Felicity Clark

Felicity grew up in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. For 20 years she’s been a personal trainer and runs a community gym on her farm which focuses on physical and mental wellbeing. Her work supporting rural women who were struggling with their mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown saw her named a finalist in the 2020 Women of Influence Awards.

With a diploma in psychology and counselling, Felicity has used this knowledge and her own personal experiences and self-taught tools to support others in her latest venture. Along with her daughter, she’s founded “Walkway  to Wellness” which provides wellbeing workshops for women. 

Felicity also supports the rural community as a Facilitator for the Bay of Plenty Rural Support Trust.

Jessie Wong

Jessie Wong is a Wellington entrepreneur and founder of luxury leather goods brand Yu Mei. She set up Yu Mei after winning an AMP scholarship while completing a Bachelor of Fashion Design at Otago, allowing her to invest in the specialised machinery required to craft leather goods. Together with her production manager Adrian, Wong grew the brand, picking up 32 stockists in 18 months following successful showings during Yu Mei’s first two appearances at New Zealand Fashion Week. 

Six years on, Yu Mei has grown to a team of 16, with a permanent design studio, and three flagship stores across Wellington and Auckland. Under the guidance of her female business mentor, Wong has scaled her business, securing a world-class manufacturing facility to realise plans for international expansion. With a large network and community of successful fellow females, Wong is a woman in business with an impressive strategic outlook and vision for the future of regenerative leathercraft.

Kristin Dunne

Until recently, Kristin Dunne was the Tumuaki | Chief Executive of Tāpoi Te Moananui ā Toi | Tourism Bay of Plenty.  In this role Kristin faced adversity with the Whakaari| White Island eruption and the devastating effects of Covid-19 on tourism and travel globally.   Tourism Bay of Plenty’s Destination Management plan ‘Te Hā Tapoi’ (the Love of Tourism) is recognised globally as an exemplar framework for a regenerative approach that enhances visitors’ experience whilst balancing local community desire to see their home protected.   Kristin is passionate about the future of the Tauranga Moana region and serving Aotearoa| New Zealand to make a difference for future generations. 

Kristin is a qualified Company Director, chartered Fellow of Marketing, and holds a Bachelor of Business Studies. Prior to the tourism industry, Kristin held senior management roles at Vodafone and Woosh and has extensive marketing experience gained within DB Breweries, ASB BANK and Television New Zealand. Kristin lives in Tauranga with her husband Jared and their 8 year old son. 

Lucy Blakiston

Lucy co-founded Shityoushouldcareabout in 2018 with best friends Ruby Edwards and Olivia Mercer, with the goal of “explaining the world in words we understand”. Covering a wide range of topics from mental health to pop culture to women’s rights on their news site, they’ve attracted more than 2.9 million social media followers, including the likes of Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa and Chrissy Teigen.

“We whole-bloody-heartedly believe that we should all be able to understand the news and the world around us because it’s happening to all of us,” Lucy says. 

“We cut through the bullshit, the jargon, the clickbait, the ‘fake news,’ the paywalls - all of the shit that makes information feel inaccessible - and make it accessible (with a few Harry Styles pictures thrown in there for good measure).”

Dr Lucy Hone

While resilience researchers are a fast-growing breed, the death of her 12-year-old daughter in a tragic road accident makes Dr Lucy Hone's skillset quite unique.

Whether it’s delivering training, writing academic articles, books, columns and blogs, creating conferences and online courses, or consulting for NGOs and government agencies, she’s been on a long-term mission to bolster population health by busting myths and bringing the best of science to the masses. The arrival of Covid-19, however, saw her TED talk go viral, transporting her work from New Zealand to the world. Collaborations with the BBC and Insight Timer, and an international publishing deal, swiftly followed.

Originally from London, trained by the thought leaders in the field at the University of Pennsylvania, now adjunct senior fellow at the University of Canterbury and co-founder of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience, her research is published in internationally and her PhD was acknowledged for its outstanding contribution to wellbeing science.

Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh

Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh is the Director of Women in Technology and a Senior Lecturer at AUT’s School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences. With a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, she is heavily involved in researching and developing high-level AI strategy in contexts such as the future of work and digital disruption. She is on the Executive Council for AI Forum, and is a board member of NZ Tech representing government and education, and on their sub-board for diversity and inclusion.

She is also a board member of Variety – the Children’s Charity, an organisation dedicated to supporting children and young people in need across New Zealand. She is an external technical advisor on AI strategy to a few New Zealand SMEs.

Mahsa is also the founder and director of charitable trust She Sharp, which aims to encourage more girls to study STEM fields. Her passion for promoting careers in technology to young women has been widely recognised, and she has received a number of nominations and awards for her efforts, including the Emerging Leader Award at the NZ Women of Influence Awards in 2013.

She was one of ten finalists for the 2018 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year. In 2019 she was the Champion Award winner of the YWCA Equal Pay awards, and in 2020 presented with the Massey University Distinguished Alumni Award for community service.

Miranda Hitchings and Jacinta Gulasekharam

Miranda and Jacinta founded Dignity in 2016 with a mission to deliver period equity in Aotearoa. They provide free period products through two Impact Initiatives: “Buy-one, Give-one” partnerships for business and gifting initiatives for the benefit of Kiwi workplaces, youth and community groups. They were recognised as joint finalists at the 2019 Wellingtonian of the Year Awards, while Jacinta was a finalist in the 2020 Women of Influence Awards.

Dignity has so far helped supply nearly 200 schools, youth and community organisations with free access to period products and gifted 34,474 boxes of period products, 455 Oi menstrual cups and 1,704 pairs of AWWA period proof underwear.

Miranda and Jacinta’s long term goal is ending period poverty: “we believe no-one should miss out on opportunities simply because they have their period.”

Nadia Lim

The last ten years have been a jam-packed, exciting ride for the qualified dietician former MasterChef New Zealand winner.

Nadia has eleven best-selling books, is one of the founders of My Food Bag, and last year during lockdown she hosted and produced the highly acclaimed TV series "Nadia's Comfort Kitchen" with an accompanying cookbook and donated all profits of over $400,000 to Womens Refuge and Youthline. 

However her biggest passion project these days is farming. Nadia says she has always felt a “deep responsibility to follow the journey of what goes on behind our plates”. She believes Aotearoa has the opportunity to be the leader in sustainable, ethical food production. Along with husband Carlos, she has taken over the running of a 1,200 acre farm in Central Otago where they farm regeneratively and produce everything from lamb, wool, organic green produce, grains, seeds, pasture-raised eggs and honey.

Nadia is also on the board of trustees for Garden to Table that brings growing and cooking education to primary schools and is an ambassador of the Cambodia Charitable Trust.

Raelene Castle

Raelene is the Chief Executive of Sport New Zealand. She joined the organisation in December 2020 after seven years working in Australia as Chief Executive of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and then Chief Executive of Rugby Australia. She was previously Chief Executive of Netball New Zealand from 2007 to 2013.

Before beginning her career in sports administration, Raelene built a successful corporate career in communications, sales and marketing. This included general management and other senior roles at Telecom New Zealand (now Spark), Bank of New Zealand and Fuji Xerox.  

Raelene has held several governance roles in sport, previously serving as a board director of the ANZ Championship Netball, International Federations of Netball Associations, SANZAAR Rugby and the World Rugby Council. 

She also has a rich sporting background as a former representative-level netball, tennis and lawn bowls player. 

Raelene was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in 2015 for services to Business and Sport. 

Rebecca Kitteridge

Rebecca Kitteridge was appointed Director-General of Security in May 2014. 

Before her appointment Rebecca was the Secretary of the Cabinet and Clerk of the Executive Council, within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. She served under four Prime Ministers and four Governors-General in that role and in earlier roles in DPMC. 

