Real Life with John Cowan: Recent Episodes
NZME
John Cowan hosts ‘Real Life’, a weekly nationwide chat show on Newstalk ZB featuring a different high-profile guest every week. John talks with them about their life, their upbringing, their passions and their view of the world.
Marama Davidson is the Co-leader of the Green Party and a List MP based in South Auckland. Born in Auckland, she spent her childhood living in several parts of Aotearoa before settling in Whirinaki in Hokianga, where she developed a strong connection to her Māori heritage. Of Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Tahinga descent, she was raised in a family of Māori activists and remains committed to improving outcomes for communities, particularly for Māori, by working alongside grassroots leaders. Before entering Parliament, Marama spent 10 years at the Human Rights Commission and served as Chief Panelist for the Glenn Inquiry into Domestic Violence and Child Abuse, shaping her focus on preventing family and sexual violence. She later became New Zealand's first Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence and Sexual Violence and also served as Associate Minister for Housing with responsibility for addressing homelessness, including a focus on young people experiencing homelessness. A long-time Manurewa resident, Marama and her husband have six children and two mokopuna. She continues to advocate for social and environmental justice, drawing inspiration from her whānau and her belief that the wellbeing of communities depends on the wellbeing of the natural world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Former McGillicuddy Serious leader Graeme Cairns now divides his time between penny farthings, medical training and street theatre, and his latest endeavour, "doing pennants," features a bicycle-powered sewing machine.
Graeme founded the McGillicuddy Serious Party - to contest the 1984 election with its campaign plank of the Great Leap Backwards.
It predicted upheaval, chaos and the breakdown of society as we know it and a plan to insulate New Zealand from the worst excesses of the future.
Despite a defence policy of removing New Zealand from all world maps, its political ambitions came to nought, and Graeme threw in the towel in 2000.
Now known as the ‘Laird of Hamilton’, he is also a musician, a founding member of the Big Muffin Serious Band and an actor.
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Angus Gillies is the author of the so-called Ruatoria Killings series of non-fiction investigations. He has worked as a journalist and producer at TV3 for 20 years, and has written biographies of Matthew Ridge, Adam Parore, Justin Marshall and John Rowles.
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On Monday, news broke that beloved Kiwi actor Sir Sam Neill had died at the age of 78, after his family issued a statement online.
In 2016, he spoke to Real Life with John Cowan on Newstalk ZB after the release of the iconic Kiwi film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
Neill spoke to Cowan about overcoming a childhood stutter, his love for Otago, what inspired his move into winemaking, and a key mentor who helped build his acting career.
LISTEN ABOVE
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Backed by more than two decades of elite global experience, Paul recently made history. Essence, located in Queenstown, was named the sole two-star establishment in the country's first ever Michelin Guide.
Paul has also enjoyed stints at legendary two Michelin star hubs in Singapore and Hong Kong as well as working out a decade long legacy as Executive Chef at Huka Lodge.
Tune in to hear of his incredible journey from a kid dreaming of Michelin kitchens to reaching the pinnacle of New Zealand's dining scene, his passion for wild foraging, and why making history won't change a single thing about how he runs his kitchen.
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Matthias was appointed as the new permanent cellist of NZTrio in February 2026. Matthias began playing the cello at the age of three and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Waikato at just seventeen. His career has taken him across Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and Aotearoa as a soloist, chamber musician and with the Ares Trio. He has performed with orchestras including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Köln, Auckland Chamber Orchestra and Opus Orchestra. He performs on a Reiner Beilharz 2014 cello with a Klaus Grünke bow. His first performances with NZTrio were during the Magnifique concerts in May, followed by the Four Last Songs tour with soprano Emma Pearson coming up in October and the Hypnotique tour in November. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From leading Canada’s women to Olympic glory in Tokyo to navigating a dramatic career setback and making a triumphant return to guide the Wellington Phoenix women to the A-League final, Bev’s story is one of ultimate highs and intense resilience.
Tune in to hear a raw and inspiring look at her life, her passions, and how she channels hunger and desire into a whole new chapter of leadership on and off the field.
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Joy is a highly respected New Zealand broadcast journalist and television presenter, best known for her extensive career with TVNZ’s 1News. A former European Correspondent based in London, she made history as the first mother appointed to the role, covering major global events across nearly 20 countries—including Brexit, royal weddings, and the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Beyond her journalism career, Joy is a passionate philanthropist and the Chief Executive of One Mother to Another. Inspired by her own experiences in neonatal wards, she co-founded the charity to provide care packages to parents with hospitalized children, earning her a Kiwibank Local Hero Award for her impactful community work. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Manu dominated the rugby league world for over a decade, cementing his place as the Vodafone Warriors' all-time leading try-scorer and a powerhouse for the Kiwis. But beyond the staggering stats, the massive hits, and the unforgettable tries, what has always made Manu a crowd favourite is his massive heart. He has navigated the highest peaks of sporting stardom and faced some of life’s toughest, most vulnerable chapters with total honesty. John sat down with Manu to chat about resilience, the power of reinventing yourself, and what it really means to lead with courage on and off the field. You don’t want to miss this raw, inspiring conversation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hailed as one of the most exciting tenors of his generation, Samoan-born Pene Pati has been taking the global stage by storm with his radiant voice, effortless high notes, and an infectious, warm charisma that disarms audiences the moment he steps under the lights. Whether he’s starring in the world's leading opera houses or sharing the stage with his brothers in Sol3 Mio, he brings a unique, down-to-earth joy to classical music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Matt Watson is a household name in New Zealand and a true Kiwi icon, best known as the charismatic creator and host of the legendary ITM Fishing Show. From launching his television career with high-octane viral stunts—like his infamous helicopter-to-marlin jump that landed him on David Letterman—Watson has evolved into one of Aotearoa’s most passionate ocean advocates. A fierce champion for sustainable fishing and marine conservation, he brings incredible storytelling and a deeply independent perspective on the future of our oceans.
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Chelsie is a powerhouse of New Zealand stage and screen, carrying on a formidable creative lineage as the daughter of filmmaker Dame Gaylene Preston and musician Jonathan Crayford. Over her 20-year career, she has built a reputation for versatility, moving seamlessly between grit and grace. Currently, Chelsie is entering an exciting new chapter as a filmmaker. This week marks the theatrical release of her debut feature film, Caterpillar (released May 14, 2026), which she wrote and directed. Chelsie remains one of the most compelling and busy voices in the Australasian arts scene. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
For over 50 years, Tāme Iti (Ngāi Tūhoe) has been the face of Māori resistance and mana motuhake. From the front lines of the 1975 Land March and the founding of Ngā Tamatoa to the controversial Urewera raids, Tāme has spent his life challenging New Zealand to reckon with its colonial past.
Once branded a radical, he is now an Arts Foundation Laureate and a celebrated contemporary artist whose work turns activism into performance.
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Brad is one of the most decorated dual-code athletes in history, defined by a legendary "serial winner" mentality. He achieved elite success in Rugby League with the Brisbane Broncos, winning four NRL titles and representing Queensland in State of Origin, before switching to Rugby Union. There, he became a cornerstone of the All Blacks, famously winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup and securing a Super Rugby title with the Crusaders.
Beyond his playing days, Thorn is respected for his incredible longevity—playing professionally until 41—and his subsequent six-year tenure as Head Coach of the Queensland Reds. Known for his "champions do extra" philosophy, he is credited with rebuilding the Reds' culture and leading them to the 2021 Super Rugby AU title. Whether on the field or in the coach's box, Thorn’s career is a masterclass in discipline, cross-code excellence, and leadership.
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After a 30-year legal career specialising in resource management and iwi claims, Ron Crosby retired in 2007 to focus on writing, often drawing from his extensive experience as a bush explorer to inform his historical research.
His work is noted for its deep focus on te ao Māori and military history, including seminal titles such as The Musket Wars (1999) and Kūpapa: The Bitter Legacy of Māori Alliances with the Crown(2015)
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Dr Vanessa Weenink is currently serving her first term as the Member of Parliament for Banks Peninsula. She serves on the Education and Workforce Select Committee and is Deputy-Chair of the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee. Born in Blenheim and growing up in Marlborough, Vanessa served in the New Zealand Defence Force for over 20 years as a Medical Officer in the Army. She was deployed three times, with two tours in Afghanistan and one in East Timor. After leaving the Army, Vanessa worked as a self-employed GP in Christchurch. She co-owned and operated Papanui Medical Centre in Christchurch for several years and is a fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. Vanessa holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health from Otago University. She has served in health sector governance roles, including as a board member of Pegasus Health and on the Clinical Governance Committee for national telehealth service Whakarongorau Aotearoa. She was also elected Chair of the General Practitioner Council of the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) and Deputy Chair of the NZMA Board. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Barbara is a highly respected journalist and storyteller, known for bringing the voices and stories of the Pacific to the forefront of New Zealand media. With decades of experience and deep cultural understanding, she has reported from across the region with integrity, compassion, and courage.
A multi-award-winning journalist, Barbara has received top honours including the Voyager Media Award for Best Māori and Pacific Affairs Reporting, recognising her outstanding contribution to journalism in Aotearoa.
Her work not only informs but connects communities, shining a light on important issues while celebrating the richness and resilience of Pacific peoples.
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TJ is stepping into the role after nearly two decades of high-impact humanitarian work across Africa, North America, and right here in the Pacific. A familiar face in the sector, TJ previously served as the organization’s Associate National Director and currently chairs the New Zealand Council for International Development. Now a proud Kiwi citizen, he brings a unique global perspective and a deep passion for connecting the generosity of New Zealanders with communities in need. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
British broadcaster and survivalist Bear Grylls is well-known for pushing himself to the limits of human capability.
As the host of Man vs Wild, the former SAS soldier ate rotting zebra flesh, a yak’s eyeball and a live snake; fashioned a sleeping bag out of a camel’s carcass; and swam naked across a Siberian river in -67degC temperatures.
His tendency to drink his own urine as a survival tactic has spawned an entire meme format.
But ask Grylls the most difficult thing he’s ever done, and he doesn’t name-drop any of his stunts in the Sahara, the Arctic or the other extreme environments he’s conquered.
He says it’s writing a book – 2025’s The Greatest Story Ever Told, his immersive retelling of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Grylls’ biographical novel, which rose to the top of the Sunday Times bestseller list after last year’s release, is an account of Jesus’ life more akin to a thriller, and told from the perspectives of those who knew him best.
“I still film our TV shows and I love all of that, but this has been different… It's been the hardest, but probably the best thing I feel I've ever done,” he told Petra Bagust in a Newstalk ZB interview that aired on Good Friday.
“Faith has always been a quiet part of my life… [but] the story of Jesus that I grew up with was such a sanitised version of it and never really felt relevant or personal to my life.
“As a teenager, when I eventually found a faith, it became a bedrock and anchor and backbone. I realised the real story of Jesus is so different from the one I grew up with as a young kid, which was very much rooted in church and religion – quite smiley and nice.
“The real story of Christ is so incredible and life-changing, and it's a story of courage, friendship, risk, rescue and sacrifice. I just thought so few people know that actual story.”
The Greatest Story Ever Told transports readers into the brutal realities of first-century Palestine and an unassuming refugee’s world-changing life and ministry.
Each character is assigned their original Aramaic names (Jesus becomes ‘Yeshua’, while Joseph is ‘Yosef’), with theologians and historians helping Grylls at every step of the writing process to maintain accuracy. Particular care was taken to ensure none of Jesus’ words were altered from original Gospel accounts.
Grylls told Newstalk ZB The Greatest Story Ever Told is written for those without a faith, some of whom may not have had positive memories of engaging with Christianity in the past, to hear the Gospel story afresh.
“ So many of us with faith and religion, we have filters and bad experiences – and just the word ‘God’ or ‘father’ or even ‘Jesus’ can be difficult for people. We've done a pretty good job, over 2000 years, of screwing up a really beautiful ultimate message of love and forgiveness and redemption,” he said.
“That's why it's been so powerful for me to get so many letters, thousands of them every day… from every culture, every country, every faith – atheist, Muslims, you name it – all basically say the same thing, which is ‘I had no idea the real story of Jesus’.”
Asked by Bagust about the book’s connections to his adventure background, Grylls says the principles of survival on a mountain or in a jungle are much the same as when they are applied to the mental, emotional and spiritual challenges of everyday life.
“ These are part of our arsenal of weapons as a human. Look at the great stories of survival through prison or concentration camps or war or loss or whatever – that hope, that light, that spiritual bit is a powerful bit, [and] the physical follows,” he said.
“The great survivors have that burning light inside that is unrelenting and all-conquering, and it's what sets us apart as humans.
“ What helps me be strong in a jungle or a mountain? It's the same thing that helps me through the tough days of life. For me, my faith has … been that streak of steel. I don't want to stand on my own strength because a lifetime of surviving has made me realise I'm not that strong.”
Grylls’ favourite story from the book is when the Pharisees accuse Jesus of being a glutton and a drunkard because he’s affiliating with the rough end of society, and he responds by telling them he had come to seek and save the lost.
“I was one of the lost boys, I still am. But I was found – and I'm such a proud lost boy. I'm proud to be found. And that changed everything for me,” he said.
“I don't feel particularly religious. I don't go to church very much – I mean, I do try and go a bit with a family – but my faith isn't rooted in that.
“My faith is in the simple everyday: the connection, the friendships, the kneeling by our boys' bed before they go to sleep and saying a prayer for them. It's in laughter with good friends and love of family, and how we live and tackle risk and relationships and all these things.
“That's for me, how he [Jesus] lived and wanted to bring out that sort of spirit in us. He said, ‘I'm the bread of life, come to me’. I keep it simple, but that's how I try and live every day.”
LISTEN TO FULL INTERVIEW ABOVE
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Comedian Paul Ego has been the voice of Stick Man for 17 years, and is a main stay of the TV panel show 7 Days.
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Aled Jones MBE, a name synonymous with musical brilliance, has been enchanting audiences since the 1980s. He was the original cross-over artist and is eternally cherished as one of the most accomplished boy sopranos globally, captivating the world from his debut at 12 years old in Handel's Oratorio Jeptha, broadcast on BBC2 and BBC Radio 3. After a brief pause when his voice broke at 16, Aled’s career continued to flourish across musical theatre, recordings, and broadcasting. His albums Aled and Higher topped the charts, including in Australia where he became the biggest selling classical artist. He has also appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, hosted programmes including Good Morning Sunday and Friday Night is Music Night on BBC Radio 2, and now presents the most listened-to shows on Classic FM on Saturday and Sunday mornings as well as the BBC’s flagship religious TV programme Songs of Praise.
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Matiu Walters is the lead singer and guitarist of New Zealand’s band Six60. The group formed in Dunedin in 2008, and across the last 16 years have broken all the rules to become New Zealand’s biggest band. In 2019, they became the first New Zealand act to sell out Western Springs Stadium and in 2021 became the first band to ever play Eden Park to a sold-out crowd of 50,000. He attended Otago University which is where the band formed. Despite being one of New Zealand’s most popular musicians – he's unassuming and humble. He's married with two children.
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Niki Harré is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Auckland. She writes, researches and teaches about values-based practice, environmental sustainability, the future of universities and living well together on our shared planet. Her new book is titled The Calling
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Working at the forefront of geopolitics, aid and development, and governance, Josie is CEO of ChildFund New Zealand and Chair of Fair Trade Australia & New Zealand. Her column appears fortnightly in The Post and on Stuff, and she was a finalist for Best Columnist at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards. Her writing has also been published internationally, including in The New York Times. Founder of Progress New Zealand, Josie has served in senior roles across government, international development and public affairs — including at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. Born in New Zealand and educated at University of Warwick and Victoria University of Wellington, Josie brings global insight and sharp analysis to today’s biggest issues. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Greg is in his first term as the Member of Parliament for Maungakiekie. He serves on the Māori Affairs Committee and is Deputy Chair of the Petitions Committee. In March 2024, the members’ bill in his name, the Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, was drawn from the ballot, aiming to strengthen New Zealand’s response to human trafficking by increasing penalties for domestic trafficking offences to match those for international trafficking.
Born in Masterton, Greg attended Wairarapa College and gained a Bachelor of Commerce from Victoria University. A Chartered Accountant, he began his career in London finance and is a student of te reo Māori.
In 1998, Greg left accountancy to address family fragmentation, leading Parenting With Confidence (now Parenting Place) through significant growth. He later co-founded The Maxim Institute and became Chief Executive. With 25 years’ experience in the charitable sector, Greg has helped build enduring community institutions and was appointed CEO of The Parenting Place in 2015. He has lived in Maungakiekie since 1998, where he and his wife Kirstin have raised their five children.
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Liz Stokes is an Auckland-based songwriter and frontwoman of acclaimed indie rock band The Beths, known for her sharp lyrics, emotional honesty, and irresistibly punchy melodies. Across the band’s internationally celebrated albums — including Future Me Hates Me, Jump Rope Gazers, Expert in a Dying Field, and the recent Straight Line Was A Lie — Stokes has built a reputation for writing candidly about mental health, uncertainty, and resilience, often pairing heavy themes with bright, energetic hooks. After navigating several years of mental and physical health challenges, her recent work reflects a deeper acceptance of life’s cyclical nature and a desire to offer comfort to others going through ongoing struggles. With a devoted global fanbase and a growing presence on the world stage, Liz Stokes continues to be one of Aotearoa’s most compelling and relatable songwriting voices. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Patricia is a writer, anthropologist, and lifelong observer of faith, family, and belonging. Ordained ministry, grandparenthood, widowhood, and a remarkable return to university in later life have all shaped her unique perspective. After retiring from parish leadership, Patricia enrolled as a mature student in anthropology, completing a BA, Honours, and eventually a PhD, driven by a fascination with ritual, identity, and community. Her doctoral research, The Once and Future Cathedral, was profoundly influenced by the Christchurch earthquakes and the destruction of the Cathedral, an event that became both a personal and academic turning point. Patricia’s journey has taken her from Christchurch to Oxford and back again, weaving together grief, love, faith, scholarship, and resilience. She has had an extraordinary life story about reinvention, learning at any age, and finding meaning amid upheaval.
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Anna is a New Zealand and Swedish freestyle skier and reporter for TV Show The Crowd Goes Wild. She began skiing with her family at the age of four but it wasn’t until she finished school and began dedicating full seasons to the sport that she discovered her passion for slopestyle skiing. She competed for New Zealand at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. She finished 15th in qualification of the women's slopestyle event, missing the final by only two places. Her father, Hamish Willcox, was a professional sailor who competed in the America's Cup and her brother, Daniel Willcox, represented New Zealand at the 2016 Summer Olympics in sailing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sophie Gray is the face and inspiration behind "destitute gourmet", the ‘dg’ cookery series and is a popular speaker, teacher, and regular contributor to Food and Taste magazines. She leads an international community of followers through her active Destitute-Gourmet Facebook page, as well as Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and an upcoming money-saving app. Sophie shares family-friendly recipes that are easy, tasty, healthy, affordable, and often include gluten-free and dairy-free alternatives, supported by fundamentals such as menu planning, smart shopping, creative use of leftovers, and seasonal eating. Based in Auckland with her husband Richard and their teenagers Isabella and Jack, she works full-time communicating the destitute gourmet philosophy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nadia Reid is a New Zealand singer-songwriter whose fourth album, Enter Now Brightness, marks a clear evolution in her decade-long career. Following the release of Out of My Province in 2020 and the disruptions of the pandemic Reid adjusted her creative approach, taking more time in the studio and developing ideas collaboratively with longtime guitarist Sam Taylor and producer Tom Healy. Stepping away from the acoustic, folk-leaning sound of her earlier work, she sought greater musical range and flexibility, including a shift toward focusing primarily on her voice rather than guitar-led performance. Now based in Manchester, Reid sees her first three albums as a completed chapter, with Enter Now Brightness representing a new phase in her craft—one defined by broader experimentation, refined songwriting, and a deliberate move toward a more expansive artistic direction.
