Our Board

Written by Mike.

Our Why

Our mission is to help develop women. We connect Kiwi women, predominately in the UK, to enrich and develop their experiences We bring our members together  to learn, connect and inspire each other, through events, programmes, sharing experiences, personal introductions and flying our flag with pride. We are a network of likeminded, resourceful, 'can do' women, we cross all ages and industries and ultimately we speak the same language, #wespeakkiwi.

We value giving back, being open to all, collaborating and supporting each other.

Our Board

In 2016 we began a review to ensure we operate sustainability. From that review we became a social enterprise with the purpose of developing women. The natural progression was to create a governance structure to create a strong leadership. We also wanted to ensure we could create a sustainable model to build our network and help us to connect with as many Kiwi women as possible. Towards the end of 2019 we began the search for our first board.

Our former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark spoke to us in April 2019 and one of her key messages was we all need to do all we can as leaders to help women up the ladder from behind. Inspired by this, and reflecting our purpose and values, we set up the board with the aim of helping more women take on leadership roles and ultimatley land more seats in the board room. This means we've developed a board structure to support this - by giving women their first chance to take on a board role, coupled with regular training and mentoring, we hope to see them further develop their careers and take on other board roles in the future.

Our Stories: Hannah Wrathall and Alice Marsh

Written by Bronwyn Huband.

Social Experiment Alice L Hannah RWe recently met two inspirational Kiwis Hannah Wrathall and Alice Marsh. They both come from opposite ends of NZ but they’ve been brought together by a desire to help millennials succeed in taking actions on issues they care about, through creating social enterprises, leading transformational cultural change and platforms to bring issues to the forefront. Hannah gave us some insight into what they are doing to help inspire people to make their dreams a reality.

What did you want to for a career when you were young?
For most of my childhood I wanted to be an actress (it’s never too late, right?). Alice wanted to be an optometrist (she has never had great eyesight!) 

Book Club Review: Range - Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialised World

Written by Kristine Chadwick.

Author: David Epstein Range

Reviewer: Kristine Chadwick

I am not sure if I was more excited about the kedgeree brunch at Ozone or the discussion of the book.  As a specialist generalist, I love the idea that I wasn’t alone and that there was evidence that being a generalist wasn’t a draw back in a world seemingly dominated by specialists.  

While we waited for our brunch to arrive, discussion ensued.  We agreed that one of the best things about being a generalist was it gave us the freedom to collaborate with other disciplines and we could easily communicate across silos. If you do the hard graft, learn all the disciplines, then you’re in a position to ask for what you want, whether it be a promotion or to work on a specific project.

Review: Book Club Brunch - When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

Written by Bronwyn Huband.

Author: Daniel H. Pink

Reviewer: Libby Gordon

The secrets to perfect timing; a big claim! And as a time-poor London dweller this book appealed to me as I, along with the rest of book club, was keen to understand Daniel When Image 2H Pinks theory on how timing might enable us to make the most of the hours in our day through his book “When”. As with all our books some people loved it more than others but the book itself was easy to read and gave the right mix of stories to illustrate points and practical takeaways. What did we each find interesting? Did we learn? And most importantly what changes had we, or did we want to make, as a result of reading this. 

 

Naps!
One idea that stood out to all of us unanimously, as we all sat around the table with coffee (or tea) in hand, was the idea of Nappachino. (Well we all thought that naps, whenever, were a good idea!) Nappachino: Drink coffee (or other caffeinated drink), nap for no more than thirty minutes, wake up, caffeine kicks in as your brain is refreshed from your nap, you are ready to take on the world. We were not sure how, however, we could integrate this into day to day working life but working from home days did allow for this!