her family. She is a Mum to Eloise (7) and Cormac (5) and really digs her awesome husband, Rich.

James McCulloch, Chief Executive,
English Language Partners

I am currently Chief Executive of English Language Partners. ELP is the largest New Zealand education NGO working with former refugees and migrants, and helps over 7,000 people a year to settle and thrive in Aotearoa New Zealand.

I was approached to join ELP in mid-2020, as the world of work and learning rapidly shifted, to guide the team on a journey of rapid transformation and digital growth following my experiences scaling the learning company Inspire Group in NZ and overseas.

Prior to this, I led several NGO organisations in the UK and New Zealand and was formerly the Community Director at the City of London.

So, my roles have been diverse in location, but with one common theme, my why:

Life changing impact for individuals, teams and communities.

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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 #7 | Pia Steiner & Thomas van Raamsdonk

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

Pia Steiner, Senior Advisor Organisational Development at Ministry of Justice

Before Jacinda made it cool, Pia had ‘Be kind’ tattooed on her arm – part inspiration, part reminder. As an Ambassador Melbourne-based workplace kindness initiative Yes Queen, and co-founder of Canary Collective, it’s Pia’s mission to ‘build better business’ – and a better society – by helping organisations make inclusion, behaviour change, and equity real.

Curious and restless, Pia has studied coding, education, fine art, graphic design, and psychology. She’s worked across a number of industries from tech start ups to electricity to banking to public service.

Thomas van Raamsdonk, Irritator and Inspirer. Building performance geek. GM for Pro Clima in Australia & New Zealand

Thomas’ vision is to create healthy, long lasting and energy efficient surroundings for all families, schools and businesses in Oceania. Having worked in Germany, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Thomas gained extensive knowledge on airtightness, thermal bridging and healthy homes. He is passionate about knowledge transfer and sharing knowledge with industry and research institutions on how building standards can be improved.

Thomas has been the General Manager of Pro Clima NZ Ltd and Pro Clima Australia Pty Ltd since 2006. Pro Clima is a leader in development and manufacturing of intelligent high performance sealing systems in construction.

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