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Heather has been at the helm of Diabetes NZ since 2017. She has a strong background in not-for-profit organisations. Since working at Diabetes NZ she has completed a full national unification of the organisation, driving positive change and engagement around the country. Heather has the experience to ensure Diabetes NZ continues to grow its reach into communities and through key stakeholders to improve diabetes awareness, education and advocacy.
Prior to joining Diabetes NZ Heather has held Chief Executive roles with the NZ Police Association and the Manfeild Park Trust, a motor racing circuit and events centre in Manawatū. Heather has also acted as Deputy Chief Executive of the New Zealand Council of Victim Support Groups.
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Qiulae has built her career on pursuing better ways to do business and now brings that drive to politics. Raised in One Tree Hill, Auckland, she studied law and politics before working in human rights and ethical business with Be.Accessible. Her time in London included roles with the Ethical Fashion Forum, co-founding the sustainable tech start-up Common Objective, and leading the Impact team at Hoxby. During these years abroad she met her future husband, Grant, and they later welcomed their daughters Malia and Cleo before returning to New Zealand in 2022. Back in Auckland, Wong became the first Country Director for the B Corp movement, working with local leaders such as Kiwibank, Sharesies, and Blunt Umbrellas, and later supported major corporations at KPMG New Zealand as they navigated low-carbon transitions. She also held volunteer and governance roles, including co-convenor of Kiwis in Climate and Trustee of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa. Wong is guided by a belief in common ground, shared vision, resilient communities, and business as a force for positive change. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jon became CEO of Consumer NZ in 2020. Jon has enjoyed a varied career in the consumer protection field, including roles as Assistant Privacy Commissioner, Head of Trust & Safety at online marketplace Trade Me and as a Senior Investigator at New Zealand’s competition authority, the Commerce Commission. Jon and his team also keep traders honest by calling out illegal or unethical conduct when it occurs.
Jon speaks regularly on consumer issues and is increasingly concerned with how dysfunctional market structures and muted competition in critical sectors are benefiting a small minority and delivering poor outcomes for the rest of society. Jon and his team are helping to harness the collective power of consumers to achieve this, before it’s too late.
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Sonya is a former TV reporter who became a writer, charity founder, and author. After more than 20 years in broadcast journalism — reporting and presenting for programmes such as One News, Breakfast, 20/20, and Sunday — she completed a Master of Creative Writing at the University of Auckland. There she wrote Spark Hunter, an adventure-fantasy novel for readers aged ten and up, set in Fiordland National Park. The book became a bestseller and won the NZSA Best First Book Award at the 2022 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, as well as a Storylines Notable Book Award. Its sequel, The Secret Green, was published in July 2025 by Allen & Unwin. She also writes creative non-fiction, essays, and reviews, and regularly gives talks, workshops, and chairs sessions at writers’ festivals — blending her love of journalism and literature. Passionate about the power of books to build empathy and wonder, she founded Kiwi Christmas Books, a charity that gifts brand new books to children who might otherwise go without. Originally from the Deep South, she now lives in Auckland with her husband Pete, their two sons, a cat named Graham and a dog named Dusky. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sophie has been elected Mayor of Dunedin, becoming only the second woman to hold the role in the city’s history. An incumbent councillor, Barker secured 16,001 votes, finishing 726 votes ahead of runner-up Andrew Simms in the preliminary results. In her post-election message, Barker expressed gratitude to the community for their support, saying she was “humbled and honoured” by the trust placed in her and her vision for Dunedin. She paid tribute to those who paved the way before her, acknowledging the milestone of following in the footsteps of Dunedin’s first female mayor, Sukhi Turner. Looking ahead to her mayoral term, Barker has outlined a clear set of priorities, including advocating strongly for Dunedin Hospital, ensuring value for ratepayers, improving council culture, promoting the city, and fostering economic growth. Her election marks a new chapter for Dunedin, one shaped by optimism, inclusivity, and a commitment to the city’s future. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chris has lived and worked in West Auckland for most of his life, serving the Te Atatū community for 15 years as its Member of Parliament and as a government minister. Well known for his commitment to representing all constituents regardless of their political views. His priorities remain focused on being responsive to community concerns and ensuring residents receive fair and effective Council services. He is committed to revitalising the suburb of Henderson, Auckland and looks to address the challenges created by housing intensification, including traffic congestion and street parking issues. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nadia Lim is a New Zealand chef, nutritionist, and farmer who lives and works on Royalburn Station — her family’s high-country farm on the Crown Range in Central Otago — with her husband Carlos and their three sons. At Royalburn, Nadia leads a regenerative approach to food production, growing grains and seeds, producing pasture-raised eggs, honey, and vegetables, and raising what she proudly calls the world’s best lamb. A qualified dietitian with a degree in nutrition and dietetics from Otago University, Nadia’s grounding in the science of food has shaped her lifelong philosophy: keep it simple, seasonal, healthy, and delicious. In 2013, she co-founded My Food Bag, helping thousands of Kiwi families cook fresher, healthier meals at home. Through her TV series including Nadia’s Farm, Nadia’s Comfort Kitchen, and New Zealand with Nadia Lim, she shares an honest, behind-the-scenes view of real food production. Nadia is also the author of several bestselling cookbooks celebrating wholesome, flavourful food for busy lives.
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David Bussau, founder of Opportunity International Australia, began life in an Anglican boys’ home and started his entrepreneurial journey at 15 with a rented hotdog stand. After building several successful businesses, he turned to aid work following Cyclone Tracey and an earthquake in Bali, where he realised traditional aid didn’t break poverty cycles. Pioneering microfinance, he gave a $50 loan to Indonesian farmer Ketut Suwiria, who built a thriving business and created jobs in his community. Inspired, Bussau founded Maranatha Trust and later partnered with Al Whittaker to form Opportunity International in 1979, which now supports millions in 30 countries. Though retired, he continues advising organisations and has been honoured with awards including the Order of Australia, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and Senior Australian of the Year.
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Creed Bratton is an American musician and actor, best known for playing a fictionalised version of himself on NBC’s The Office. A former member of the 1960s rock band The Grass Roots, he has also released several solo albums. He studied drama at the College of the Sequoias and Sacramento State College before leaving to travel and pursue music. His acting credits include films such as Mask and The Sisters Brothers, and TV shows like Grace and Frankie and Upload.
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Greg Murphy is a NZ motorsport icon whose impact on V8 Supercars is indisputable. Known for his fearless approach and ability to perform against the odds, he has earned a reputation as one of the sport’s greats, with over 400 race starts, multiple Bathurst 1000 victories, and stints with some of Australasia’s top teams.
Beyond the track, Murph has become a familiar voice and face as a commentator and motorsport TV presenter. He is also a passionate road safety advocate, promoting smarter driving and better training through initiatives such as the “Murph in Schools” programme launched with the Motor Trade Association in 2010, and a youth-focused road safety campaign developed with Holden New Zealand in 2019.
Respected by fans and competitors alike, Greg Murphy brings his trademark energy and insight to everything he does—on and off the track.
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This week, John's guest will be Alex Walls co-host of Love It or List It.Alex Walls is a New Zealand interior designer best known as one half of Alex & Corban, co-founder of A&C Homestore (also known as achomestore), and a familiar face from The Block NZ and Love It or List It NZ. With over a decade of experience in residential design, Alex is also the founder of Walls Studio—a boutique interiors studio offering considered design and styling services across New Zealand.
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Andy Robinson is the Acting Head of Fragile and Developing Contexts, International Partnerships for World Vision New Zealand
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Sam Gibson, better known as Sam the Trap Man, grew up beside the Hamanatua Stream in Tairāwhiti Gisborne. From an early age, the bush was where he truly belonged—hunting, fishing, trapping and living wild.
As a teenager starting to go off the rails, a unique deal between his parents and teachers let him swap school for the outdoors. It was a turning point that not only kept him out of trouble but set the course for a life built around hard work, adventure, and purpose.
From shooting his first deer to surviving brutal South Island winters as a young trapper, Sam’s life is full of wild yarns—funny, raw, thrilling, and heartfelt. Every choice he makes in the bush is guided by his deep respect for native wildlife and a mission to protect Aotearoa’s ecosystems.
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Author, literary advocte and founder of Verb Wellington, joined John on Real Life this week. Claire Mabey won the NZSA Best First Book at the recent New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults earlier in 2025, and spoke to John from the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
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Ian Foster is a New Zealand rugby coach and former fly-half born in Putāruru. He played a record 148 games for Waikato and 28 for the Chiefs, also appearing for the NZRFU President’s XV in 1995.
Foster began coaching with Waikato before joining the All Blacks as assistant coach in 2012, helping win the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He became head coach in 2020, leading New Zealand to multiple Bledisloe Cup, Freedom Cup, and Rugby Championship victories, and a Rugby World Cup final in 2023.
In 2025, Foster was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to rugby. He now coaches Japanese club Toyota Verblitz and is supported by his wife Leigh and their three adult children, including professional footballer Michaela
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David Squire (MMus (Hons), PGDipMus, BMus, DipTchg) is one of New Zealand’s leading choral conductors and Music Director of the New Zealand Youth Choir. Under his direction, the choir has toured internationally to high acclaim, with standout performances at Notre-Dame in Paris, Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, and major wins at the International Festival of Academic Choirs in the Czech Republic.
With over 25 years in secondary music education, David has led award-winning choirs and orchestras, including Rangitoto College’s The Fundamentals and Westlake College's Symphony Orchestra. His ensembles have earned national and international recognition, including platinum and gold awards, and top placements at festivals in Vienna and Wales.
David is a founding member of the NZ Association of Choral Directors and a respected conductor, adjudicator, and educator. He’s led national workshops, conducted at the Rugby World Cup, and toured with George Benson. In 2011, he received a New Zealander of the Year Local Heroes Medal for his contribution to music education.
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Jared Savage is an investigative reporter for the New Zealand Herald and has won more than a dozen national and international journalism awards, including being named New Zealand’s best reporter twice. He lives in Tauranga with his wife and children.
He began reporting in 2004 after completing a Bachelor of Communications at AUT and landing his first job at an Auckland suburban newspaper. Since then, he has covered major stories including the Samoan tsunami, Christchurch earthquakes, political scandals, mayoral controversies, and two Rugby World Cups.
Jared has reported on some of New Zealand’s most high-profile and controversial cases, including the Kahui twins, Scott Guy, and Chris Cairns’ perjury trial in London. More recently, he has focused on organised crime and the meth trade, highlighting its social and health impacts in his books Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.
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Fraser Grut is the kiwi filmmaker behind the '10,000 Dreams' project, his plan to record and publish the aspirations of 10,000 individuals. The project started as a bet with a friend, and has now ballooned into a globe-trotting project. At age 27, Fraser was broke and going through a divorce when a call came from The Wiggles asking him to film a music video with them and Richie McCaw. That video led to the chance to make a documentary on The Wiggles, the project that helped lift him from "rock bottom".
In this interview, Fraser talks to John about the most memorable dreams he's recorded, the missteps he's made, and Fraser asks John what his dream is.
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Jon joined the Kiwibank Board as Chair in November 2019. He has had a distinguished career and has held senior roles across a diverse range of commercial and not for profit organisations in several countries, including chair of SkyCity, deputy chair of ASB Bank and Sovereign Assurance Company, director of Mighty River Power and Air NZ, a trustee of World Vision New Zealand, CEO of Brierley New Zealand and Solid Energy, and CFO of Lend Lease in Australia. He retired in September 2019 after 17 years volunteering with VisionFund International, the global microfinance subsidiary of World Vision International, where he was Chair for the last six years. Jon is a professional director and is currently Chair of Timberlands Limited and a director at Ngāi Tahu Holdings Corporation Limited. He is an ordained priest in the Anglican church in New Zealand/Aotearoa. He is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nicola Toki is a New Zealand conservationist and Chief Executive of Forest & Bird since 2022. Born in Invercargill, she grew up exploring the South Island, moving often for her father’s work as a ski-plane pilot.
With a background in zoology, ecology, and natural history filmmaking, Nicola has held various roles at the Department of Conservation, including Threatened Species Ambassador and Eastern South Island Operations Director.
She also co-hosts Critter of the Week on RNZ and presents Endangered Species Aotearoa on TVNZ, using storytelling to connect people with nature.
Nicola lives in North Canterbury with her husband and son and is a proud stepmother and grandmother.
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Miriama Kamo is a Christchurch-born journalist, author, and TV presenter of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Mutunga descent. She’s spent over two decades telling powerful stories on Sunday and Marae, earning top awards for her work in current affairs.
She’s also a celebrated children’s author, known for her Matariki-inspired books, and co-founder of Kotahi Rau Pukapuka, a project publishing 100 books in te reo Māori. Miriama is a proud advocate for te reo, the environment, and social change.
She lives in Auckland with her husband Mike Dreaver and children. Together, they run Kia Hono—helping organisations connect with te ao Māori in meaningful ways.
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Alan Thorp is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Habitat for Humanity New Zealand, a role he’s held since 2021. With a background as a Chartered Accountant and a Master’s in Theology from Regent College in Vancouver, Alan brings a unique mix of head and heart to his leadership. Since joining Habitat in 2007, he’s taken on key roles including CFO, COO, Deputy CEO, and National Director. Alan is passionate about building stronger communities and leads efforts to create safe, stable housing for families across Aotearoa and the Pacific.
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Brian Kelly MNZM has been named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to broadcasting. Raised in Whanganui, he began his career in 1970 with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, selecting songs for national radio. He later moved into sports journalism and broadcasting, building a career that has spanned 55 years.
Kelly has been a prominent voice on Coast FM and has spent four decades as New Zealand’s voice of motorsport. Since 2021, he has hosted The Country Sport Breakfast on GOLD, a show produced by his son Mark. Over the past 4.5 years, he estimates he has conducted around 14,000 interviews for the programme.
In addition to his broadcasting work, Kelly also volunteers as a tutor and mentor at the New Zealand School of Broadcasting.
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2025 Billy T Award winner Hoani Hotene (Ngāti Hauā) is a comedian from Petone, Lower Hutt. Bursting onto the Wellington comedy scene in 2020, Hoani quickly made a name for himself with his high-energy, alternative style.
He won Best Newcomer at the 2021 Wellington Comedy Awards, took out the 2022 Wellington Raw Quest final, and was crowned Funniest New Comedian of the Year after winning the Raw Comedy National Grand Final.
In 2024, he was named Breakthrough Comic by the NZ Comedy Guild. Hoani brings a personal, unpredictable mix of comedy to stages across Aotearoa.
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Siân Simpson is an award-winning global businesswoman, community builder, and broadcaster. She is a sought-after public speaker and whose online content has received around 10 million views in the past year.
Sian is founder of Public Rally and Bountifull Media.
Public Rally is a community and content agency with globally focused clients in the technology, music, AI, crime, legal and education sectors. It builds world-class communities and content strategies to support its clients with ambitious revenue, brand and engagement goals.
Bountifull is a global media platform rooted in the pursuit of joy and the exploration of what it means to live a bountiful life. In a world often shadowed by economic pressures and societal shifts, Bountifull is a beacon of hope and inspiration, bringing to the forefront stories of resilience, creativity, and connection.
Sian has worked to support dozens of New Zealand start-up businesses on their market entry into the United States and her belief in the power of Kiwis to win on the world stage sees her as an active investor supporting fledgling business with big ambition.
The power of communication to change business and lives for the better sees Sian regularly invited to be a keynote speaker, panelist and interviewer whether this be professional events for the likes of Microsoft through to forums on topics like mental health, leadership, marketing and artificial intelligence.
Sian has lived and worked around the world for much of the past 15 years and visited more than 60 countries in her pursuit of understanding the cultures and values that underpin both successful communities and winning businesses.
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Andrew Little was born in New Plymouth in 1965 and attended New Plymouth Boys' High School. He started working young—his first job was digging trenches for a methanol plant as part of the “Think Big” project. He later worked in timber yards and security before heading to Victoria University of Wellington to study law, philosophy, and public policy.
At university, Andrew became active in student politics, campaigning against the student loan scheme. He was elected president of both the university's student association and the national student union. After graduating, he worked as a lawyer for the Engineers' Union, eventually becoming its national secretary. He played a major role in workplace and ACC issues and became a leading voice in the Labour movement.
Andrew went on to serve as President of the New Zealand Labour Party and was a key link between the party and unions. A long-time Island Bay resident, he’s running for Mayor of Wellington—bringing with him decades of leadership and a strong background in public advocacy and workers’ rights.
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Derek Lind has been writing songs and making music since the late 1970s, with seven albums to his name — including his latest, SOLO (2015). His songwriting has earned him two NZ Music Awards and a nomination for the APRA Silver Scroll, thanks to his honest, thoughtful lyrics that connect personal stories with bigger, universal themes. Critics have praised him for his humanity, compassion, and the depth in his work.
Alongside music, Derek is also a visual artist and Elam School of Fine Arts graduate. After years of teaching art and art history, he shifted his focus fully to creating — both through music and painting. Working from a small studio in the bushy hills of West Auckland, he continues to process life through his art, especially after the sudden loss of his wife in 2013. His recent paintings explore ideas of loss, grace, movement, and redemption.
Derek’s recent visual art explores spiritual and emotional terrain through bold colour, Te Reo Māori inscriptions, and layered symbolism. Living simply, he continues to create with passion and honesty—juggling bills, driving a $2000 car, and crafting new songs. With the support of patrons, Derek is preparing to record a new collection of songs and invites others to be part of the journey.
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Rachel’s debut novel, See How They Fall, will be published this year by Hachette in Australia and New Zealand and by Penzler Publishers in the United States. The screen rights have been optioned by a Hollywood production company, and Rachel is part of the 2024/2025 International Thriller Writers Debut Authors Program.
She holds a Master of Creative Writing (First Class Honours) from the University of Auckland, where she was awarded the Phoenix Prize for best creative portfolio. Before turning to fiction, Rachel built a successful international legal career, with degrees from Harvard Law School and the University of Auckland. Her Harvard dissertation was cited as “influential” in a Wall Street Journal editorial.
Rachel spent many years in London as a law firm partner and was consistently recognised as a leading lawyer in global legal directories. She received the Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award for her advocacy on behalf of women in law and for driving diversity and inclusion in the profession. She now lives in Auckland with her family.
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Buzz Moller is a New Zealand musician and actor, originally from Upper Hutt. He went to Upper Hutt High School, Rathkeale College and later studied at the University of Auckland. He met longtime collaborator Andrew “Mac” Macaskill, and the pair formed the beginnings of the band Voom after jamming at the Sweetwaters Festival in the early '80s. Since then, Buzz has led the band through decades of indie magic, releasing cult-fave albums like Now I Am Me and Hello, Are You There?—the latter named one of NZ’s 100 Essential Albums.
Fronting Voom, Buzz has delivered everything from long pauses, lineup changes, and surprise comebacks—yet Buzz’s ear for melody and heart-on-sleeve songwriting has kept Voom beloved by fans and fellow artists alike.
