A partner we work with said something this week that stopped us in our tracks. He described walking into our office and instinctively scanning the room for a familiar face — then realising it didn’t matter who got to him first, because you feel at home either way. He talked about a team that connects on the emotional level, not just the professional one. That, he reckoned, is why people keep recommending us for the kaupapa closest to their hearts.
We don’t take that lightly. And it isn’t luck.
We do behaviour change for a living. Gambling harm, breastfeeding, rainbow inclusion, men’s health — the issues where what’s really in the way isn’t information, it’s how people feel. You can’t shift that from a distance. So we build a team that can sit with the feeling, not flinch from it. That’s what people-first means here. It’s also what our partnership with Big River Creative is built on — tāngata whenua and tāngata Tiriti working as one, bringing both heart and craft to every brief. And it’s why we’re growing our Tiriti-dynamic leadership offering, helping other organisations build that same capability from the inside out (tiriti-dynamic.nz).
The growth is real. It comes off the back of new clients across both our Wellington and Tauranga offices — PMG Funds, Seeka, Workride, Foundation Clinic, Middleware, Circa Theatre, Basketball NZ, and the Minimising Gambling Harm programme for Te Whatu Ora. The Bay of Plenty is humming, and Wellington is kicking off.
So the team has grown to match.
Olivia Blair (Ngāi Tahu) joins as our Kairārahi Whakahaere (Operations Lead), a chartered accountant who came for the culture as much as the role. Trish Posadas is back from Melbourne as our Mātanga Pāpāho Mātāmua (Senior Media Specialist) — she knew us from the other side of the table at NZME, and the integrated way we work is what pulled her in. Anna Bennett joins as Kairuruku Pāpāho (Media Coordinator) and Maia Boyd (Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Arawa) as Kairuruku Kaupapa (Project Coordinator) — both starting their careers with us, their first jobs in the industry, and exactly the people we want to grow.
Because growing our own is the point. Zelzob Joy Kakkat steps up to Kaiārahi Pāpāho (Media Lead), completing our media leadership team alongside Katrina Richmond, Upoko Pāpāho (Head of Media). And Te Maia Gage-Gray, who walked in as an intern three years ago with no idea what this industry had to offer, is now Kaiauaha (Creative). That’s what we care about — making space for young people to find their voice, then watching them use it.
And we’re not done. Next month we’ll have new delivery and creative appointments to share — watch this space.
Skills and heart. You need both to give something life. Our team gets that — and we’re proud of every one of them.
Keen to collaborate on kaupapa that matter? Let's kōrero.
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