Global leaders championing climate action

Aimee has a great love of data, governance and ethics and how they have all collided to create a fascinating career. Her career has culminated with a keen interest in and knowledge of openX - open data, open government and civic technology and has worked for a number of New Zealand’e most prominent scientific, internet and tech organisations.

Fiona first connected to Entrepreneurial Women with Purpose with a curious and inquisitive mind.  In the first series of podcasts one of the topics that appeared were aligned to values and the value that Curiosity and Worthiness play in her life and business.  We were keen to unpack these further and share with our community their meaning and how we can best use these values to build successful organisations.

Pep Talk Media was born from a raw place for Nadine, who had been working to define her path and life’s purpose.  She was amazed after reigniting the flame on her recently launched magazine Pep Talk that everything just went in a state of flow when she had finally curated The Why? The How? And the What?

After establishing that she in fact wears 9 hats in her life roles, Michelle is one incredibly busy woman even though at the moment she feels she has more time, which is a wonderful state to be in.  As a digital innovator for Impact and Transformational Leadership, Michelle is best known for her role as CEO of Kilmarnock where she transitioned it from a charity based model to one of NZ’s leading social enterprises.  She has recently returned to the telecommunications sector again leading transformational impact at Vodafone to have positive impact for communities across New Zealand.

In a very reflective state, Mai joined us on Entrepreneurial Women with Purpose to share the most important things that she has learnt at this time of change, and where she will focus her energy next to have the most positive impact.  As the Managing Partner of Chen Palmer, Mai is a New Zealand constitutional and administrative law expert, Professor at the University of Auckland School of Law, Director of BNZ amongst many other leading roles.

As an accounting and impact reporting firm for purpose driven businesses, Lisa has cultivated her business with a focus on social impact as the driving force behind the launch. With a mission to support at risk children, the profit from her business is injected into projects to create a better future.

Nicola spent 15 years understanding shoppers behaviours in the supermarket to orchestrate things to make people buy more and drive consumption. Something that she never thought to question.  Mainstream Green was born as a social enterprise to use her understanding of human behaviour to get people to consume less.  With a mission to educate a shift in thinking to support people in making better and more informed choices before purchases.

Elisha began her career as a Lawyer at a firm in Wellington before realising that the world had another calling for her. Like all great stories there was a catalyst and a desire for change, and she began to learn more about the Social Enterprise model to create Nisa, an underwear label that aims to help women from the bottom up. Sewn by women from a refugee background, they are on a mission to provide meaningful and interesting paid work while making kick ass undies. 

With many life roles and hats being worn at any given time, Melissa started her journey as an Entrepreneur at the age of 20.  As a single mother and a 2 year old in toe she launched her first entrepreneurial venture as she wasn’t able to afford child care.  Now Melissa is the Chair of Little Yellow Bird, the Deputy Chair of RadioNZ, an Independent Director of Beef + Lamb to name just a few.  She is continually growing her educational mindset to lead with both heart and mind through personal and professional development.

Abbie a Reynolds has cared about the environment and equity since she was young. From helping out on a Whale Stranding mission at 15 to setting up a paper recycling program at school at 16. Her focus has always been on creating a world where nature and people flourish. Whilst leading the Council, she was the key architect of the Climate Leaders Coalition and presented to the UN on Aotearoa New Zealand’s performance against the Sustainable Development Goals.  Previously the Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Council, Abbie now promotes sustainability, climate change action & systems change for a better future for the people and nature of Aotearoa.  She was a 2019 Woman of Influence winner, and now serves as a Trustee for Voyce Whakarongo Mai and on Westpac's Sustainability Advisory Panel.