Outside of music, Buzz made three appearances in the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, playing Cletis, Tyron, and Zachariah. Whether he’s singing about love, loneliness, or the strange beauty of everyday life, there’s always a spark of something real—and unmistakably his.
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Adam Kay is a BAFTA-winning author, screenwriter, comedian, and former junior doctor, best known for his brutally funny memoir This is Going to Hurt. The book became a global sensation, spending over a year at number one in the Sunday Times bestseller list, selling millions of copies, and being adapted into a hit BBC/AMC series starring Ben Whishaw, which earned Adam a BAFTA for Best Drama Writer. He’s also one of the UK’s bestselling children’s authors, with titles like Kay’s Anatomy, the fastest-selling kids’ non-fiction book of the decade.
Born in Brighton and raised in a Jewish family, Adam is the son of a doctor and grew up with three siblings. He studied medicine at Imperial College London and worked as a doctor for six years before leaving the profession after a traumatic experience in obstetrics. During medical school, he began writing and performing, eventually co-founding the musical comedy group Amateur Transplants, whose viral hit “London Underground” gained cult status.
Adam’s live shows—blending humour, heartbreak and insider medical stories—have packed out venues across the UK, from the Edinburgh Fringe to the West End. His most recent show, Undoctored, was the top-selling show of the 2023 Fringe. Adam is a sought-after speaker and TV guest, equally at home making people laugh or offering sharp insights.
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Josephine Bartley has been showing up for the Maungakiekie-Tāmaki community for over a decade — first on the Local Board, then as a city councillor. She’s the first Pacific woman elected to Auckland Council, and she’s not afraid to get stuck in, whether it’s helping clean up after floods, pushing for fewer liquor stores, or standing up for safer streets.
She grew up in Māngere, raised by hardworking Sāmoan parents who came here chasing a better life. Inspired by people like David Lange, she studied law to stand up against unfairness — especially the kind that people in her own community faced. Her journey’s always been about service and doing the mahi to make a real difference.
When she’s not working, you’ll probably find her baking coconut buns (pani popo), attending local events, or just being present for her people. She loves where she lives and is always doing her best to make it better for everyone.
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Born in Wellington in 1944, Peter struggled at school with what would now be recognised as dyslexia. He left Wellington Tech at age 15 and worked as a telegram delivery boy before securing his first butchery job in Seatown, where he learned the trade. After moving to Auckland, Peter opened his own butchery on Rosella Road, where a sign outside his store reading "Rosella Meats, home of the Mad Butcher" gave him his famous nickname. He grew his business significantly, particularly through radio advertising, and found time to pursue other passions, including an unwavering support of rugby league and championing various charitable causes.
Peter’s philanthropic work earned him a Queen’s Service Medal in 1991, and later, he was made a Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. He has been married to Janice for many years, and together they have two grown daughters and four grandchildren.
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Kahira Olley (Ngāti Rongomai, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Toa), after experiencing family violence for 25 years, established the Save Our Babies Charitable Trust and initiated programmes to support and empower victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse in Rotorua.
Her initiatives offer a safe space for women and girls to talk about their experiences and receive guidance and support. As well as support groups, they include a community fitness group, a free school lunch programme, free clothing through ‘Boutique of Aroha’, and a photoshoot and runway event with models who are survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse. She was also recently a finalist in the Kiwibank Local Hero of the Year (2025).
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Paul Goldsmith is a dedicated New Zealand politician, currently serving as the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Minister of Justice, Minister for Media and Communications, and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. Born in Mt Eden and educated at Auckland Grammar, he now lives in Epsom with his wife and four children.
Elected to Parliament in 2011 off the National Party list, Paul has held various Ministerial roles, including Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment. He also served as Chair of the Parliamentary Finance and Expenditure Select Committee and was an Auckland City Councillor from 2007 to 2010.
Before politics, Paul was a historian and biographer, publishing 10 books on New Zealand’s history and economic development. Outside of work, he’s passionate about music, holds a 2nd dan black belt in Taekwondo, and plays for the Parliamentary Rugby team.
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Ruby Wax, born on April 19, 1953, in Evanston, Illinois, is a British-American actress, comedian, writer, and mental health campaigner. She gained fame on TV shows like Girls on Top (1985–1986) and The Full Wax (1991–1994) and worked as a script editor on Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012).
Wax holds dual citizenship and has lived in the UK since the 1970s. She earned a master's degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from Oxford in 2013. She became a Visiting Professor in Mental Health Nursing at the University of Surrey in 2015, receiving an OBE for her mental health work.
An accomplished author, Wax's memoirs How Do You Want Me? (2002) and Sane New World (2013) topped the Sunday Times bestseller list. She is married to producer Ed Bye and has three children.
She will be live in New Zealand in April.
Christchurch, 4 April
Auckland, 5 April
Wellington, 8 April
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Delaney Davidson, from Auckland, New Zealand, is a multi-talented singer-songwriter, producer, and instrumentalist. The son of John William Davidson and Glyn Ellen Abbott, he grew up in Christchurch and was educated at the Christchurch Rudolf Steiner School. His musical journey began in punk and blues bands before moving to Melbourne after being expelled from school. Davidson is known for his one-man show, One Man and His Ghost Orchestra, blending folk, blues, rock, and country into his unique style.
His music, often categorised as 'Country-Noir' or 'Gothic Americana,' delves into dark themes and explores the human condition, inspired by figures like Hank Williams, Howlin' Wolf, and Johnny Cash. With his distinct voice and wry humour, Davidson captivates audiences through haunting melodies and compelling storytelling.
Davidson has released eight solo albums and toured globally for over thirteen years. Beyond music, he also works in visual arts, theatre, and film, further showcasing his creative versatility. His background and eclectic talents make him a standout figure in the alternative music scene.
Delaney Davidson will be performing at the Wanaka Festival of Colour on Monday 31 March https://www.festivalofcolour.co.nz/programme/delaney-davidson
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Commissioner Janine Donaldson is the Territorial Commander for The Salvation Army in New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa, and serves as the Chair of the Territorial Governance Board. With 38 years of experience in The Salvation Army, she has held senior leadership roles in New Zealand, Zambia, South Africa, Australia, and the UK. Janine's most recent role was at The Salvation Army’s International Headquarters, where she served as the General’s Representative for Mission Effectiveness.
Deeply passionate about Jesus and His hope for the world, Janine is committed to empowering young people to lead and serve. She believes strongly in the importance of partnerships and collaboration within local communities. Janine is married to Robert, and they are proud parents to three adult sons, two daughters-in-law, and two grandchildren.
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Peter Wolfkamp’s passion for carpentry began at the age of one and has only grown over the years. He is a Licensed Building Practitioner with extensive experience, including restoring historic properties and working on modern builds. His professional development includes NZGBC Homestar Home Coach training, and he’s also worked internationally, such as on a 16th-century farmhouse in France.
Peter is a well-known radio personality on Newstalk ZB, hosting Sunday Mornings with the Resident Builder, a top DIY show with a weekly audience of 198,000. For over 25 years, he’s offered advice on DIY projects, earning recognition as New Zealand’s leading DIY radio personality.
In television, Peter has been the site foreman on The Block NZ since 2012 and launched Creative Living in 2016, focusing on home renovations. He also co-presented Slice of Paradise in 2017, helping people find their dream homes. With his friendly approach and extensive expertise, Peter has built a trusted reputation in both the building and media industries.
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K'Lee (Kaleena Renae McNabb, born 1984) is a New Zealand pop singer who rose to fame in the early 2000s with hits like "Broken Wings" and "Can You Feel Me?" Her debut album, released in 2002, peaked at No. 4 in New Zealand. After a 10-year break, she returned in 2012 with the single "Tables Have Turned."
In addition to her music career, K'Lee worked as a popular radio host on Flava FM and Mai FM for 13 years. She also appeared on TV shows like Celebrity Treasure Island and Dancing with the Stars NZ.
K'Lee, of Scottish and Māori descent, survived a gang-related shooting and a kidnapping in Los Angeles. She is now married to health promoter Lama Saga and has three children.
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Nathan Haines is a renowned New Zealand jazz musician, born in 1972 in Takapuna, Auckland. Growing up in a musical family, with his father Kevin being a leading jazz bassist and his brother Joel a guitarist, Nathan was immersed in music from a young age. He moved to New York City in 1991 to study jazz, and by 1994, he had released his first solo album, Shift Left. Over the years, Nathan's career flourished, gaining international recognition with notable releases like Sound Travels and Squire For Hire, and collaborations with icons like Marlena Shaw.
A multi-talented artist, Nathan has performed at prestigious venues such as Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London and Auckland’s Powerstation. He has also toured with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, producing the album Life Time, which features his vocals alongside Grammy-winning arrangements by Alan Broadbent. Nathan is deeply passionate about vinyl and continues to be an avid collector, regularly incorporating rare finds into his DJ sets.
In 2024, Nathan released his highly anticipated album Notes, which he completed after the untimely passing of his close collaborator Phil Asher. The album features an array of vocalists and musicians and includes sold-out shows at London’s Jazz Cafe and Auckland's Powerstation.
Nathan's contributions to New Zealand's jazz scene have earned him multiple Tui Jazz Album of the Year awards, solidifying his status as a leading figure in both jazz performance and production.
Nathan Haines and his band Soft Chaos join the Somethin' Else – A Weekend of Jazz as part of Auckland Live Summer in the Square—four weekends of free, whānau-friendly fun starting Sat 25 Jan. Catch him live on Sat 15th & Sun 16th February. Details at aucklandlive.co.nz
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Jonathan Fletcher has extensive experience in fundraising, partnerships, and business development, with a focus on supporting vulnerable children. Since March 2013, he has worked with World Vision New Zealand in roles including Head of Fundraising Partnerships and Head of Church Partnerships, where he managed church collaborations. Prior to this, Jonathan held the position of Business Development Manager at The Co-operative Bank and worked in various roles at GE Capital, eventually becoming Branch Manager, where he was responsible for sales and team management. He holds a BA in Political Studies and Management Studies from The University of Auckland.
Jonathan is passionate about his work as a humanitarian and has gained a unique global perspective through his extensive international travel. He lives in Upper Hutt.
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Jack Tame is a New Zealand television and radio journalist. He is the host of TVNZ’s political show Q+A and a presenter at Newstalk ZB. Tame grew up in Christchurch as the eldest of four siblings and attended St Martin's Primary School, Cashmere High School, and the New Zealand Broadcasting School at CPIT.
Throughout his career, Tame has worked as TVNZ’s United States correspondent, co-hosted Breakfast, and written a column for Herald on Sunday. He currently hosts the Saturday morning show on Newstalk ZB and fills in as a presenter for Mike Hosking Breakfast.
Tame is married to TVNZ reporter Mava Moayyed, is a stepfather to her son, and the couple is expecting their first child.
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Pam Corkery is a broadcaster and former MP, known for her roles on Dancing with the Stars and Intrepid Journeys, as well as hosting The Last Word in 2003. She also presented Inside New Zealand documentaries on topics like gangs, crime, and alcohol culture. In 2014, she made headlines after a controversial incident while handling press for the Internet Mana party.
In 2012, Corkery aired A Drunken State, a candid documentary on New Zealand’s booze culture, two years after achieving sobriety. Her honest and direct approach to sensitive topics has made her a significant voice in New Zealand media.
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Dan, born and raised in Auckland, left high school at 15 and completed a butchery apprenticeship. He earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Auckland, and a Master of Public Policy in Economics from Harvard University on a Fulbright Scholarship.
Elected to Parliament in 2018 and re-elected in 2023, Dan is the Chair of the Māori Affairs Select Committee and a member of the Economic Development Select Committee. Before Parliament, he worked as a management consultant, senior executive, and economist for the OECD and other organisations.
Dan lives in Birkenhead with his wife Courtney, their dog Mylo, and family.
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Moko Tepania is a passionate leader dedicated to making a real difference in local government. With over a decade of experience in education, he understands the vital connection between teaching and governance. Motivated by a desire to influence change from within, Moko has embraced his role in local government to ensure that decisions reflect the needs and aspirations of the community.
He believes that active community engagement is key to building a brighter future for all.
A proud resident of the Far North, Moko is deeply connected to the region's cultural and historical significance. From Hokianga, where Kupe first arrived to Waitangi, where He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi were signed, the north holds special meaning for him. When not fulfilling his mayoral duties, Moko enjoys CrossFit, baking, and reading.
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Shamubeel Eaqub is the Chief Economist at Simplicity, with over two decades of experience in economics. He has held roles at leading institutions like ANZ Bank, Goldman Sachs, and NZIER. Shamubeel is known for making complex economic topics accessible and is a respected voice in media and business discussions.
He holds a BCom with honours in Economics from Lincoln University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Shamubeel is the author of Growing Apart: Regional Prosperity in New Zealand and co-author of Generation Rent and The New Zealand Economy: An Introduction.
Based in Auckland with his wife and two sons, Shamubeel is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, dedicated to improving economic understanding and shaping a better future.
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Tim is the International Programmes Director at Tearfund New Zealand, overseeing the delivery of NZ$11 million in development and humanitarian support through local partners across the globe. Originally from New Zealand, Tim spent his childhood in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa, before returning to New Zealand at 14. He holds a Masters in International Development with First Class Honours from Massey University.
With six years of experience working in refugee response programming in Uganda, particularly in the mental health sector, Tim has also led humanitarian efforts in Iraq, Ukraine, and Ethiopia. His work has included managing large institutional donor partnerships, such as those with UNHCR, BPRM, ECW, and New Zealand’s MFAT.
Tim is passionate about finding innovative and sustainable solutions to support marginalized communities. He is married to Helen, a humanitarian photojournalist, and they live in Auckland with their three young children, and one foster child.
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Annabelle White is a New Zealand food writer and author of eleven cookbooks, known for her approachable and fun approach to cooking. She was a long-time food columnist and also wrote the Food Detective column for the Sunday Star-Times. Annabelle served as the food editor for NZ House & Garden and joined New Zealand Woman's Weekly as Food Editor in 2011. In addition to her writing career, she runs cooking classes and regularly speaks at public events, sharing her passion for simple, delicious food that brings people together.
Born and raised in New Zealand, Annabelle spent a year as an AFS Intercultural Programs scholar in Dover, Delaware at age 17. She later earned a Master’s degree with first-class honours from the University of Waikato in 1983 and received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009. Annabelle's TV career began in 1989 when she joined TV3's Nightline as a food reporter. She went on to appear regularly on 5.30 With Jude and 5.00 With Jude before hosting her own prime-time shows, including World on a Plate, which featured segments filmed in New York City and Tonga.
Annabelle continued to expand her TV presence with work on Breakfast TV, filming food and travel pieces in Shanghai, Santa Monica, and Ireland. She has also been a regular voice on New Zealand radio since 1990. Throughout her career, Annabelle has become known for her warm, engaging style and her belief in keeping food simple, confidence-building, and enjoyable.
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Vanda Symon is a New Zealand author known for her Detective Sam Shephard series, which includes five novels, starting with her debut, Overkill, published in 2007. The novel was written amidst the challenges of raising a young family and inspired by a sleep-deprived state that influenced its prologue. In addition to her series, she has also written a standalone psychological thriller titled The Faceless.
Vanda has a diverse background in both writing and science, having completed a PhD at the University of Otago that examined the communication of science through crime fiction. Her academic credentials include an undergraduate degree in Pharmacy, and she has worked as a community and palliative care pharmacist. Currently, she is a research fellow focused on dementia in aged Pacific people at Va’a o Tautai - Centre for Pacific Health. She also serves as the National President of the New Zealand Society of Authors.
Vanda has received various accolades throughout her career, including nominations for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger award and the Ngaio Marsh Award for best crime novel. She also enjoyed hosting a monthly radio show, Write On, for eighteen years, where she interviewed writers and discussed literature. Outside of writing, she is actively involved in fencing as a competitor and a coach and is a founding member of the Dunedin Crime Writers Association.
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Mark Vette is an internationally renowned animal psychologist, zoologist, and founder of Dog Zen, an online dog training program. With over 40 years of experience, he has trained animals for iconic New Zealand commercials, Hollywood films like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, and TV series such as Purina Pound Pups to Dog Stars and Dogs Might Fly. Mark is famous for teaching dogs to drive and fly a small plane.
A passionate advocate for rescue dogs, Mark has appeared in global campaigns promoting adoption. His training philosophy focuses on understanding dog behaviour to build loving, problem-free relationships between pets and their families.
Through his decades of work, Mark has helped thousands of dogs and their owners, continuously learning from the animals he works with and deepening his bond with them.
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Maia Roos has rapidly ascended through the rugby ranks since debuting for the Auckland Storm in 2019. A talented athlete and leader, she served as Head Girl at Tamaki College and played two matches for the NZ Barbarians in 2020. Maia was also part of the inaugural Blues women’s team, further establishing her presence in the sport.
Roos made her Test debut for the Black Ferns against England in Northampton in 2021. As a key member of the team, she contributed to their victory in the Rugby World Cup 2021, culminating in her nomination for World Rugby’s 15’s Breakthrough Player of the Year following a standout tournament.
In 2023, Maia Roos made history by becoming the youngest captain of the Black Ferns at just 21 years old. She led the team against her country of birth, the USA, and guided them to victory in the 2023 Pacific Four Series. Her leadership qualities were further recognized when she was named co-captain of the Blues for the 2024 Super Rugby Aupiki season, alongside Ruahei Demant.
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Jonathan Ogilvie began his creative journey in the post-punk music scene of Christchurch, producing moody music videos for Flying Nun bands like The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience and Headless Chickens. His iconic 1987 video for Straitjacket Fits' "She Speeds," filmed on a truck in the Lyttelton tunnel, was made for just $250. After earning a Bachelor of Arts from Canterbury University, Ogilvie worked in special effects on Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket before graduating from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in the early 1990s.
Ogilvie's early career included directing music videos for Australian bands and commercials, along with award-nominated videos for Headless Chickens.
In 2024, Ogilvie's fourth feature, Head South, premiered at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam. The film reflects his roots in the late 1970s Christchurch music scene. As a long-time directing teacher at the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School, he also contributes as a reader and assessor for the New South Wales Film and Television Office.
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Campbell Hill is the co-founder and Community Impact Manager of Good Neighbour, one of the Bay of Plenty's most prolific and impactful community organizations.
With the help of over 300 dedicated volunteers, Good Neighbour addresses critical needs in the community through a variety of initiatives. Their food rescue program diverts 580 tonnes of food from landfills annually, delivering it to homes in need. They provide practical assistance, such as property maintenance, to individuals facing crises without a support network. They also rescue logs from the port, processing them into 500m³ of firewood each year for households in need. In addition, their community kitchen produced 26,000 meals last year to support those struggling with food insecurity.
Good Neighbour goes beyond basic aid by offering social support that addresses the underlying issues families face, helping them build resilience, well-being, and a sense of purpose. The organization also runs youth life skills programs, supports individuals on their journey to employment, maintains community gardens, and gathers surplus backyard fruit—36,000kg last year alone—distributing it to those in need.
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Ella Kumar is the current chair of Auckland’s Puketāpapa Local Board, and in 2010 she was the first Kiwi-Indian woman elected to a local board in the country.
She's a qualified aerobics instructor, volunteer, marriage celebrant and is known for her passion for the community of Mt Roskill.
Kumar was recently awarded the Hall of Fame Award at the Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame Awards 2024 for her remarkable journey that inspires many Indian New Zealanders.