In March 2014, Rebecca was appointed as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, in recognition of her service as Cabinet Secretary and Clerk of the Executive Council. 

In 2017, Rebecca won the Public Policy Award at the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards. 

Dr Siouxsie Wiles

Dr Siouxsie Wiles MNZM is an award-winning scientist who has made a career of manipulating microbes. Her day job is as an associate professor at the University of Auckland and head of the Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab. There she and her team make nasty bacteria glow in the dark to find new medicines. Siouxsie also has a passion for demystifying science, and she was doing this long before the pandemic. In 2017 she published her first book, ‘Antibiotic resistance: the end of modern medicine?’ and in 2019 was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to microbiology and science communication. When the pandemic arrived, Siouxsie joined forces with Spinoff cartoonist Toby Morris to make the science of the pandemic clear and understandable. Their award-winning graphics have been translated into multiple languages and adapted by various governments and organisations. Siouxsie was the Supreme Winner of the Stuff Westpac 2020 Women of Influence Award, named by the BBC as one of their 100 influential women of 2020, and in 2021 was named Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.

Ziena Jalil

A former diplomat, now based in Auckland, Ziena consults on strategy and stakeholder engagement, and is a board member of Manukau Institute of Technology, Unitec, DNA Design, and the Cancer Society Auckland Northland.

Ziena has helped some of New Zealand’s largest businesses build their reputation and revenue, advised Ministers, and worked at the grassroots supporting the growth of Māori and Pacific young people in professional careers. She continues to mentor and coach several young leaders. She’s also a keynote speaker, facilitator and commentator on diversity and inclusion, Asia business, nation branding, leadership and politics.

A New Zealand Women of Influence awards finalist (Board & Management and Global categories), Ziena was also recognised by Campaign Asia Pacific as part of its 2020 Women to Watch, a group of 40 outstanding women in the Asia Pacific. She has received several international awards for her work promoting New Zealand trade and education in Asia.

Anna Fifield

Anna Fifield became the editor of the Dominion Post and the Wellington editor for Stuff in October, returning to New Zealand after 20 years abroad.

She was a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times and the Washington Post during those years, posted to Seoul, Tehran, Beirut, Washington DC, Tokyo and, most recently, Beijing. She was a Nieman journalism fellow at Harvard University in 2013-14 and was awarded Stanford University's Shorenstein Prize in 2018 for her reporting on Asia.

Her book, "The Great Successor: The Secret Rise and Rule of Kim Jong Un," has been published in 24 editions

Carmen Parahi (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Hine)

Carmen was recently awarded 2021 Editorial Executive of the Year and Runner Up Reporter of the Year at the New Zealand Voyager Media Awards.

Carmen has worked as a journalist since 2001, when she studied for her journalism diploma at Massey University and worked at various community and regional papers during the course. From 2002 to 2017, she worked as a television reporter and producer in news and current affairs programmes at TV3, TVNZ and Māori Television.

Since 2018, Carmen has worked at Stuff as a national correspondent and then last year, as the Pou Tiaki editor focused on te ao Māori and diversity. She helped lead Stuff's historical apology and reckoning published in October last year, part one of Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono. Part two of the project, focused on challenging history, was published on Waitangi Day and rolled out over several months.

Carol Hirschfeld

Carol Hirschfeld joined Stuff in 2018. She has had a lengthy career as a presenter and producer with both TVNZ and TV3, presenting the news with John Campbell at TV3 and later producing Campbell Live.

In 2009, Carol joined Māori TV as head of programming. She became head of content at RNZ five years later, re-launching Checkpoint as the organisation's first foray into multimedia programming.

Eloise Gibson

With over a decade's reporting experience, Eloise Gibson has written about business, science and environmental issues for New Zealand media outlets, and contributed freelance to BBC Earth, BBC Future and Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

She traveled to New York on a Fulbright scholarship to get her Masters in science journalism, winning recognition for her writing on toothfish. Her reporting on methane and agriculture led to a UC Berkeley Food and Farming Fellowship.