The role I moved from NZ to the UK for wasn’t for me so am looking for new adventures—am a creative nomad hungry to add value in the world and I don’t do MUNDANE!
Here’s what I can do as a:
- Speaker Coach : tutor leaders (1-2-1 & teams) in honing powerful spoken stories (in-person and online) via masterclasses in ‘purposeful storytelling’ (foundation and advanced learning experiences available, either half-days or full-days)
- Creative Producer : consult and / or craft and deliver delicious learning experiences on a scale of 10 to 1,000 attendees with 5,000 people watching online plus do in-studio content creations like this
- Speaker-for-hire : about the stuff I’ve done and am doing.
I’m driven to enable people find and have voice.
A fan of reaching beyond my grasp and taking others on that journey. About being bold and ambitious, shying away from business-as-usual and not being held back by fear or risk aversion (see Defining ROI | Exploring New Definitions).
Huge fan of working with people who know more than me and crafting space for them to shine. Collaboration is about combining skills in open spaces for people to shine and not dulling them because you have a lack (see People Are Awesome | The Hope Generator That Is TEDx).
When trying something new I look for those with pedigree and / or aligned successful processes, then either enable that person and get out of the way, or learn rapidly, to adapt / adopt via the evidence on show. Once experience is gained you can then iterate (see Crafting Creative Collisions | 100 Starts).
I spend a lot of time developing killer taste, curating tasty things and not being interested in good but in great. Maximising to excellence and surround myself with others who strive to ask / answer better questions (see CLNZ19 Talks Are All Live | Watch, Learn, Share).
I cherish difference. If that means you prefer drawing or moving as an expression of communication rather than just writing then I’ll do my best to protect that. Being inclusive means mentoring, celebrating, managing by doing, creating conditions for others to shine, to live in their story (see Wrapping Up Creative Welly | A Study In Human Intimacy).
One of the precious things I’ve learned in the last decade is that of self-respect. To challenge (always with kindness and politely) those who make you feel small and defend others without agency. If you don’t, toxic / muted environments bloom and those in “power” blame others for what they created (see Authority Doesn’t Come From Titles | Brave Leadership Summit 2023 Review blog post).
To illustrate, here are some highlights:
- spent nearly a decade as the pro-bono license-holder / producer of TEDxWellington (known globally and celebrated by ted.com for it’s bold delegate experiences) and a special TEDxWellingtonWomen event (the first ever xWomen event with gender parity globally) & mentored other TEDx’s starting up in NZ (shortlisted as Wellingtonian of the Year 2017 for this work)
- produced 50 episodes of the beautifully unique podcast, Creative Welly, courageous conversations with bold humans (reviewed here)
- authored Speaking With Purpose: A guide to delivering impressive presentations! Ebook & Audiobook Bundle (inspired by my recent TEDxNelson talk) & Zen And The Heart Of Social Media
- founded and delivered three Creative Leadership NZ conferences (every one sold out)
- did a 14month stint as Activation Manager establishing Collider, a city-wide programme (delivering nearly 200 events with over 5000 attendees averaging quality rating of 4.2 and above (out of 5))
- developed a 75mins / 10 chapter video course to radically increase your online storytelling & presenting skills: ‘Presenting Engagingly Online‘
- spoken at four TEDx’s (Nelson in NZ, York & Cardiff in UK, Amsterdam in Netherlands)
- founded MediaSnackers (a leading social media training and consulting agency from 2006-2011)
- spoken and advised on five continents regarding digital strategies for folks like The Gates Foundation, UNICEF, BBC, Ubisoft, Welsh Assembly, Hasbro, global city developer IBI Group etc
- produced over 200 podcasts (before it was cool) from 2006 & started vodcasting in 2007
- created award-winning The Web Makes Me Feel project
- founded CEO and executive-level mentoring firm, Social Media For Suits (‘paused’ in 2011 along with MediaSnackers)
- four years as a mentor for Culture Hive Marketing Academy
- spent 14 months as a business designer in a design-thinking agency
- been a Social Media Manager for national education organisation, CORE Education
- have been blogging since 2001, audio podcasting since 2006, video podcasting since 2007 plus tweeting since April 2007 (although no longer tweemailing but still curating / laying down digital breadcrumbs)
- worked in various levels of local government and was the UK’s first & only (at that time), Corporate Youth Officer… oooh!
Check out the testimonials on the front page for a flavour of what people think about me.
So if anything sparks from above just holler at me via the contact page.