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Sam Smith is a stand-up comedian, comedy writer, and musician from Auckland, NZ. He gained fame as the winner of season one of The Traitors New Zealand in 2023. Sam has appeared in popular Kiwi shows like 7 Days, Mean Mums, My Favourite Dead Person, and Shortland Street. In addition to his on-screen work, he is a sought-after warm-up comic for major comedy shows, including 7 Days, The Project, Dancing With The Stars, Family Feud, Jono and Ben, Have You Been Paying Attention?, and the Aotearoa Music Awards.
Beyond warming up audiences, Sam is one of the country's most in-demand stand-up comics. When he’s not performing, he writes for 7 Days, Taskmaster NZ, and Taskmaster Australia. Before becoming a comedian, Sam was a dentist but transitioned to comedy after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He embraces the challenges of his condition with humor and optimism, despite experiencing partial vision loss. Sam hosts a podcast for Blind Low Vision NZ and serves as an ambassador for MS Auckland. He is also a father of two and writes children's books.
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Finn Butcher is a talented New Zealand slalom canoeist who has been competing internationally since 2012. Growing up near the Kawarau River, Finn discovered his passion for paddling at the age of nine. Under the mentorship of Alan "Sarge" Hoffman, he developed his skills and later moved to Auckland, where he trained extensively at the Vector Wero Whitewater Park alongside fellow canoeist Callum Gilbert.
In his competitive career, Finn has achieved significant milestones, including a fourth-place finish in the U23 K-1 at the 2018 World Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom Championships, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal. He also earned a silver medal in kayak cross at the 2021 World Championships in Bratislava, showcasing his potential on the world stage.
Most notably, Finn became the inaugural Olympic champion in kayak cross at the 2024 Olympics, where he made a stunning upset by defeating three-time world champion Joe Clarke. Prior to this triumph, he served as a non-travelling reserve for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and earned quota places for New Zealand at the 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. Finn continues to be a rising star in the sport, dedicated to pushing his limits and inspiring future generations of paddlers.
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Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and raised in the mountains of Southern New Zealand, Holly Arrowsmith is a multi-award-winning songwriter known for her poetic storytelling. With a focus on the deeply personal aspects of life, her lyrics resonate - exploring what it means to be human through prayer-like responses to our struggles.
A leader in New Zealand’s contemporary Folk and Alt-Country movement, Holly's music blends tradition with innovation. Her dynamic vocals and nuanced lyrics create a stunning sonic portrait of life’s ups and downs, moving effortlessly from powerful to intimate. She has captivated audiences not only here but also in Australia and North America, sharing the stage with notable artists like Sixto Rodriguez, Tami Neilson, and Marlon Williams.
Holly’s accolades include the APRA Country Song of the Year for "Slow Train Creek" (2020) and the Tui Award for Folk Album of the Year for her album For The Weary Traveller (2017). Most recently, she won the APRA Best Country Music Song for "Desert Dove" (2023). NPR praised her music as "utterly beautiful," highlighting her ability to draw listeners in and create a reflective experience through her songs.
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David Walliams is a renowned English comedian, actor, and author, celebrated for his collaborations with Matt Lucas on BBC’s Little Britain and Come Fly With Me. His role as a judge on Britain's Got Talent from 2012 - 2022 earned him significant acclaim, including multiple National Television Awards for Best TV Judge. Walliams has also made a mark as a bestselling children’s author, with over 50 million copies sold worldwide. His popular works, such as Mr Stink and Gangsta Granny, have been adapted into television films.
In addition to his entertainment career, Walliams is known for his impressive charity work. In 2006, he completed a challenging swim across the English Channel for Sport Relief, raising over £1 million. This monumental feat took him 10 hours and 34 minutes.
David’s legacy spans entertainment, literature, and charity, cementing his status as a multifaceted and influential public figure.
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Mahé was raised in Tauranga and attended Tauranga Boys' College before moving to Auckland for his sixth form and university studies. He took up rowing at university and enjoyed a highly successful 20-year career in the sport. He is a two-time Olympic Champion in the single scull, winning gold in 2012 and 2016 and a five-time World Champion.
In the 2008 Olympics, Mahé had the honour of being the Flag Bearer and Team Captain for New Zealand. He was named the Supreme Halberg Award Winner in 2006 and received the Sportsman of the Year award at the Halberg Awards in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, and 2016. He was also inducted as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (M.N.Z.M) in 2009.
After retiring from rowing, Mahé became a Financial Advisor at Forsyth Barr Limited. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in accounting and commercial law, a Graduate Diploma of Commerce in information technology, and is an ACA with Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CAANZ). Currently he is the Mayor of Tauranga.
He is married to Juliette and has three children.
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Ant Timpson, born April 21, 1966, in Auckland, New Zealand, is a prominent film producer and director. In 2003, he founded the 48 Hours film contest, a significant platform for emerging filmmakers.
His work has garnered notable awards, including the British Independent Film Awards Discovery Award and a Saturn Award for Best International Film, both in 2016.
Timpson also launched "The Incredibly Strange Film Festival" in 1994, now part of the New Zealand International Film Festival. His distribution company, starting with "Slacker" in 1993, has released numerous specialist films. He owns the largest private collection of 35mm films in the Southern Hemisphere and is a board member of the New Zealand Film Commission. Timpson is married with two children.
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Rev Dr Miguel A. De La Torre is a Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. He has held prominent roles, including President of the Society of Christian Ethics (2012) and Executive Officer for the Society of Race, Ethnicity and Religion (2012-2017). A distinguished Fulbright scholar and international lecturer, he is renowned for his advocacy of ethics of place, leading immersion classes in locations like Cuba, Guatemala, and the Mexico/U.S. border. His extensive speaking engagements include the Chautauqua Institute and the Parliament of World Religions. He has been honoured with several national book awards and is a frequent speaker on the intersection of religion with race, class, gender, and sexuality. In 2020, he received the Excellence in Teaching Award, and in 2021, the Martin E. Marty Public Understanding of Religion Award from the American Academy of Religion, making him the first scholar to receive both prestigious awards and the first Latinx to be honoured.
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Since debuting in 2011, the band Avalanche City, the project of Dave Baxter, has enchanted New Zealand with its light and energetic indie folk-pop tunes. Born in the UK and moving to New Zealand at six months old, Baxter grew up in Tauranga and Hamilton. Musically gifted from a young age, he began playing guitar at nine and performed in local bands during his teens.
Avalanche City's first album, Our New Life Above the Ground, featured the hit single "Love Love Love," which soared to No. 1 on the New Zealand charts. The follow-up album, We Are for the Wild Places (2015), included the popular No. 1 single "Inside Out". After the 2019 release of My Babylon, Baxter took a break from music to focus on family and personal life.
After a nearly five-year break, Dave Baxter returned in 2024 with a new single, "Keep That Love." His comeback marks a renewed chapter for Avalanche City, as Baxter resumes his musical journey with fresh energy and commitment.
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Alan Duff, a prominent New Zealand novelist and advocate, is best known for his influential debut novel Once Were Warriors (1990), which won the PEN Best First Book Award and was adapted into a successful film. In addition to his literary success, Duff is recognized for his role as a critical commentator on Māori issues. His 1993 analysis, Māori: The Crisis and the Challenge, critiques both traditional and radical Māori leadership for focusing on past injustices rather than promoting self-reliance. Duff’s influence extends through his newspaper columns, which began in 1991 when he wrote for The Evening Post. His thought-provoking pieces, later syndicated to multiple newspapers, have established him as a significant voice in New Zealand's media.
Duff’s contributions to literature and social causes were honoured in 2007 when he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). His impact extends beyond writing, with his co-founding of the Duffy Books in Homes scheme in 1995, which has distributed over 5 million books to underprivileged children.
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Meet Tony Rinaudo, also known as ‘The Forest Maker’! As World Vision’s Principal Climate Action Advisor, Tony has revolutionized reforestation with his groundbreaking approach, Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR).
In 1981, Tony and his wife Liz arrived at the edge of the Sahara, determined to plant trees. Despite numerous challenges, Tony discovered the power of FMNR—a method that regrows trees using existing root networks rather than starting from seeds. This innovative technique has restored millions of hectares of land in Niger and is now used in 25 countries across Africa and Asia.
Tony’s journey and the incredible impact of FMNR are detailed in his book, The Forest Underground: Hope for a Planet in Crisis. This inspiring story showcases how Tony’s sustainable land management system is transforming landscapes and lives, proving that hope and renewal are possible even in the most challenging environments.
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Fern Sutherland, born in New Plymouth, began her acting career as a lead artist in short films produced by the UNITEC Performing Arts School. She gained early experience in theatre, appearing in productions such as Silo Theatre's Ensemble Project 08 and the Auckland Theatre Company's plays. Transitioning to television, Sutherland took on roles in South Pacific Pictures productions, including appearances in shows like Go Girls and The Almighty Johnsons.
Sutherland's breakthrough came with her role in The Almighty Johnsons where her performance garnered critical acclaim and award nominations. Following this success, she secured a prominent role in the New Zealand television series The Brokenwood Mysteries, portraying a sharp and formal small-town detective. The show provided her with further exposure and established her as a notable figure in New Zealand television.
Outside of acting, Fern Sutherland divides her time between New Zealand and Thailand. In Thailand, she spends extended periods practising Muay Thai in Phuket, reflecting her dedication to both her career and personal interests beyond acting.
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Georgia Lines has quickly risen to prominence in New Zealand's music scene with her infectious personality and R&B-infused pop sound. In 2022, she won Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Aotearoa Music Awards and was nominated for Best Pop Artist alongside Lorde and Benee. Her EP "HUMAN" debuted at #1 on the Official Top 20 NZ Album charts, driven by the success of 'Faith', which topped NZ Airplay charts for four consecutive weeks and amassed over 7 million streams.
In addition to her recording success, Georgia has performed multiple sold-out headline tours across New Zealand and supported international acts like George Ezra and Pentatonix. With features in Rolling Stone and Canvas Magazine, Georgia continues to garner both local and international acclaim, solidifying her position as a rising star in contemporary pop music.
Georgia's ability to connect with audiences through her soulful vocals and compelling songwriting has contributed to her growing fanbase and widespread recognition in the music industry. Her achievements on the charts and in live performances underscore her trajectory towards becoming a significant figure not only in New Zealand but also on the global stage.
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Warning: This article discusses suicidal ideation.
One of New Zealand’s most experienced journalists has opened up on his brush with death – and how a subsequent battle with depression has enabled him to become a “wounded healer” for those in need.
Rob Harley, whose storied 50-year career has seen him work in current affairs for TVNZ, in radio, as a church pastor and a documentary maker, has earned a reputation as a talented storyteller.
But in an interview with Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night, now-70-year-old Harley recounted how he very nearly lost it all – his career, finances, mental health and life – after his liver failed eight and a half years ago.
“I was wheeled into an operating theatre at Auckland City Hospital, where I was lucky enough to have one of the best liver transplant surgeons in the world work on me,” he told Real Life.
“He pulled my old diseased liver out and gave me a new one. Afterwards he said, ‘Rob, you had two weeks to live, we got you just in time’.”
While grateful to escape alive, after the liver transplant things “really cascaded downwards”, says Harley.
“I had a very successful documentary-making business. It went well, but I’d had bad advice on tax and ended up with a horrendous tax bill, and then I had a documentary series which was incredibly successful on TV, but absolutely stripped me bare financially.
“We went bankrupt. We walked away from a beautiful little farm in west Auckland, and we were basically gipsies for the next eight years.”
Harley’s varied work over the years has seen him travel the world, and in 2001 he claimed an international journalism award for his story on TVNZ’s Assignment about a west Auckland firefighter turned arsonist.
But he admits the reporting he’s done – much of it traumatic in nature, or from war zones – has taken a mental toll.
“In Cambodia, we were at a water festival and we just got out in time before 400 people were trampled to death in a stampede,” he recalled.
“The next morning, almost robot-like, we went into the grounds of a hospital and filmed the bodies of 50 to 60 dead teenagers with toe tags on, with people trying to identify them.
“That stuff never came back and bit me on the bum until years later. In fact, it did at the end of last year, along with so much other stuff I've seen. It gets into your head and at some point the payment falls due.”
Recent years have also brought bouts of severe depression, Harley revealed. He said it seems to be common among transplant patients.
“Something happens to your head, and I lost it… I was in the black dog for about four years, I was incommunicado. I look back at my Facebook Messenger from 2017, 2018, and I had just shut down,” he said.
But he pulled himself back through a combination of “good care, good drugs and good mates”.
“I had a bloke who would call me every second day and say, ‘Zero to ten, how are you doing?’ He knew I was suicidal and sometimes I'd say ‘minus-15’. He said, ‘Okay, bro, let's get you up to two tomorrow’.
“It saved my life. You've got to have good people around you.”
That experience, of dealing with the worst of depression and emerging out the other side, has earned him a reputation as something of a de facto suicide counsellor.
Harley says while some people think it sounds ghoulish and tough, he’s grateful for it. He says wounded people often make “the best healers”.
“Every week I am next to people who are on the edge. People say, ‘Boy, that sounds ghoulish, that sounds tough’, but I love it because you actually teach people the art of something as simple as gratitude,” Harley said.
“I was talking to someone the other day who doesn't want to live. I said, ‘Get in the shower in the morning and tell yourself three things that you are proud of yourself for having done’. And it's starting to work. Along with a bit of humour and a bit of distraction, I can see the light’s going on.
“There’s nothing in the world like the experience of building something into the life of a hurting person.”
LISTEN ABOVE
WHERE TO GET HELP:
If you are worried about your or someone else's mental health, the best place to get help is your GP or local mental health provider. However, if you or someone else is in danger or endangering others, call 111.
If you need to talk to someone, the following free helplines operate 24/7:
DEPRESSION HELPLINE: 0800 111 757
LIFELINE: 0800 543 354
NEED TO TALK? Call or text 1737
SAMARITANS: 0800 726 666
YOUTHLINE: 0800 376 633 or text 234
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Kevin has been a fixture in the Aotearoa New Zealand film industry for over thirty years. He directed the highly successful Air New Zealand Nothing to Hide Brand campaign. His other celebrated projects, which have become cultural icons in New Zealand, include the Mitre 10 “Sandpit,” Toyota “Everyday People,” and the National Depression Initiative, which featured rugby legend Sir John Kirwan.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kevin reached out to support the film community, and the floodgates opened. This led him to pursue studies in chaplaincy to acquire the skills necessary for offering a calm, compassionate, and empathetic presence to those in need.
Kevin holds a master’s degree in Chaplaincy from the University of Otago and is currently pursuing a PhD. He has also been formally ordained by the Anglican Church of Aotearoa. With his deep commitment to listening and supporting others, Kevin is well-equipped to serve the film community.
Kevin and his wife, Nikki, reside in Auckland and have three daughters and a son-in-law.
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Mark Richardson is a former professional cricket player who represented New Zealand in 38 test matches in the early 2000s.
After his cricketing career Mark found his way into broadcasting via commentary for Sky Sport and co-hosted the popular show The Crowd Goes Wild on Prime. Mark's broadcasting career expanded beyond sports with roles on The Block NZ and The AM Show. Mark also spent a year hosting a talkback radio programme on the ill-fated Today FM.
Lately Mark has reinvented his career once again as a Financial Adviser at Forsyth Barr Limited.
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Sequoia Schmidt is a celebrated author, adventurer, and speaker renowned for her compelling personal resilience and exploration narratives. Her debut book, "Journey of Heart: A Sojourn to K2," garnered acclaim as a finalist in the 2016 International Book Awards. This poignant memoir traces Sequoia's journey to K2 in Pakistan, a mountain that holds deep emotional significance as it tragically claimed the lives of both her father and brother.
In May 2018, Sequoia released her highly anticipated second book, "Changing Gears; Up's and Down's on the New Zealand Road." This book chronicles her 28-day solo cycling expedition across both the South and North Islands of New Zealand in 2017. Documenting her journey Sequoia Schmidt's work mirrors her adventurous spirit and diverse pursuits, from BASE jumping to Himalayan climbing. Sequoia passionately follows her adventurous spirit and articulately writes about her magnificent journeys.
Sequoia's latest book "Dream of Flight" is due for release in August 2024.
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Wayne Brown is a seasoned leader with experience in business and public service, from steering large New Zealand businesses to serving as Mayor of New Zealand’s largest city.
But beyond the boardroom and council chambers, Wayne is a keen surfer. He spends his spare time riding the swells and advocating for the protection of our marine environment, all while enjoying the company of his wife, Toni and their two children.
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Sunday the 9th of June marked a big milestone for John Cowan as he reached 20 years of hosting Real Life on Newstalk ZB! Over 963 shows, John has spoken to 835 different guests in an effort to find out what makes each one of them tick. Listen back to the celebration of John's 20 years on Real Life.
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Ben grew up in Otaki and went to Paraparaumu College. He is a self-taught computer coder and at the age of 12 those skills saw him inventing a GPS wristband that allowed hospitals and visitors to trace patients. This invention won him the youth category of Wellingtonian of the Year in 2016.After a gap year in Canada he launched his own company "Random42 Limited". The company dealt with water-monitoring technology and portable wind turbines. With many of his clients being down south, he made the move down there.In October 2022 Ben became Gore's youngest mayor at 23 years old.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A popular contestant on Have You Been Paying Attention, comedian Melanie Bracewell has also appeared on The Project, Triple J, and Thank God You're Here. She was a contestant on the fourth series of Taskmaster NZ.
Melanie has contributed as a writer to 7 Days, Have You Been Paying Attention, Wellington Paranormal, and Mean Mums. She is also an experienced radio announcer and has worked as a producer and announcer at the popular radio station Radio Hauraki for six years, where she also hosts her own weekend show.
Melanie's first solo show, Brace Yourself, won Best Newcomer at the NZ Comedy Festival, and in 2018, she won the prestigious Billy T Award for her second solo show, Melodrama. In 2021, she had a sell-out season of The Rumours Are True at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, won the Director's Choice Award, and launched herself as the host of the Network 10 series The Cheap Seats. Melanie won Best Script: Comedy for her episode on Wellington Paranormal at the NZ Television Awards. In 2022, Melanie toured through Australia with her show, Ooh La La. She was also nominated for the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent. In 2023, The Cheap Seats won the Logie for Most Outstanding Entertainment Show.
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This week John's guest will be Peter Beck. Peter is a Kiwi entrepreneur who founded the aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider Rocket Lab.
Peter grew up in Invercargill, born into a family who loved machines. A toolmaking apprenticeship at Fisher & Paykel gave him hands-on engineering skills and access to top-of-the-line machinery and materials after hours.
Peter began building rockets at an early age, steadily increasing their size and complexity. He set up Rocket Lab in 2006 and has taken the world by storm.
An award-winning engineer, Peter has been presented with the Gold Medal from the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Meritorious Medal from the New Zealand Division of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Cooper Medal and the Pickering Medal from the Royal Society of New Zealand. In addition, in recognition of Mr Beck’s outstanding contributions to aerospace, entrepreneurship and technical innovation he was appointed as an adjunct professor in aerospace engineering by the University of Auckland.
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Marty Donoghue, based in Wellington, has been Chief Executive of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association (RNZRSA) since October 2020. Marty has a 35-year track record of transformational leadership, successfully building and managing teams and mobilising volunteers in New Zealand and internationally across defence, sport, science, and the not-for-profit sector. Marty served in the New Zealand Army for 25 years and is a veteran of Bosnia, Angola, Bougainville and Iraq.
