Global leaders championing climate action

As a mother, an entrepreneur and a big vision thinker, Lisa describes herself as creative, crazy and often a powerful explosion of energy. Through her work at Kete Kai, Lisa has been reimagining the food system of New Zealand to ensure that the stats of 1 in 5 New Zealanders living with food insecurity dramatically change. Lisa is on a mission to end hunger by 2030 through meal kit affordability, being brave, trusting herself, being curious and a quality we most admire - vulnerable. Lisa spent years in a corporate role, not feeling valued and her work often not recognised and through a misalignment of values stepped out to show her children what was possible.

Lillian describes her life as a curly path of adventures, with her most recent focused on founding Figure Group and Huatau. When Lillian and founder of Entrepreneurial Women with Purpose, Catherine van der Meulen first connected the conversation evolved into a learning experience to unpack the idea of periods of deep thinking to redesign, solve and challenge the way things have always been done.  Lillian feels that as a child she wasn’t aware that ‘thinking’ was a specific skill that could be honed and trained, but after working at a Think Tank, she was trained to think, to think strategically, ask good questions, created space for the thinking and then she applied the model to all parts of her life. Lillian encourages us all to stop looking through the same lens, explore the depths of our minds, re evaluate the idea of continuous learning and embrace the power of collective radical change. Read here to learn more about her Deep Thinking process https://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/119297185/deep-thinking-the-perfect-exercise-to-get-you-in-the-right-frame-of-mind

Marina spent her early career as a booking agent at a modelling agency and soon recognised that beyond the beauty of the models there were also internal struggles and began to have conversations that would go on to shape Beautiful Minds. Beautiful Minds is a global organisation, which tackles the tough topics surrounding young people’s social, digital and wider world. They bring them to light in a transparent manner so they feel empowered, educated and supported as they advance down an often-challenging school journey. Rather than focusing on Mental Health, Beautiful Minds talks about Mental Fitness and a big part if this is about the daily rituals and routines to support people to be the best versions of themselves. Marina sets her intentions each day for the things that she wants to achieve, and when we unpacked this question, you will be blown away by the projects she has in the mix. Catherine spent the entire recording of this podcast smiling. Smiling with pride of the incredible achievements of Marina and her meaningful work at Beautiful Minds.

Cristina spent most of her life as a film producer and creator, however with the great passion for this life role, it was taking away much needed time from herself and for her children. As a single mother of two she needed to make the challenging decision to step away from the known to have more flexibility of time. Her role at Ray White has given her life balance with a values aligned organisation that is enabled through technology and innovation to work smarter. Bravery and courage have recently shown up in Cristina's world after reinvigorating her passion for wind foiling and getting out onto the harbour in the cold of winter, in a solo sport, braving sharks below the waters surface. Cristina is focused on being a woman of inspiration with the many roles she plays as a mother, a business woman, a philanthropist, a change maker and advocate for self love.

Ranjna Patel is the founder of Takami Healthcare Group and The Gandhi Nivas family violence prevention programme, who provide healthcare services to the highest needs communities in New Zealand.  Recognised as the 2021 Innovator of the Year and a finalist in the New Zealander of the Year Awards, Ranjna is constantly challenging the status quo and boundaries for how things have always been done.  After recognising that 4 in 14 women impacted by family violence were Indian, Ranjna undertook a family violence course to better understand the issue and went on to establish a program to support men through counselling and accomodation to support them in behavioural change, to create safe environments.  Ranjna has an emotional and heart felt call for action from the Entrepreneurial Women with Purpose community.

In a powerful opening to the connection with Deborah, she shared her Pepeha (a way of introducing yourself in Maori) that aligns her mountain, her river, her roots and creates a deep sense of being. As a school leaver, Deborah wasn't able to fulfil her desire to do a fashion and textiles degree and instead followed the path of an Engineering degree that gave her a great love of systems, which has now aligned her backgrounds and passions that have enabled Usedfully. Knowing that we are all in service for the benefit of all beings, the environment and nature, Deborah has an unwavering connection to source and has learnt to listen to herself and to nature. Deborah shares a powerful call for action that asks our community to step back, out and back in through the art of listening.

Tory Archbold founded TORSTAR in her 20's, and without giving away her age, many years later and after an incredible career, accolades and global recognition, but also personal trauma, Tory decided to hang up her publicist heels. After feeling like she always wore two masks, she experienced an incredible break through to find herself, and invested in self care to break the patterns and knew there was a bigger journey ahead. Knowing that closed doors are just the universe's signs of telling you that it's in fact not your door, she has trusted the process of life, which has culminated into the crafting of Powerful Steps. Through her work in Powerful Steps her focus is on human connection, stepping outside of comfort zones and leaning in to ignite conversations. Entrepreneurial Women with Purpose are incredibly proud of the journey that Tory has come on and grateful to her fo sharing her wisdom with us.

Roxy is the founder of Dress for a Night, a dress rental business that was created after a realisation of not wanting to spend a fortune on a dress you would wear once, and knowing the impact of fashion on our beloved environment through the cycle of waste. When Covid hit and all events across Australia were cancelled, Roxy's business was driven into a minus on the balance sheet. But through her entrepreneurial spirit and driving nature as an innovator, they were able to enable a try on service and enhanced their digital capabilities to reach more people across Australia. Through her daily practices of meditation, 10 things she is grateful for and reflecting each night on one favourite thing of her day, Roxy has been able to enable the best version of herself, as a woman, a business woman and leader. The last few years have shone a stronger light on sustainability, packaging waste and plastic elimination in the business which has addressed individual business contributions to being the change.

As the CEO of Your Food Collective and mother to 5 small humans, Lauren knows the value of time and space, to create and activate change. Lauren is driven by curating a positive environmental impact even though she often feels challenged by the path through trials and tribulations, learnings and the experiences but ultimately having the guts to step off the edge. Through her faith and belief in what's possible, Lauren works alongside local Australian growers and producers to be able to support in nourishing families through Your Food Collective.

Nikki Hind is Australia's first blind fashion designer, a mother and a gentle disruptor activating change through her work at Blind Grit. With a strong sense of purpose being to enable and value people who live with a disability, she found that fashion was the most powerful way to communicate this message.  Nikki has incredible strength after living with the feeling of feeling totally invisible, and a strong ability to fail and not fall apart. She believes that saying YES to everything allows you to step out of your knowing and to grow into your human potential. Nikki's call for action is incredibly powerful and one that we should all consider in a silent moment.