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Judy joined the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation in 1971, working as a reporter on news and current affairs programmes. She presented the regional news with John Hawkesby for Auckland from 1980 to 1987 in the programme Top Half. Judy went on to front ONE News, the highest-rated evening television news programme in New Zealand, for twenty-six years. On leaving TVNZ, she presented Māori Television's ANZAC Day programme for many years.
In the 2010 New Year Honours, Judy was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to broadcasting and the community. Judy has written several books, including Evolving, about finding health and happiness as we age, released at the beginning of April.
Judy lives in Auckland and is married to producer and director Chris Bailey, with whom she has three children and seven grandchildren.
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Graeme has recently retired as the New Zealand director of Mercy Ships, an international faith-based organisation that operates hospital ships that sail worldwide and deliver free healthcare to countries with little or no access to safe surgical care.
Graeme began at Mercy Ships in 1983 initially taught the crew's children on board the ships, working his way up to executive leadership roles, going on to help others in 70 different countries worldwide. He sailed on board the ships for 25 years and continued working for the charity at their Penrose offices, where he helped fundraise, recruit volunteers and raise awareness for their work.
Graeme met his wife Sharon aboard Mercy Ships when she worked in the hospitality side. Together they now reside in Onehunga with three children.
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Archdeacon of Tamaki Makaurau
Until 2010, Dr Lyndon Drake was a Vice President at Barclays Capital, trading government bonds and interest-rate derivatives. Since then, he has served as pastor of Auckland Baptist Tabernacle, taught theology of work at seminaries, served in regional and international church leadership, and has served on a number of boards, including chairing Te Whare Ruruhau o Meri Trust Board (a Māori social work agency) and Te Kaunihera (the governors of St John’s Theological College, the Anglican seminary in Auckland). He is the Archdeacon of Tāmaki Makaurau within the Māori Anglican bishopric of Te Tai Tokerau.
Lyndon has degrees in science and commerce from the University of Auckland, a PhD in computer science from the University of York, and two degrees in theology from Oxford.
Lyndon is of Ngai Tahu descent, from Kati Kuri in Kaikoura. He and his wife Miriam have three children and occasionally foster children.
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Nelson MP Rachel Boyack says she “nearly ended up in a cult” as a teenager, but escaped after just a few weeks after growing suspicious with the group’s “dodgy” behaviour.
The Labour politician was briefly a member of the International Church of Christ, a religious sect known for its aggressive proselytising, while attending Auckland University in 1998.
In an interview with Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night, Boyack said the experience was “very strange”, but ultimately taught her about the importance of religious freedom.
“I was approached by a woman on the street who invited me to go to her church, and I thought ‘This must be God speaking to me to go to this church’,” she recalls.
Boyack was showered with friendship from fellow members over the ensuing weeks – a technique known as ‘love bombing’ – but soon realised “they were quite dodgy”.
“They were absolutely acting like a cult. They had come from America and had an objective of trying to find young people at university and take their money,” she said.
“They wanted me to leave my university hostel and move into one of their flats,” she says. “They wanted me to pay 10 percent of my income to them. They wanted me to stop talking to my parents and not go home for the holidays. And so I left.”
Boyack ended up going to media about her experiences with the International Church of Christ shortly after leaving, as she felt compelled to warn others of the dangers.
“I spoke out in the newspaper and to magazines and things because I really wanted to warn people… I thought, ‘this group has the power to remove people from their homes, from their families, take their money. People could be at risk.”
Boyack, an Anglican, says it taught her the importance of respecting people to come to their own positions on their religious views.
“I have a deep Christian faith, but not everyone does. People have other forms of faith, and I think it's important that we don't impose or try to force people to hold our views,” she told Cowan.
“As a Christian, I want to share my faith with other people and for people to know why I hold the faith. But it really taught me the importance of not forcing people to hold opinions that they don't want to hold; not to try to exert control over people in terms of where they should be living, who they should be talking to.
“That experience taught me a lot about how churches can really put people off.”
Boyack says her instinct to speak out about injustice is something that’s always been part of her, and is ultimately what led her “down this political path”.
“I've always felt brave enough to speak out about things that I seem to understand are wrong. And I've always felt comfortable doing it.
“So it almost feels like an obligation to use that approach that I have on behalf of other people to speak out when things aren't right.”
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Comedian Guy Montgomery was born and raised in Christchurch and went on to study at Victoria University of Wellington. He moved to Canada in 2010 to start his comedy career. He then returned home (partly to co-host Late U) before moving to New York City. Together with Tim Blatt, Guy is co-host of the podcasts Worst Idea of All Time, Friendzone, and 'Til Death Do Us Blart.
Guy won the Billy T Award in 2014 and the Fred Award at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival in 2023.
He has written for several New Zealand comedy shows, such as Jono and Ben at 10, and has appeared on Comedy Central US. In 2021, he took part in Taskmaster NZ, and in 2022 was a contestant on New Zealand's Celebrity Treasure Island. He has also appeared frequently on shows such as 7 Days, Have You Been Paying Attention?, and Thank God You're Here. Last year, his television show Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee premiered.
Guy will return to the live stage this year with his new show, Over 50,000,000 Guy Fans Can't Be Wrong.
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Italian-Kiwi Vince worked as a civil engineer from 1990 to 2000 before developing his IT company, Cocurullo’s Ltd, which still operates today. In 2005 Vince became very ill with what turned out to be mercury poisoning from amalgam fillings in his teeth. As a result of this, he experienced a very personal reality check that became the catalyst for his decision to enter local government and help make Whangārei District a better place to live and work.
Vince has worked as a volunteer in projects across the globe, from helping out with life-saving water projects in Africa to teaching English in Yemen, and today, he is still involved in various organisations, community groups, business networking groups and councils, all with the vision of growing Whangārei. He was elected Mayor of Whangārei in October 2022, where he lives with his wife Lee.
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Tommy was born in New South Wales, Australia. He received his first guitar in 1959 (at age four) and was taught by his mother to accompany her, playing lap steel guitar. By age six, he was a working professional musician after his father created a family band, sold their home, and took his family on the road. Tommy would go on tour with country music star Buddy Williams and record several albums with Buddy Williams in the early 1970s.
In his teen years, Tommy won a string of talent contests, and by the late 1970s, he was playing drums with his brother in the group Goldrush. He gained further prominence in the late 1970s as the lead guitarist in the Southern Star Band and joined the lineup of the leading rock group Dragon.
Tommy performed live in Sydney at the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics in 2000, and in June 2010, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia. In 2019, MusicRadar listed him as the best acoustic guitarist in the world.
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Gary Chapman, born in a small town in North Carolina, USA, has become widely known for his work in the realm of relationships, particularly in marriage and family counselling. He has written more than forty books with The 5 Love Languages, one of his most popular titles, topping various bestseller charts for years. He also hosts radio programmes A Love Language Minute and Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman.
Chapman's journey into Christian ministry began at the age of seventeen when he committed himself to serving Christ. He attended counselling courses, realising only later how significant they would become; the past thirty have seen a focus for Gary on marriage and family counselling. Gary holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in anthropology and received his PhD from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Gary and his wife, Karolyn, have been married for over 60 years and reside in Salem, North Carolina, where she edits all his books. They have two grown-up children.
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As a child, acclaimed illusionist and mentalist Scott revelled in mystery. Born and raised in Glasgow, he found a mentor in the owner of a magic shop in Glasgow. As a teenager, he took a hypnosis course in Milan and went on to study drama and performance at the University of Edinburgh.
Scott is making his New Zealand debut in March 2024 at the Auckland Arts Festival with his show ‘Wonders’ playing at SkyCity Theatre.
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After working as an English teacher and then as an Anglican clergyman near Liverpool, UK, Peter and his wife Miranda moved to Portugal in 1983 to establish and run A Rocha, a global family of conservation organisations working together to live out God’s calling to care for creation and equip others to do likewise, and the first field study centre and bird observatory were established. In 1995, they moved to France, where they oversaw the establishment of two other centres while travelling to resource the growing movement of Christians active in nature conservation. Peter and Miranda returned to the UK in 2010.
The A Rocha story is told in Peter’s first two books: Under the Bright Wings and Kingfisher’s Fire. His 2017 book, Keeping Faith in Fundraising, raises questions about the nature of philanthropy and fundraising in contemporary culture.
In 2019, Peter, Miranda, and two colleagues were involved in a road accident while on a work trip in South Africa. Only Peter and the driver survived. He has spoken about life since in a short film. At the end of May 2020, Peter retired and continues to serve A Rocha in a voluntary capacity.
Throughout February, Peter is speaking across New Zealand.
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Dave Brebner grew up with undiagnosed and debilitating Tourette Syndrome. Despite the hardships of his teenage years, as a person who was not going to fit the mould of a standard high school education without difficulty, he has gone on to complete an electrical trade qualification, a Bachelor's Degree of Education in Adult Vocational and Workplace Training, and two Master's Degrees in Educational Neuroscience and Education and Career Development, enabling him to engage in meaningful and inclusive discussions that cater to diverse audiences. As well as being a full-time teacher for TAFE NSW, he regularly presents motivational talks to groups of young people.
Dave lives in New South Wales, Australia, and is a husband and father of six.
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Ella Harris is a 25-year-old New Zealand professional cyclist, currently riding for UCI Women's Continental Team Lifeplus Wahoo. She won the Zwift global stationary trainer competition in 2018, which earned her a contract with Women's World Tour's Canyon SRAM team. At home, she won the national under-23 time trial in 2020 and has earned a number of heralded performances internationally.
Ella started cycling at 10 years old with her parents on the weekends and began cycle racing at 13 when she joined the cycling club at St Margaret’s College in Christchurch. She gained her Bachelor of Agricommerce majoring in Food Marketing and Retailing from Massey University. During the cycling season, Ella resides in Girona, Spain.
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Educated in Sri Lanka, Selina Kumar went on to study in the Philippines and the United States. She then returned to Sri Lanka to work with underprivileged children. After a 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka left thousands widowed, homeless and without livelihoods, Selina wanted to help smallholder dairy farmers out of poverty. She created something sustainable that would help her community, and her journey began with encouragement from Ian McInnes, CEO of Tearfund in New Zealand.
Selina is now the CEO and driving force behind Yugashakthi, Tearfund’s partner in Sri Lanka. A social enterprise working to open sustainable markets to farmers and deliver profits back to them, Yugashakthi was established from Tearfund’s post-war dairy expansion programme. The project teaches locals about keeping animals and gardening, providing information on breeding, feeding, animal health and growing food. Tearfund has been behind the project by offering technology and training, as well as much-needed support as the scheme grows.
The project started with just 15 farmers making an average of $10 per month and has grown to over 4,500 farmers making an average of $150 per month. In 2019, the model transitioned from a not-for-profit charity model to a business model, with the enterprise is now adding value to milk by producing cheese, curd, yoghurt and ice cream.
Selina has recently been in New Zealand to update and thank the people and businesses who have supported the scheme.
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Mikey Havoc first became a DJ on the University of Auckland's 95bFM radio station in the early 1990s. He was on the breakfast show from 1996 to 2002, winning Best New Broadcaster at the 1997 New Zealand Radio Awards and later moved to the afternoon-evening "Drive" show. He once again took over as the breakfast show host in 2006. In 2010 Havoc returned to his Drive slot and in 2012 joined rock station Hauraki on weeknights 7-10 pm. He returned to 95bFM from 2017 to 2019 for a third stint as breakfast show host.
Mikey is the lead singer of the New Zealand rock band Push Push, best known for its 1991 number-one singles 'What My Baby Likes' and 'Trippin''. During the late 1990s he owned and managed The Squid nightclub in inner-city Auckland.
In the mid-nineties, Mikey moved into television on New Zealand's with the magazine-style TV show Havoc with his 95bFM co-worker Jeremy Wells and continued on TVNZ with the shows Havoc and Newsboy's Sell-out Tour and Havoc's Luxury Suites and Conference Facilities. In 2002 Havoc was nominated for Best Presenter for Havoc Luxury Suites and Conference Facility in the TV Guide New Zealand Television Awards. In 2004 he moved to TV3 with Havoc Presents Quality Time and has hosted reprised versions of Top Town and Treasure Island.
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Dr Claire Achmad is an advocate for children, having worked in various areas relating to children's rights. She was appointed as the Deputy Chair of the Children and Young People's Commission in July 2023 and, from November 1st, took up the role of Chief Children's Commissioner and Chair of the Commission for a five-year term.
From 2021 to 2023, Claire served as Chief Executive Officer of Social Service Providers Te Pai Ora o Aotearoa. She holds a doctorate in international children's rights law from Leiden University and has published internationally on various children's rights issues. She also holds degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Auckland and is on the University of Auckland's 40 Under 40 list. Previously, she has worked for children's NGOs and international organisations in New Zealand, Australia and Europe, held a senior role within the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, and practised as in-house legal counsel in the New Zealand government. She was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2007.
Claire was born and grew up in the Waitākere Ranges, went to school in West Auckland, and is of New Zealand and Indonesian heritage. She holds a guest lecturer position in the Child Law Department of Leiden University and is a member of the Asia New Zealand Foundation Leadership Network.
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Shane Hales, known by the stage name Shane, grew up in Surrey, England, before moving to Australia and then New Zealand. He started his career in 1966 as a member of the Australian band The Pleazers before forming his own band, Shane. He became a regular singer on the television pop programme C'mon and was part of the C'mon 1968 national tour. His cover of Terry Knight's Saint Paul flew to the top of the charts and won the 1969 Loxene Golden Disc award for best New Zealand record of the year. Shane's debut album, Rainy Day Man, was released at the end of 1969 and a second album, Natural Man, was released the following year.
Interest began to pick up for Shane internationally and he embarked on an overseas tour. While he was touring, he received word of the death of his fiancée in a car crash in New Zealand. He used the recording of his third album, Straight Straight Straight, as catharsis. He returned to Europe soon after the album's release, where he formed a new band, Killa-Hz.
Shane was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to entertainment, in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours. He has continued to perform music regularly into the 2010s and beyond.
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Dr Phil Bagshaw was an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Otago Christchurch until he retired in 2010. He practised as a specialist General Surgeon, did research and taught surgery. In 2007, he opened the Canterbury Charity Hospital for patients who can’t access public hospital care and can’t afford private care. He is chairman of the Trust that runs it and works as a volunteer.
Phil and his wife Dame Sue Bagshaw moved to Christchurch from London in 1981. They have had four children of whom aid worker Andrew was the eldest, who was killed in eastern Ukraine in January 2023.
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Benedict is a political journalist working for 1News in the Wellington press gallery. He has a strong interest in covering anything to do with illicit drugs and enforcement. He's covered punitive drug-testing sanctions applied to beneficiaries, attempts to legalise pill-testing at festivals, the 2020 cannabis referendum, and, in 2018 helped expose a meth-testing scandal.
This month, Benedict's book Mad on Meth: How New Zealand Got Hooked on P was released and focuses on our history of methamphetamine use.
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Craig is a former banker from Dunedin who started his music career in the late 1960s. After involvement with the bands Klap and Fantasy, Scott joined the band Revival who won a Battle of the Bands contest in May 1969. Their song Viva Bobby Joe which peaked at #14 on the related singles chart.
After leaving Revival, Craig released a series of commercially successful singles. Smiley reached #3 on the New Zealand pop chart, Star Crossed Lovers (his only number one single), Let's Get A Little Sentimental, Ciao Baby, and When Jojo Runs. Around 1975, his last single to land high on the charts was Wind and Rain, peaking at #11. He's considered to be one of New Zealand's most successful recording and TV stars and for many years was Managing Director of Warner Bros Video.
These days, Craig works alongside his wife Jo and son Adin selling real estate in Arrowtown and is constantly blown away by the positive response he continues to garner from music fans.
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Chris was born and raised in Lower Hutt and studied film and English literature at Victoria University of Wellington, where he also completed an MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters.
Chris’ first full-length poetry collection, How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes, was published in 2014. In 2016, Snakes was a finalist in the poetry category at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, where it received the Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry. In 2018, he published his second collection, HE’S SO MASC, which was critically acclaimed and was included in the New Zealand Herald‘s Best Books of 2018 and The Spinoff‘s 20 Best Poetry Books of 2018. He co-edited Out Here: An Anthology of Takatāpui and LGBTQIA+ writers from Aotearoa. His most recent collection, Super Model Minority, was published in March 2022 and was longlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry and a finalist at the 35th Lambda Literary Awards.
In 2022, the National Library of New Zealand named Chris the 2022-2024 New Zealand Poet Laureate.
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Together with her husband Andy, who passed away suddenly in 2018, Nikki has been a Co-Founding Director of FamilyLife NZ, a Christian charitable trust. For 25 years, she has taught healthy relationship skills to couples across New Zealand. Nikki is also an accredited certified life coach, a neuro linguistic programming trainer and a lightning process practitioner.
Alongside Andy, Nikki co-authored a workbook called Putting First Things First and a question card series for parenting and marriage called Small Talk.
In 2008 Nikki was awarded Mother of the Year by TV3 and Kiwi Families. In 2013 Nikki and Andy were recipients of the NZ Christian Network "Unsung Heroes Award", presented at Parliament, and in 2014 Nikki was a presenter at the NZ Christian Network bi-centennial celebration at Waitangi.
Nikki has three children: Natasha, who tragically passed away in the 2008 Mangetepopo canyoning disaster at 16 years old, Olivia and Ben. In her spare time, she enjoys a coffee with friends, bike riding and the New Zealand outdoors.
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Robert Vennell is an ecologist and best-selling natural history author. His first book, The Meaning of Trees, was listed as one of the best non-fiction books of 2019 and was longlisted for an Ockham New Zealand Book Award. His second book, Secrets of the Sea, was selected as a finalist in the illustrated non-fiction category of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2023. His latest – The Forgotten Forest – explores the hidden world of mushrooms, mosses and moulds and was released on October 5th.
Robert works as a curator in the Natural Science department at Auckland Museum.
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Born in Rotorua, Clint is co-host of ZM's drive show, Bree & Clint, with Bree Tomasel. Clint started working at The Edge in 2006. After filling in on the breakfast show at the end of 2013, he started co-hosting The Edge Afternoons with Guy, Sharyn & Clint and The Edge Fat 40 with Guy, Sharyn & Clint from 2014. In 2015, he hosted Hot Right Now on The Edge TV and co-hosted The Xtra Factor. He began co-hosting the breakfast show on George FM in 2017 and in July 2018, he left to co-host Bree & Clint.
Clint is married to magazine editor Lucy Slight. They live in Auckland with their two daughters and two British Shorthair cats, Ziggy and Bowie.
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Zennon walked out of school at 16 years old and talked himself into a job in a restaurant kitchen at Titirangi’s Barossa. After six months, he moved to Auckland's Euro restaurant, then helmed by Simon Gault. Three years later Zennon moved to Australia, where he honed his skills in some of Australia’s most esteemed kitchens. Zennon returned to Cibo in Auckland before going on a nine-month culinary tour of the world, during which he ate at 34 of the World’s Top 50 restaurants. He joined Auckland restaurant Paris Butter in 2019 as sous chef and bought the business in early 2023, becoming head chef and co-owner.
In August, Zennon was named Chef of the Year in the 2023/2024 Cuisine Good Food Awards.
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Shae Ronald is the CEO of Youthline
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Michèle trained in journalism and has a degree in English literature and drama from Victoria University of Wellington. She started doing stand-up comedy in the 1990s and has toured New Zealand and international venues with her stand-up comedy shows. Michèle has appeared in many TV shows, including What Now, 7Days and The Project, and was the winner of “Comedienne of the Decade” at the 2010 NZ Comedy Awards.
Michèle has written two books, Stuff I Forgot To Tell My Daughter and How We Met, has written guest columns for Stuff and is a regular columnist for The Spinoff. She was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the entertainment and comedy industries in the 2023 New Year Honours.
Michèle has one child and two grandchildren and lives with her husband on Auckland’s North Shore.
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Born and raised in Christchurch, Matt attended Burnside High School. He performed in the improvisation comedy Scared Scriptless.
Matt started as a teenager presenting kid's television show Squirt, before moving on to Studio 2 Live. He recently returned to New Zealand after 6 years in Sydney where he was a Senior Producer for the Australian Broadcasting Company. Before leaving for Sydney in 2015, he hosted the travel segments on TVNZ's weekly lifestyle show Kiwi Living. He was a regular host on TV1's Good Morning and has also had co-hosting duties on TV1's Breakfast and Seven Sharp. In late 2010, he helped launch Television New Zealand's first interactive music television channel, TVNZ U.
In 2023, Matt has fronted TVNZ 1's Country House Hunters NZ and regularly appears on TVNZ 1's Breakfast.
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Kaitlin completed a Bachelor of Broadcasting Communications in Journalism at the New Zealand Broadcasting School. She was a newsreader and editor at Mediaworks from 2012 to 2014 before moving to TVNZ in 2015, starting off on Breakfast, before reporting for 1 NEWS, and most recently as a reporter for Fair Go. In that time, she has made her mark covering the Tasman wildfires, pushing to highlight the emerging workplace disease accelerated silicosis, and more recently, having her feet on the ice in Antarctica and producing the interactive documentary ‘Answers Under the Ice’.
Kaitlin was a finalist for the Best Innovation in Digital Storytelling award in 2021, the Best Junior Videographer in 2019 and the Best News Coverage of a Major Event for her reporting on ex-cyclones Fehi & Gita.
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Todd was born in Te Aroha and was raised in Te Puna, north of Tauranga. He attended Tauranga Boys College before earning his Master’s Degree from the University of Waikato. He joined the National Party in 1989 and from 1994 to 1997 he served as Executive Assistant to Jim Bolger during his second term as Prime Minister. He is a former University of Waikato Councillor and sat on the Boards of Plant & Food Research and the Sustainable Business Council. He was also the General Manager for Zespri, Chief Executive of Bay of Plenty company Apata, and most recently Group Director of Co-operative Affairs for Fonterra.
During his time in Parliament, Todd has served as the Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee, and as the Deputy Chairperson of the Education and Science Select Committee. Todd currently sits on the Maori Affairs Select Committee. In the 53rd Parliament, he has been allocated the roles of Opposition Spokesperson for Trade and Export Growth and Internal Affairs. He announced in March this year that he would not seek a seat in parliament at the 2023 general election.
Todd and his wife Michelle have three children.
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Petra has worked in TV and radio for over 30 years. She grew up in Christchurch and attended the University of Canterbury, where she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She began her television career at local TV station Cry TV and later co-hosted youth TV series Ice TVand Ice As. She went on to host What’s Really In Our Food?and present TVNZ’s Breakfast.
Most recently, Petra has moved into podcasting, hosting two podcasts - Grey Areasand Sunday Sanctuary. Grey Areas remained in the top 10 Apple Podcasts for eight weeks and just won Best Entertainment Podcast – Seasonalat the 2023 New Zealand Radio Awards. She is also a chaplain with Media Chaplaincy New Zealand, offering support and a listening ear to media professionals.
Petra and her husband Hamish have three children and live in Auckland.
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Alfred Ngaro was raised in Te Atatū where he attended the local schools, played for the local Rugby clubs and was an active Te Atatū St Giles Church member. He trained and qualified as an electrician and also completed his theological degree at the Bible College of New Zealand.
Prior to entering Parliament, Alfred was a consultant in community-led development and governance with expertise in New Zealand, Cook Islands and Canada. He co-pioneered multiple community initiatives such as the Tamaki Achievement Pathway, Healthy Village Action Zone Project and the Inspiring Communities Exchange Network. He is also an Ambassador for the White Ribbon campaign, a global movement of men working to end male violence against women.
In 2009 Alfred received the Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award in recognition of his leadership work within the Tamaki Transformation Project. Ngaro was a member of the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2020. He has recently announced his return to politics with his newly formed NewZeal party for the 2023 Election.
Alfred is of Cook Islands descent married to Samoan-Niuean Moka Fuemana with four children and two grandchildren.
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Born in Melbourne, Antony Loewenstein is an Australian-German freelance investigative journalist, author, and filmmaker. He co-founded of Declassified Australia in 2021 to uncover Australia’s often secretive relationships with the world. He’s worked in dozens of countries worldwide and was based in South Sudan in 2015 and East Jerusalem between 2016 and 2020. He has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, Sydney Morning Herald, and The Australian among others. He appears regularly on TV, radio, in public and at universities around the world discussing current affairs and politics. He won the 2019 Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize, one of Australia’s leading peace awards. He is currently developing a number of documentary film projects. He sits on the advisory council of the British-based Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice. He is the co-founder of the advocacy group Independent Australian Jewish Voices.
His latest book The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around The World was released in May 2023and was a long-list finalist in the Moore Prize, an international literary and human rights award.
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Since becoming the first-ever winner of the competitive cooking reality show MasterChef over a decade ago, Australian mum-of-three Julie Goodwin has become a household name. Formerly an IT professional, Julie was thrust into the limelight and TV shows, best-selling books, radio, appearances, columns, and endorsements were all to follow. Her long-time dream of opening a cooking school was realised when she became the resident weekly cook on the Australian breakfast show Today and began her almost ten-year tenure as a monthly columnist for the Australian Women’s Weekly. When her first cookbook, Our Family Table, was published, Julie became one of Australia's best-selling authors; her book held the number one slot in the book charts for over ten weeks. She has published further cookbooks, including Heart of the Home, Gather, $20 in 20 Minutes, Homemade Takeaway and The Essential Cookbook. In 2015 Julie appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, and in 2016 joined the Central Coast's Breakfast Weekday Show with Rabbit.
In 2022, Julie returned to ‘MasterChef Fans and Favourites’, where she shared her struggles with mental health over the past decade. Using her privileged position, she has vowed to keep the conversation going and is working with Beyond Blue, an Australian mental health and wellbeing support organisation.
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Originally from Whangarei, Brad completed his undergraduate studies at Victoria University of Wellington, finishing with a BCom and BA. Brad joined Infometrics in July 2015 as a part-time data analyst while studying and has risen to be one of New Zealand’s most prominent and youngest economic commentators. He was appointed Chief Executive and Principal Economist of Infometrics in February.
At present, Brad is focused on New Zealand’s economic recovery from COVID-19 and what emerging trends from the pandemic mean for local economies. He also takes a keen interest in global economic trends and the current shift in supply chains. Since his emergence in the economics scene, Brad has also been a leading commentator on housing and infrastructure issues across New Zealand.
Outside of work, Brad is one of New Zealand’s youngest Justices of the Peace. He is also a Board Member of Business Central, a member of the Institute of Directors, Global Shapers Community Wellington Hub, the Asia New Zealand Foundation Leadership Network, the Wellington District Licensing Committee, volunteers with Take10, is a marriage and civil union celebrant, and was formerly a member of the Wellington City Youth Council. In 2016, he was announced as New Zealand’s Queen’s Young Leader and met with the Queen on three occasions.
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Bronwyn has a background in social science education and textbook, curriculum and resource development. She researches in the fields of education policy, citizenship education, youth sociology, youth politics and geographies. She has strongly advocated for lowering the voting age to 16 in New Zealand and enhancing civics education in schools.
In 2016 Bronwyn was awarded a Research Excellence Award from the Victoria University of Wellington, and in 2019 received the Early Career Research Excellence Award for Social Sciences. In 2019, she was made a member of the Ministry of Education’s Civics Education Working Group, and she regularly provides media commentary and advice on citizenship education, curriculum policy and youth engagement to government and community organisations. Her research has attracted worldwide interest, resulting in her being invited to give three international keynotes in 2019.
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Rangi's career in Māori astronomy began in 1995 when he asked his grandfather about Matariki. He went on to write his MA thesis on traditional Tūhoe weaponry, and his 2006 PhD at Massey University was titled Te Reo Pāho: Māori Radio and Language Revitalisation. He moved to the University of Waikato, becoming a Māori and Indigenous Studies professor. In 2021 he became a Professor of Mātauranga Māori at Massey University's Te Pūtahi-a-Toi School of Māori Knowledge.
In 2019 Rangi was awarded the Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize for his work writing and speaking about Māori astronomy and Matariki, and in 2020 won the Callaghan Medal for his work engaging the public at the boundary between science and traditional Māori knowledge. In 2021, he was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, in recognition that his work has revolutionised the understanding of Māori astronomy, and in particular, Matariki. In 2022, he was appointed to the newly-created position as the chief advisor to the Government on Matariki.
In the 2023 New Year Honours, Rangi was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori astronomy. He was named the New Zealander of the Year at the 2023 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year awards, recognised for his efforts to push Mātauranga Māori to the forefront and pioneering the formation of the country's newest public holiday, Matariki.
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Courtney Johnston took up the role of Tumu Whakarae | Chief Executive at Te Papa Museum in 2019. Raised on a dairy farm in Taranaki, Courtney has lived and worked in Wellington since 2000. She holds a Masters in Art History from Victoria University of Wellington, and was the 2015 recipient of a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Scholarship to research contemporary museum practice in the United States.
She went on to roles at City Gallery Wellington, National Library of New Zealand, and as general manager at web agency Boost New Media. Courtney is a trustee of Arts Wellington, the Wellington Performing Arts Trust and The Pantograph Punch. She was the visual arts commentator for RNZ’s Nine to Noon programme from 2010 to 2019.
She is a past chair of Museums Aotearoa and has also held a range of governance and advisory roles with the National Digital Forum, Tohatoha (Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand), Inland Revenue, and MBIE.
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Lan is a proud mother who grew up in Wellington and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in ecology from Massey University before moving to the South Island to work for the Department of Conservation in freshwater ecology, which prompted an interest in freshwater fish. She completed a Master of Science in ecology at the University of Otago.
Lan was elected to the Canterbury Regional Council at the 2016 New Zealand local elections and was selected by the Green Party to contest the Banks Peninsula electorate at the 2023 New Zealand general election.
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Ian’s introduction to aid and development came when he was in Sri Lanka during the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004 and helped with the aid response. He became CEO of Tearfund NZ in 2013 and is now one of New Zealand’s leading disaster response managers, having worked at the forefront of international humanitarian response. Prior to becoming Tearfund NZ CEO, Ian was Acting International Policy and Programmes Director at World Vision New Zealand.
Ian is married to Himali, a GP and author, and they live in Auckland.
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Shaun is an English barrister, lecturer and television personality. He is a "chaser" on the quiz show The Chasesince 2009. He has starred on other shows, including Mastermind,Are You an Egghead?, Fifteen to One, The Weakest Linkand Greed. In 2018, his autobiography, Chasing the Dream, was released. In 2012, he was ranked 286th in the World Quizzing Champions.
Shaun is also a part-time lecturer and visits schools, colleges and other institutions to educate students about law.
Shaun was born in London, England.
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Lotta Dann is a former TV journalist, producer, and director turned author when she got sober in 2011. She became a household name when she confessed on national television in 2014 that she had a drinking problem. Lotta grew up in Christchurch, the second of four sisters. Her dad, leading QC Chris McVeigh, was famed for his role in the iconic Kiwi satirical show, A Week of It.
Lotta’s blog, Mrs D is Going Without, began as a personal diary. The blog became a book of the same name, and then a second book, Mrs D is Going Within, about her inner struggles and becoming emotionally stronger. In 2020 The Wine O’Clock Myth: The Truth You Need To Know About Women and Alcoholfollowed.
Lotta now manages the highly successful online community Living Sober and works as a Lived Experience Facilitator of Addiction 101 workshops. She lives in the hills of Wellington with her husband and has three sons.
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Broadcaster and political commentator Emma grew up in Wellington. She graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Auckland in 2020. She is a columnist for Newsroom and hosts a podcast Getting Better for Radio New Zealand about Māori health equity.
In 2020, Emma won Opinion Writer of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards. Emma's memoir, There’s a Cure for This: A Memoir, was released on May 9, 2023.
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Warning: This article contains discusses depression and suicide.
Brought up in a family that made its living through gang activity and robbing banks, David Letele wasn’t expected to make anything of his life.
The ‘Brown Buttabean’ – who now runs a large and highly successful social enterprise – was born the son of the Mongrel Mob’s Auckland leader.
Naturally, in those early days, police were often at the door.
“My first memory of the police is when I was three years old. They raided our house and stole all our Christmas presents. It’s not until now that I realise that’s not stealing, it’s called confiscating.”
For 40 years, Letele hated the police. But now, through his social work, they’ve emerged as a surprise ally.
“It was due to Covid that we started working alongside the police, which I never thought in my life I’d ever say. I understand now that police are just another community group doing great work for families on the ground.”
Letele’s father was put behind bars when he was just five, prompting his grandparents to take over his care and shift him to Australia, and then to Samoa.
He found being raised by strict Seventh Day Adventists difficult, and it’s put him off church ever since. But he’s still retained belief in a higher power.
“I don’t go to church, but I’ve got a very strong faith in God – it’s unwavering. I truly believe I’m not dead or in prison because of his plan for me.”
But things would get worse before they got better. After returning to New Zealand in his early 20s, he was working as a security guard at his Dad’s hydroponic weed facility when it got raided.
The tumult of the incident prompted Letele to self-harm.
“After that I ended up walking into the kitchen depressed and put a knife through my chest. I was so unhappy. I don’t know if I wanted to die, but I was angry at my father and the world and I hated everything.”
Worse was still to come. Letele would eventually lose all his money through mismanagement, and in the process lost his family.
“I was a mess. I was 210kg, so in bad shape physically, but worse mentally. I hated my life.”
It was then, when he was at rock-bottom, staying at his sister’s house and sleeping in a bed he couldn’t fit in, that Letele resolved to turn his life around for the sake of his family.
“I used it as fuel to be better. I knew I had to get my children back, I had to be a better example, I had to get to work and stop at nothing.”
From there, he started a fitness journey that saw him drop 100kg and would inspire him to start Buttabean Motivation (BBM), which has helped thousands more achieve their goals and break the destructive cycles and patterns in their own lives.
Today, he delivers targeted health, nutrition, and fitness programmes, youth employment programmes, runs the Buttabean Motivation Foodshare, and fundraises and advocates for communities wherever he sees a need.
After the North Island floods in late January, he helped feed 15,000 people, and in March was involved in fully furnishing 50 homes with beds, fridges and anyything else needed to create a home out of an empty house.
He says the people he helps are receptive to him because they know he’s been there before.
“My family had to go through all this turmoil and struggle so we could help more people now.
“The people we’re helping are a lot more likely to listen to us because we’ve been there, we understand what it’s like, and we’re trying to show them there’s another way.”
-Matt Burrows
Born the son of Auckland Mongrel Mob leader, David is a community leader, life coach and motivational speaker based in Auckland. In 2014, he started a 100kg weight-loss journey that would gain him thousands of followers. This led to him creating Buttabean Motivation which has helped thousands more achieve their goals and break the destructive cycles and patterns in their own lives.
David played representative rugby league in New Zealand, and professional rugby league in Australia, with teams including the North Sydney Bears, Cootamundra Bulldogs and AS Carcassonne in France, and achieved notoriety as heavyweight boxer "The Brown Buttabean". In July 2022, his book No Excuses: My Story was released, detailing how he turned his life around. He won the 2022 Kiwibank New Zealand Local Hero Of the Year Award Te Pou Toko o te Tau for Auckland.
David lives in Henderson, Auckland with his wife Koreen and four sons.
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For a long time, all Sarah Page of the Kindness Collective and her husband wanted was a baby. But when she finally got pregnant, she hated the experience.
The difficulties continued when their son Max was born in 2012. Page, trying to juggle a career, had a severe case of post-natal depression.
But the final hammer blow in a “period of real challenges” was still to come.
“I discovered that Max wasn’t developing in the same way as the other kids in the coffee group,” Page told Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night.
“I did the old Dr Google and a whole lot of hits were coming up for autism.”
At 18 months, Page and her husband took Max to a paediatrician, who confirmed Max was autistic and told them he may never speak.
“It was a feeling of devastation,” Page said.
“We had the worst vision of what life was going to be like ahead of us. It was really hard. But I threw myself into learning as much as I could about autism and how to make his life great.”
After embedding herself in autism community groups, Page was struck by how many families were struggling, and how little support there was for them unless they had money.
“I was devastated by that – and once you see it you can’t unsee it. So I started trying to find a way to give back myself,” Page said.
“I took all the cans out of my cupboard and made all my family and friends do the same. I found my local Woman’s Refuge, I delivered all this food, and I was met with huge gratitude and kindness and a hug.
“And I walked away with a feeling of light and what I now know to be joy that stayed with me for a few days. And so I kept doing it, and donating more and more and more.”
This initiative became the Kindness Collective, and in the 10 years since launching, it’s grown to encompass 12 staff, work with 110 community partners nationwide, and boast a network of 45,000 donors, volunteers and followers.
Page’s core goal is to make New Zealand a kinder place, through reducing inequities and supporting families in need.
The Kindness Collective does this by supplying essentials like food, clothing, toiletries and items of warmth; and what they call ‘moments of joy’, like toys, books and experiences for children they would otherwise go without.
Page says as she’started to give back to her community more and more, her depression receded.
“At the time I wasn’t aware of it, but every day [my depression] was lifting,” she told Cowan.
“I know now that it’s physically impossible for your brain to be focused on stress and sadness if you’re focused on gratitude… I know now that giving and focusing on other people is a great healer.
“I work hard every day to give other children the life that my child has – that is my everything now. That is my joy and my drive and I do it as much as I can.”
-Matt Burrows
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Terrible Sons is a husband and wife duo, Lauren and Matt Barus, who reside in a small intentional community in Ōtautahi, Christchurch with their two children. Their music draws inspiration from their local neighbourhood and explores universal human experiences of exhaustion, heartbreak, and loneliness. Terrible Sons has gained a significant following, surpassing the listenership of many other New Zealand bands.
The Barus' have been creating and releasing music quietly for years, prioritising their responsibilities as parents. Their unique sound sets them apart from other musicians in the area, with lyrics and melodies heavily influenced by their community and its people. Their approach of creating personal and relatable music has garnered them a dedicated fan base. As their children have grown older, the Barus' have started performing intimate shows across New Zealand. Terrible Sons' music is a testament to the power of honest and heartfelt music, and their impact is sure to continue to grow.
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New Zealand’s Newest World Champion Boxer
Mea was born and raised in a small village outside of Kaitaia and moved to Auckland when she was 10. After discovering boxing at age 13, she soon met her current trainer and Peach Boxing founder, Isaac Peach. During her amateur career, she was trained by her mother and fought alongside her sister Sally Motu, who also won a New Zealand National title.
In just two short years, the mother of five aged between three and nearly 16, has gone professional, winning all 15 of her fights, with six knockouts and four national titles to her name. Mea headlined the Fight for Life card in Auckland on Thursday and claimed the IBO super bantamweight world title.
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Deborah Hart is the daughter of Ronald and author Inge Woolf, who arrived in Wellington after fleeing persecution in Europe. Until her death in 2021, Inge was working on a book, Resilience: A Story of Persecution, Escape, Survival and Triumph,about her remarkable life story, which was picked up and finished by Deborah and released this month.
Deborah has had a varied career. Currently, she is a member of the Human Rights Review Tribunal Panel and Chair of the Consumer Advocacy Council and the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand. She is also an independent reviewer of electoral laws and was previously executive director of the Arbitrators' and Mediators' Institute of New Zealand. She has been appointed a New Zealand expert delegate to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Deborah lives in Auckland with her partner John and is mum to 3 adult boys, Nathan, Jason, and Sam, and grandmother to Hadar and Shalev.
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Humanitarian & Former Mayor of Tauranga
Tenby was raised in Tauranga, where he attended Otumoetai College. Prior to attending the University of Waikato, he was an engineering apprentice at Edwards Engineering, working on fishing vessels. In 1983, he joined the New Zealand Defence Force and, in 1999, started a private investment firm with his entrepreneur wife, Sharon. He was the Mayor of Tauranga from 2019-2020 and has also served as a Director and Chairman on several private and government boards. In 2022, Tenby founded Kiwi K.A.R.E. (Kiwi Aid & Refugee Evacuation), which provides essential medicines, trauma kits, medical equipment, food and more to the people of Ukraine.
Tenby and Sharon have two adult children, George and Charlotte.
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Helen Manson is a multi-award-winning humanitarian photographer and storyteller from New Zealand. Helen’s work has taken her around the world to some of the most challenging environments, documenting famine, refugee settlements, post-war environments, child sponsorship, micro-enterprise, trauma counseling and disaster zones. She’s travelled to more than 45 countries, including places like Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and India, documenting global humanitarian issues for charities and not-for-profit organisations all over the world. Her photos and stories have helped raise multi-millions of dollars for the charities she’s worked for. After living in Uganda for seven years, in 2020, they moved back to NZ, where she is now the Creative and Communications Lead for Tearfund as well as still photographing in the field. Outside of work, you’ll find her on amazing adventures with her husband and three kids.
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David grew up in Whangarei and moved to Auckland as a teenager for high school before graduating from the University of Auckland with a degree in electrical engineering and philosophy. Before entering Parliament in 2014, he worked as an engineer in New Zealand and for two private sector think tanks in Canada.
Since entering Parliament, David has been the MP for Epsom, Leader of ACT, and a Parliamentary Under-Secretary. He has been responsible for Charter Schools, Regulatory Reform, and passing the End of Life Choice Act. He also appeared in Dancing with the Stars (2018).
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Genevieve is the co-founder and general manager of Voices of Hope, a not-for-profit organisation aiming to break the stigma around mental illness. She spent most of her teenage years battling mental illness, and as part of her recovery, she has made it her mission to offer hope to those fighting mental illness. Along with Jazz Thornton, she published a well-being journal and is currently writing her second book. She was named a Westfield Local Hero for her work and a finalist for the Impact Awards and was named alongside Jazz in the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia. Genevieve is also the co-creator of Love your Kite, a global eating disorder resource app, and sits as a lived experience voice on the External Eating Disorder Advisory Board of New Zealand.
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Bree was born and raised in Stanthorpe, Queensland, on an apple farm. She gained a degree in communications and journalism before moving to radio, where she worked with Nova Entertainment for five years. She has hosted several programs on the Central Coast of New South Wales. Bree is one half of Bree & Clint, ZM’s drive show. Previously, Bree hosted Sea FM Breakfast with Daniel Gawned and Weekend Breakfast at Nova Brisbane. Bree appeared on You Got This! and Celebrity Treasure Island and was named TV Personality of the Year at the 2022 New Zealand Television Awards.
Bree lives in Auckland with her partner Sophia and their dog Whitney Houston and rescue puppy Meryl Streep, who came to them via The Dog House NZ.
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Bev has worked in the music industry for over 20 years from music management to event coordination, working alongside Ricky Martin, Janet Jackson, Mick Fleetwood, and many more. She has been on the Homegrown Festival team since 2001 and was director for NZ Street Dance for 8 years, developing the talents of many young dancers and facilitating opportunities to dance for Ricky Martin and So You Think You Can Dance US.
Currently specializing in PR, Bev has worked on music releases and booked media tours for many artists including Stan Walker, Tomorrow People, and Tipene Harmer. Although Bev works with a steady flow of New Zealand’s finest talent, she has a keen passion for emerging artists and even dearer to her heart is the overall empowerment of today’s youth. She has facilitated world leadership conferences, spoken in Washington DC as a keynote speaker alongside American Civil Rights Movement activists, and in New York about her involvement with Beyond Water Global, an organization bringing clean water and sanitation solutions to communities in East Africa.
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Maria is a lecturer and researcher at Auckland University of Technology. She works in the School of Clinical Sciences and has a background in social work, Māori-centered research, and history. Her work has particularly focused on Māori experiences of whāngai and adoption. Her PhD, Closed Stranger Adoption, Māori and Race Relations in Aotearoa New Zealand, was the first doctoral research undertaken on the topic of Māori and closed stranger adoption. She has recently co-authored a book with Anne Else about closed stranger adoption in New Zealand called A Question of Adoption.
Maria lives in Auckland and enjoys singing, riding horses and spending time with her four adult children and six grandchildren.
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Byron Clark is an activist from Christchurch who has been involved in various forms of activism since his teenage years. Since 2019, he has focussed on the re-emergence of the far-right and spread of misinformation online, much of his activism taking place on YouTube as video essays.
Byron recorded an oral history of the ‘Occupy’ protest in 2011 and has written for Fightback, Overland and David Farrier's Webworm.
Byron’s latest book Fearmaps New Zealand's alt-right underworld and unearths the roots of the occupation that ended in a violent protest on the grounds of Parliament.
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Born in Gisborne, Peter attended Victoria University of Wellington, obtaining a Bachelor of Laws with an Honours Degree. He was appointed as a District Court Judge with a specialist Family Court warrant in 1988 and in 2004, he was appointed as the Principal Family Court Judge of New Zealand. In 2012 he was appointed a Law Commissioner, and in 2015 was appointed as the Chief Ombudsman for New Zealand. In 2019, he took up the role of the incumbent President of the Australasia and Pacific region of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), and in 2022 took up the role of Second Vice President of the IOI.
Peter has a long association with the Pacific and was seconded to undertake judicial training there, based in Suva. He has travelled regularly to Pacific Island countries, undertaking workshops on family violence and youth justice. He holds the Samoan Matai title of Misa, which was bestowed in 2000. From 2015 to 2016, he was the President of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts based in the United States, the first New Zealander to hold this position.
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Born in Auckland, Claudia's father was a fluent speaker of te reo Māori, knew Āpirana Ngata and joined the Department of Māori Affairs in Gisborne. She trained and practised as a dental nurse for 15 years before starting university studies, completing her PhD in 1984 at the University of Auckland. From 1975 to 1983, she was a history lecturer at the University of Auckland. She was the general editor of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography and worked on Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Late in 2003, she became Director of History and Pacific cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and has been the head of research at Te Papa since 2013.
Claudia's 1987 book The Treaty of Waitangi was derived from her 1984 PhD thesis and won 'Book of the Year at the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards in 1988. Shorter versions of the book have been published for young and non-academic audiences, including the third edition, which was released last month.
In the 1993 New Year Honours, Claudia was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to historical research. In 2009 she was appointed as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In 2018 she was made a Companion of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in recognition of her work. In 2021 she received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Non-fiction.
Claudia is married to Rod and has three adult children.
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Tony’s radio career started at Auckland’s 95bFM, hosting a variety of shows which highlighted new music. He produced and hosted three seasons of Inside Track, and True Fan, both focussing on local music and its surrounding ecosystem, playing nationwide on the Student Radio Network.
Tony has also written and co-presented a science fiction film show for Sky TV, and for a while was an agony uncle on TVNZ’s U-Live. In May 2022, he won the inaugural NZ On Air Outstanding Music Journalism Award for his work creating long-form music documentaries and features, interviewing artists, and discussing new music on Song Crush and on his music review show The Sampler.He started contributing to Music 101 in 2007, RNZ's flagship weekly contemporary music programme. He writes for Webworm and Flicks among others.
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Andrew was born in Dunedin and grew up in Auckland. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Public Management.
Andrew joined the New Zealand Police in 1997 and has worked in both frontline and investigative roles. Prior to his appointment as commissioner, he was Auckland City Area Commander, South District Commander, and the acting Deputy Commissioner: Strategy & Partnerships. He has served as the New Zealand Commissioner of Police since 3 April 2020. He has also spent time at the Ministry of Justice, having been seconded on a two-year term from 2016 to 2018 as the Deputy Chief Executive for the Ministry.
Andrew and his wife have three sons.
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CEO of Te Whatu Ora
Margie's parents were Samoan emigrants from Savai'i and Apia, and she grew up in Otara, Auckland. She gained a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Auckland and a Master of Public Policy from Victoria University of Wellington.
Margie has held positions as Deputy Director General in the Ministry of Health, and executive roles at Capital and Coast District Health Board, the Labour Market Policy Group, State Services Commission, and Health Funding Authority. In 2012 she became Director of Population Health and Strategy at the Counties Manukau District Health Board and was appointed chief executive in 2018; the first Samoan to head a District Health Board. She was appointed as chief executive of the interim Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand in December 2021, which came into operation in July 2022. She has also been chair of Presbyterian Support and is on the board of World Vision.
Margie and her husband Riki have two daughters.
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Carolyn attended Wairarapa College and Victoria University of Wellington, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts in Education and Sociology.
Carolyn held her previous position as chief executive of Netball Central Zone for nearly five years. In 2018 she left to become chief executive of Special Olympics, an organisation which celebrates achievements of children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
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Mike was born in Gore, and his family lived in the small town of Waikoikoi until he was nine years old. He started working in radio and television after he finished high school and attended NZ Broadcasting School.
From 1995 until 2015, Puru was a radio DJ on The Edge. In October 2012, he became one of the inaugural TV presenters on New Zealand's first Yesshop home shopping channel. In 2015 and 2016 he hosted the first two seasons of The Bachelor New Zealand, and from 2016 to 2020, he was co-host of Three's morning show The Cafe.Since then, he's been a host on The Hits radio station, along with other radio broadcasting roles.
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A theology graduate of Laidlaw College, AJ is a Youth Development Worker and housing advocate, working in the Youth Housing and Homelessness space. He leads a service supporting rangatahi experiencing homelessness and is an advocate working collectively to end youth homelessness in New Zealand. He is also the curator and creator of the blog and podcast When Lambs Are Silent, where he explores the intersection between faith and justice.
AJ lives in Auckland with his wife and son.
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TVNZ's Sports and Events General Manager, Melodie played rugby union at an international level, winning two world cups with the Black Ferns. Playing blindside or openside flanker, she played in 18 tests with the Ferns from 1996 to 2002. While playing rugby , she gained a BA from the University of Otago, as well as studying Journalism in Wellington. Her first job was in radio – working at the press gallery in Wellington covering politics.
In 1998 Melodie became the online sports producer for MSN and produced innovative sports websites like All Blacks and Team New Zealand. She moved on to Sky Sports in 2002 where she became the world's first female rugby commentator and was a key member of Sky Sports’ commentary team. With this role, she was involved in covering major sports for many years, including Olympics and Commonwealth Games, rugby and netball World Cup tournaments, Super Rugby and Mitre 10 Cup rugby.
More recently, Melodie completed an MBA at Auckland University's Business School and is New Zealand's first Maori Barbie as part of Mattel’s role model line. In her current role at TVNZ, she is leading the sport and event strategy for TVNZ’s coverage of global sporting events. She was a castaway on the 2022 series of the New Zealand reality television show Celebrity Treasure Island.
Melodie and her husband Marcus have two sons, Jensen and Freddie.
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Lorna is currently the 9-3 host on Coast FM. She has been a three-time finalist at the NZ Radio Awards, and has done voiceover and acting work for Shortland Street and Interrogation. Earlier this year, she was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time; first was six years ago, and again in May. After surgery to remove the tumour and 18 lymph nodes, she is now part-way through chemotherapy, which will be followed by radiotherapy.
Lorna has three children and one granddaughter.
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Chris is in his third term as a Member of Parliament and is National’s Spokesperson for Housing & Infrastructure. He is also the Shadow Leader of the House and National’s Chair for the 2023 Election Campaign. Previously he was the MP for Hutt South and is now a National List MP based in Hutt South, and has also served as National’s Spokesperson for Transport, Regional Development, Police, and Youth.
Born and raised in Lower Hutt, Chris attended Eastern Hutt School, Hutt Intermediate and Hutt International Boys’ School. He has a first class Honours degree in Law and a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria University of Wellington, and has been admitted to the Bar as a barrister and solicitor. Before serving as an MP, he worked in behind-the-scenes roles at Parliament, and also worked as a Corporate Affairs Manager.
Chris lives in Eastbourne with and his wife Jenna, their son Jeremy, and their samoyed Ladyhawke and cat Ziggy. He is also the co-captain of the Parliamentary cricket team.
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Willy spent his school years at Auckland Grammar, where he learnt music and classical ballet, then left early to work in a garden centre. While serving as the lead singer of the band Rhythm Method, he decided on a whim to enter a comedy competition hosted by his local bar in 1983. There he met fellow contestants on Dean Butler, Ian Harcourt and Peter Murphy which kick-started his long career in making people laugh. After starting off as a live comedy troupe, the quartet won funding to make the series Funny Business in 1988, which quickly earned rave reviews and inspired a national tour. In the 90s, Willy was involved in TV3's That Comedy Show which was nominated for Best Entertainment Programme in 1995.
In 1998 Willy shifted to another branch of broadcasting: radio. For the next 12 years, he hosted shows for Radio Hauraki alongside ex-Funny Business collaborator Dean Butler.
In April 2016 Willy suffered a stroke, which left him hospitalised. He has written a tell-all memoir called Drink, Smoke, Snort, Stroke..., which has taken him three years to write. Released this month, it's a raw, honest account of what it was like to pioneer New Zealand's stand-up comedy scene in the 1980s.
Willy lives on Auckland's North Shore and has a grown-up daughter, Mahu.
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Born and raised in the Hutt Valley, Chris attended Hutt Valley Memorial College, where he was the Head Boy and went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Politics and Criminology at Victoria University. After completing his study, he worked in the industry training sector and worked at parliament, first as Senior Advisor to two Education Ministers and later in the office of former Prime Minister Helen Clark. He entered Parliament in 2008 and became the Spokesperson for Education in 2013. Today, Chris is MP for Remutaka, Minister of Education, Minister of Police, and Minister for the Public Service and is the Leader of the House.
An outdoor enthusiast, Chris is particularly keen on mountain biking, tramping, and swimming. He currently lives in Upper Hutt with his wife Jade and their children.
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At the age three, Julia played the piano and at 12 performed to large crowds. From 2000-2005, she was the lead vocalist for the band Elevator before beginning her solo career in songwriting. The release of her self-titled album juliagrace on the Parachute Music label in October of that year scored four number one singles in New Zealand. The album received the Tui Award for Best Gospel/Christian Album at the New Zealand Music Awards in 2006. This Album was followed up by the album Beautiful Survivor. In 2013, she released her first EP album, It Is Well, which reflected her divorce with her husband the previous year. The album earned an award at the 2016 New Zealand Gospel Album Awards Ceremony. In 2016, she released album Girl on the Kitchen Floor.
Julia has been a Keynote Speaker and Contributor at over 120 Conferences and Events in the last two and a half years on the topics of Mental Wellness. In August this year, she was awarded the Breakthrough Speaker of the Year award by the Professional Speakers Association NZ.
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Patrick grew up in New Plymouth and attended Victoria University where he gained a BA with honours. After finishing his politics degree, he studied journalism at Auckland University of Technology.
Patrick started his journalism career working the graveyard shift at The New Zealand Herald, becoming one of the newspaper's two police reporters. He subsequently moved to the UK and worked at Jane's Police Review. Once back in New Zealand, he worked again at the Herald, covering politics. Later he moved to television journalism and began working at 3 News, where he was initially a political reporter. He took over as political editor of 3 News in 2012. In 2018 he shifted roles to become Newshub's national correspondent.
In 2019, Patrick featured in a two-part documentary series Patrick Gower: On Weed, where he explored medicinal and recreational cannabis issues in advance of the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum.
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One of seven children raised in Masterton, Roman Travers graduated from the Wellington based New Zealand Radio Training School in 1995. In 1996 he started as the drive time host on Classic Hits, first in Wanganui and then Hamilton. Over the years, Roman has held many roles within radio, TV, and as a voice over artist. You may have seen Roman hosting the London and Paris editions of 'The Twenty Dollar Challenge' or on Sky Movies 'Big Picture Show'. 5 years ago, Roman became a mentor for the Big Buddy organisation. He became a mentor to Aidan after his two daughters moved away from home, "I felt this empty void and wanted to keep doing something."
Roman currently hosts In My Day on Saturday night and Overnight Talk on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday mornings on Newstalk ZB.
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After a stellar law career, Clayton Kimpton has been representing New Zealand in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. His most recent role has been as Commissioner-General overseeing New Zealand's participation in the Dubai Expo, the biggest international event to take place during the pandemic. While New Zealand was isolated, the New Zealand pavilion was a hugely valuable 'shopfront' to the world, and welcomed 1.2 million visitors.
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Erica was born in the East Coast Bays and has lived in the area for over 40 years. She attended Rangitoto College, then went on to gain a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Auckland.
Erica has worked in export sales as well as producing local television shows. She produced Last Chance Dogs, reality TV show Noise Control, and worked on Piha Rescue for more than six years. In 2013 Erica began working for former MP Murray McCully. She took over as MP of East Coast Bay in 2017 upon his retirement and was re-elected in 2020.
Erica lives in Okura with her husband and two children.
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A born and bred Aucklander, Phil Goff is the Mayor of Auckland, in office since 2016.
Representing Mt Roskill for 10 terms of parliament, Phil became New Zealand’s youngest ever cabinet minister in 1984. He was Associate Finance Minister, served as the leader of the Labour Party, Leader of the Opposition and was also Minister of Education, initiating New Zealand’s international education industry.
In February Phil announced that he would not seek re-election for a third term of Auckland mayoralty in September 2022, as he intends to retire after 41 years in politics.
Phil lives on a small farm with his wife Mary and has three adult children.
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Born in Auckland, road and track cyclist Aaron Gate joined the national high-performance squad in 2010 and currently rides for UCI Continental team Bolton Equities Black Spoke Pro Cycling. He represented New Zealand country in track cycling at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, and the Delhi 2010 and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Aaron recently became the first New Zealand athlete to win four gold medals at a single Commonwealth Games at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, taking gold in the individual pursuit, team pursuit and points race on the track as well as the road race. He was the New Zealand Team Closing Ceremony flagbearer.
Aaron and his wife Kirstie have one son, Axel.
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Brought up in Christchurch’s New Brighton, James began his broadcasting career in his early twenties at community station Radio Caroline in Timaru. He quickly progressed to become the breakfast host at the pop station juggernaut 1323ZM. He left radio in the late 90s, going to university full-time and gaining a Bachelor of Commerce before returning to radio in an on-air and management role as foundation Content Director of NZME’s FLAVA radio brand in Auckland. James served as Christchurch City councillor representing the Coastal ward from 2019-2021, leaving to join Simon Barnett to co-host Newstalk ZB afternoons.
James has three children, and two of his daughters, Stacey Morrison and Tasha Guttenbeil, followed him into broadcasting.
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Originally from Minnesota in the United States, Joel attended Gustavus Adolphus College, a small liberal arts university. He then completed his PhD in chemistry at Purdue University. He moved to New Zealand as an ice hockey player in 2017, playing for the Botany Swarm in East Auckland. He applied for a job at the University of Auckland, where he is a Research Fellow based at the School of Chemical Sciences. A passionate science communicator who regularly appears on media airwaves and in news outlets, Joel’s work focuses on air pollution, aerosol chemistry and environmental health.
Joel is a freelance writer and used to write the science section in Paste, a US pop culture magazine, and has written for The Spinoff.
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Born in Upper Hutt, Keri Bloomfield is a kiwi mum living in Denmark with a Dane and their daughters.
Keri and her husband moved to Copenhagen, Denmark in 2016. Her book Nothing Like a Dane was released in April and is her humorous and heartfelt memoir of navigating her first couple of years living in the Scandinavian country. Before writing Nothing Like a Dane, Keri created a blog called Bilingual Backpack Baby, where she shared her early adventures finding her way during her first four years living in Denmark.
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Born in Rotorua, Susan's family was very involved in the squash community and she started playing when she was young, turning professional at the age of 17. Her first World Open title came in 1985, with subsequent wins in 1987, 1990 and 1992. In 1992, the year of her unexpected retirement, she was the Australian, British, French, Hong Kong, Irish, New Zealand, Scottish, Swedish and World squash champion. After retiring from squash, she became the Chief Executive of Sport Bay of Plenty.
Susan served as New Zealand's Race Relations Commissioner from 2013 to 2018.
Susan married her manager and fellow squash player John Oakley in 1986 and they have four sons, the eldest of whom is a track athlete. She lives in Tauranga, and writes a regular column in the Bay of Plenty Times.
Susan was announced as part of the cast of Celebrity Treasure Island 2022 cast. She joins the competition in the hopes of winning for The Aunties, a collective established to support whānau who have lived with violence.
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D'Arcy hosts Sportstalk on Newstalk ZB on weekday evenings. He was recently named Best Sportsreader at the annual New Zealand Radio Awards.
D'Arcy has an 11-year-old daughter. He loves motorsport and revels in the torment of being both a Warriors and a Black Caps fan.
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Claire works work as a NZ Registered Nutritionist and has become a familiar face and trusted voice across New Zealand media speaking on issues of health and wellbeing.
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Born in Auckland to a professional boxer father, Monty Betham is a retired professional boxer and former professional rugby league footballer. He played club football for the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League, and for the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in the Super League.
In December 2006, Monty announced his retirement from rugby league in order to pursue a career in boxing. His first fight took place in Samoa in 2007. In 2010 he founded Monty Betham's Steps for Life Foundation which fights childhood obesity.Monty was runner-up on Season 4 of New Zealand Dancing With The Stars in 2008. In 2007 he competed in reality show Treasure Island: Pirates of the Pacific.Monty and his wife Jaymie live in Auckland with their children.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dai studied Theatre and Film at Victoria University of Wellington, before winning 'Best New Face' on TV2's Pulp Comedy in 1999, the Billy T Award in 2002 and the Fred Award in 2007. In 2004 and 2005, he toured the shows The Hot Stepper and Champagne Table Tennis, and performed at the Tokyo Comedy Store and in Melbourne and around Britain. He has performed at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival and in 2008 he was invited to the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival and recorded for a televised Gala special.Dai spent a period on TV3's Sunrise morning show as the gadget guy, and subsequently featured on C4 hosting Insert Video Here and a comedy travel show Roll The Dai. He has recorded two DVDs titled Dai Another Day, released in 2009 and Adapt or Dai in 2013.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Raised in Christchurch, Mike took a high school journalism course run by the Department of Māori Affairs. In 1984 he won a Radio New Zealand cadetship and six months of journalism training. He was transferred to the sports office, and the longtime longtime rugby fan felt at ease with his subject matter, gaining valuable live experience. By age 24, he was running the sports department and was offered a job on TV One's Sports Night.At the end of 2000, TV3 invited Mike to become back-up news presenter for John Campbell on the 6pm bulletin, eventually taking over with Hilary Barry when Campebll Life was launched. Mike has covered the Iraq elections, the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza strip, and the Christchurch and Japan earthquakes. At the 2017 New Zealand Television Awards, he was judged Best News and Current Affairs Presenter for his work on Newshub Live at 6pm.In 2011, Mike wrote his first book Beyond the Front Line. Mike lives in West Auckland and has two children.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Matthew was born in Upper Hutt. His father was of Ngāi Te Rangi from Matakana Island, Tauranga.After living most of his adult life in Australia, Matthew moved home to New Zealand and was appointed to the role of Executive Chairman of the National Māori Authority, Ngā Ngaru Rautahi O Aotearoa in 2017. In 2018 he also became the chair of the Auckland District Māori Council and was elected to the National Executive of the New Zealand Māori Council. He has a clear agenda to move the Māori council towards leading the national social policy debate. The agenda includes issues such as suicide prevention, homelessness and the affordability of life-extending and life-saving drugs for Māori.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kate was born to Kiwi parents in Suva, Fiji and lived there until she was five before moving home to New Zealand. She studied radio at the Christchurch Polytechnic Broadcasting School before getting her first job in Auckland as a producer and announcer, later working at Radio Taranaki, Classic Hits and IRN News. Kate then spent 8 years living in London and New York, holding a number of roles including working in a global communications role for an investment bank. She returned home in 2003, joining 3News as a reporter, presenter and producer, before moving into her dream job – Newshub's Entertainment Reporter and Film3 reviewer.Kate is a passionate advocate of local film and filmmakers, pushing for mainstream broadcast and digital coverage of New Zealand cinema. She has acted as a judge, host and ambassador for several local film competitions, festivals and awards evenings. In 2018 she received the NZMPIC Industry Award for Excellence, honouring her contribution to the film industry in Aotearoa.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark Goshe is the Chairman of Kāinga Ora and a Former Labour Cabinet Minister.
The first person of Pacific Island descent elected to Cabinet, Mark was a full-time official with the Service & Food Workers Union (SFWU) for 15 years. He was later a union secretary with the SFWU for 7 years, leading him to join the Labour Party in 1981. He was first elected to Parliament as a list MP in the 1996 election. He was later MP for the Auckland seat of Maungakiekie following the 1999 election. He held a number of Cabinet posts, including Minister of Corrections, Minister of Housing, Minister of Transport, and Minister of Pacific Island Affairs. He retired from politics in 2008 to spend more time with his family.
In 2009, Mark was nominated as a director on the New Zealand Rugby League Board. In 2011, he was elected the Chairman of the Asia Pacific Rugby League Confederation. He is the Chief Executive of Vaka Tautua, a not-for-profit ‘for Pacific by Pacific’ community health and social service provider, a role he took up in July 2014 after five years on the governance board. He is the chairman of Kāinga Ora, which provides rental housing for New Zealanders in need.
Mark was born to German-Samoan parents and was raised and educated in South Auckland. He has four children with his wife, Carol.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jeremy Corbett, Co-Host of The Project and Seven Days, joins John Cowan to talk about his life and what makes him tick.
Jeremy was born in Westport, and raised in both England and Palmerston North. He dabbled in comedy and broadcasting while studying at Massey University, before showcasing his stand-up skills on television’s Pulp Comedy. Corbett’s live experience has proven useful in a range of TV gigs — notably as longtime host of news comedy show 7 Days. He also hosted Deal or No Deal, and co-founded station Energy FM. He did 18 years as a More FM breakfast DJ. After helping out on the prime-time show The Project, he became one of the show's trio of presenters in 2018.
Jeremy and his wife Megan have two daughters.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tina Cross was the lead vocalist of 1980s pop band, Koo De Tah, and is one-third of the harmony group The Lady Killers along with Jackie Clarke and Suzanne Lynch. She was the voice of the Shortland Street theme song and has enjoyed performances with multiple New Zealand orchestras. In the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours Tina was named an Officer of the Order Of New Zealand Merit for her services to the Music Industry and in 2008 placed fifth in TVNZ's Dancing With The Stars. She is an avid supporter of aspiring young talent as well as many charitable organisations throughout New Zealand.Recently Tina rerecorded the Shortland Street theme song for the show's 30th birthday episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Born in the Netherlands, Yvonne is a former netball coach and representative netball player. She played for the Silver Ferns from 1974 to 1983. She was coach of the Silver Ferns from 1997 to 2001, and coach of the Fijian national team from 2002 to 2003.
In the 2002 Queen's Birthday Honours, Yvonne was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to netball, later updated to Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2019. Ruth was a coach mentor for the successful New Zealand U21s at the 2017 Netball World Youth Cup, and has previously been the performance manager in the Waikato Bay of Plenty Zone.
Yvonne is currently a netball commentator for Newstalk ZB Sport and has been a panel member and judge for the Trusts Sport Waitakere Excellence Awards for many years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A former radio journalist, Tammy started as the face of homeware giant Briscoes in 1989.Tammy lives on the rural outskirts of Christchurch on a property she has called home for almost 40 years. She married her high school sweetheart Michael at 22 and together they have two adult sons. She is often found outside in her gumboots with miniature schnauzer Alby, tending to her gardens and feeding the chickens.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
English quizzer and television personality Anne Hegerty has been a "chaser" on the ITV game show The Chase as "The Governess" since 2010, and was a contestant on the 2018 ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!After studying linguistics at university, Anne did a journalism course and worked for various local papers. She was a freelance copy editor and proofreader before starring on The Chase, ITV's most successful daytime show with a regular audience of three to five million.Anne lives in Manchester and is a practising catholic. She has Asperger syndrome, which was not diagnosed until 2003 when she was 45.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Michael studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford and then became an investment banker, before retraining as a doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in London. After graduating from medical school and becoming disillusioned by psychiatry, he joined the BBC as a trainee assistant producer in 1985.Over the next 25 years, Michael made numerous science and history documentaries initially working behind the camera and more recently as a presenter. As a presenter, he has made numerous series for the BBC, including Medical Mavericks, Blood and Guts, Inside Michael Mosley, Science Story, Eat, Fast & Live Longer and others.Following the success of Eat, Fast & Live Longer, Michael co-authored his first book called The Fast Diet in 2013. He went on to become a #1 New York Times bestselling author of many books including Fast Exercise, FastLife, The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet, The Clever Gut Diet, The Fast 800 Diet, and Covid-19.In 2020, Michael presented the documentary series The Diagnostic Detectives. In the series, each episode is centred around a group of doctors tackling a patient's problem.Michael lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife Clare, a GP, and has four children.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Television presenter, director and writer Jason Gunn had his first taste of the entertainment industry aged 17, when director John Banas cast him in the lead role of Adrian Mole in the touring musical The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾. He was offered a six-week contract with the children's department at TVNZ, with the contract rolling over for 14 years.He has hosted Dancing With The Stars, and game shows The Rich List and Wheel of Fortune. He hosted on long-running programmes After School, What Now? and The Son of a Gunn Show.Jason Gunn runs a production and facilities company, Whitebait Media, in Christchurch with his wife, Janine Morrell-Gunn, for which he writes, directs and produces for television.Jason Gunn lives near Christchurch with his wife and four children.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Cardinal John Dew was born in Waipawa and attended Catholic schools through high school. He studied philosophy at Holy Name Seminary in Christchurch and theology at Holy Cross Seminary in Dunedin.
John was ordained a priest in 1976 and became auxiliary bishop of Wellington in 1995. He was appointed as the sixth Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wellington and the Metropolitan of New Zealand in 2005.
Pope Francis announced in 2015 that John would be one of 20 new cardinals elevated at a consistory at the Vatican.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Born in South Africa, Rehette Stoltz came to New Zealand 18 years ago on her OE and never left after she fell in love with the country.Stoltz was first elected to council in 2010 and was the highest polling city ward councillor in 2013 and 2016. She served two terms as deputy mayor, before becoming Mayor of Tairāwhiti Gisborne in 2019.
Flooding in Tairāwhiti Gisborne over recent years has thrust Rehette Stoltz into the national spotlight, making her one of the country's most well-known Mayors.She lives in Tairāwhiti Gisborne with her husband and they have two teenage sons.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Five-time Paralympic medalist and Dunedin-born ski champion, Adam Hall is one of New Zealand's greatest athletes. Despite being diagnosed at birth with spina bifida, he began skiing at age six. A member of the Cardrona NZ National Adaptive Ski Team since 2005, Adam Hall splits his training base between Winter Park in the USA and Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand.
Adam Hall has represented New Zealand five times at the Paralympic Games in Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022, taking the gold medal in standing slalom at both the PyeongChang and Vancouver Paralympics.
Adam lives in Wānaka with his wife Elitsa.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
While studying at NZ Broadcasting School, Melissa landed an internship and then a job at Prime News'in 1999. In 2001 Stokes moved to Breakfast as the Christchurch reporter, and in 2004 she headed to Auckland to report for TV One's 6pm bulletin. For two years, she was based in London as 1 News' Europe Correspondent based in London, covering stories such as the conflicts in Israel and Syria. She began presenting across several TVNZ news shows in 2010, and in 2019 became the anchor of 1 News' 6pm weekend bulletins.
Melissa lives in Auckland with her husband Dave and their two sons.
Grant Bayldon is the National Director of World Vision New Zealand, leading the organisation’ development and humanitarian work in more than 25 countries as well as fundraising and advocacy work. He previously worked at Tearfund, Oxfam and Amnesty International.
Grant lives in Auckland with his wife Helen and their four children.
Nicola Willis is a List MP based in Wellington, having entered Parliament in April 2018, and being reelected in October 2020. She is National’s spokesperson for Housing and Urban Development and RMA Reform, and is a member of the Environment Select Committee. She was a senior advisor to Prime Minister John Key during his first term in Government.Nicola attended Victoria University of Wellington and graduated with a first-class honours degree in English literature. Prior to becoming an MP, she held a number of senior management roles at New Zealand dairy co-operative Fonterra.Nicola grew up in Wellington, and today she lives there with her husband Duncan and their four children.
Featured in both Forbes and Fast Company, Juliet is a renowned keynote speaker, tough-love business advisor to the Fortune 500, and founder and CEO of an efficiency firm, Juliet Funt Group. Her clients include Google, Vans, Costco, Nike, Pepsi, Spotify, ESPN, American Express and Wells Fargo.Juliet lives in Oregon with husband James and three young sons. Her book A Minute to Think: Reclaim Creativity, Conquer Busyness, And Do Your Best Work was released in July 2021.
An Auckland native, musician Jamie McDell spent part of her youth living aboard her family’s yacht with her father, sailing champion Terry McDell. It was during this time that she learned to play guitar, singing John Denver and Jimmy Buffett songs alongside her parents. In her early teens, McDell began to upload her music to YouTube and gained a fan base through social media. At the age of 16, she earned a deal with EMI Music New Zealand after sending them a demo tape. She found mainstream national success with her 2012 debut single You’ll Never Take That Away from Me, reaching number 11 on the New Zealand Top 40.An acoustic EP, All That I Wanted, and her full-length debut, Six Strings and a Sailboat followed, peaking at number eight on New Zealand’s pop chart. In 2015, her second studio album Ask Me Anything reached number seven. When Jamie’s deal with EMI ended, she left the commercial pop world, opting instead to go independent and travelled to the United States to record in Nashville. Her self-released 2019 album Extraordinary Girl was entirely self-written and more personal than her earlier albums.Jamie’s new self-titled album will be released on 25th February and was recorded in Nashville.
Born to Samoan immigrants, Filipo grew up in Huntly before moving with his family to Auckland and then Dunedin where he played rugby for Otago Boys' High School alongside future All Black's Captain Richie McCaw.
Filipo's 13 year career as a professional rugby player saw him playing for The Highlanders, Japanese team Ricoh Blackrams, and facing the All Blacks as the captain for Manu Samoa.
With a Masters Degree in Indigenous Studies from The University of Otago, Filipo is now an inspirational speaker and has recently authored his first book, 'Tackle Your Success; A Step By Step Guide To A New Life After Sports'.
A barrister by training, during his 15-year law career Clive Anderson begun stand-up comedy and scriptwriting, before rising to fame as the host of Whose Line Is It Anyway? on radio and then television.Winner of the British Comedy Award in 1991, Clive went on to front ten series of his own show Clive Anderson Talks Back and four series of Clive Anderson All Talk. Alongside anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota, 2018 saw Clive host Mystic Britain, a 10-part series exploring ancient places and rituals, investigating the strange and sacred beliefs of Britain’s past.Clive took his first solo stage show Me, Macbeth & I to the fringe in 2019 to critical acclaim and continues to present Loose Ends and Unreliable Evidence. In 2021 he started his own podcast My Seven Wonders with Clive Anderson starring famous guests and discussing their own personal Seven Wonders of the World.
Dame Anne Salmond is a Professor at the University of Auckland and one of New Zealand's most prominent anthropologists and historians. She is the author of Hui: A Study of Māori Ceremonial Gatherings, Amiria: The Life Story of a Māori Woman, and Eruera: The Teachings of a Māori Elder (winner of a Wattie Book Award in 1981).Anne received the CBE for services to literature and the Māori people in 1988 and was made Dame Commander of the British Empire for services to New Zealand history in 1995. In 2009, she was elected as a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) for her excellence in scientific research. In the 2021 New Year's Honours she was awarded an Order of New Zealand.She lives in Devonport, Auckland with husband conservation architect Jeremy and has three children.
Detective Sergeant Rob Lemoto grew up in Manurewa in Auckland and joined the police force in 1996. He was named as the host of crime show Police Ten 7 in 2014, replacing Graham Bell who had been at the helm for 12 years. In 2021, Rob started a new role as the officer in charge of Pāpāmoa Police Station, and was part of the Bay of Plenty Child Protection Team before the move.Rob lives with his wife in Tauranga and has two daughters.
Award-winning newsreader Niva Retimanu published a book in 2016 called Leading From Behind: Winning While Coming Last.
The book documents Niva's remarkable mental and physical transformation, which took place as she became a marathon runner and turned her unhealthy lifestyle completely around.
Niva is now co-hosting a new podcast discussing adversity and resilience alongside long-time friend and NZ Olympian Beatrice Faumuina.
Published by the NZ Herald, Straight Up with Niva and Beatrice can be found on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts.
Owner of The Tasting Shed (the Cuisine Magazine’s Best Restaurants of New Zealand and mentioned on Metro's Top 50 Restaurant list for the last five years), Ganesh has hosted his own television programmes on MTV Asia and ESPN for over a decade. He has also been featured on TVNZ’s Good Morning, Family Recipes, and Neighbourhood. Ganesh was the recipient for two years running of Metro Magazine’s Restaurant Personality of the Year, as well as live hosting renowned events like Taste of Auckland, Winetopia, and the Auckland Writers Festival.
Ganesh is currently the co-host of TVNZ's Eat Well for Less NZ and host of his own channel The Humble Yum Yum on Youtube and TVNZ On Demand, and is all about serving Global Food that costs up to $20 for 4 people.
Rose was raised in Titirangi, Auckland, by her photographer father and artist mother. She studied Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Auckland.At the age of two, Rose began appearing in commercials and received the role of an angel in the film The Piano at age three. She has worked mainly for New Zealand television, from fantasy-based series like Maddigan's Quest to dramas such as Rude Awakenings, as well as two Disney Channel films.Rose's big-screen debut was in Peter Jackson's film, The Lovely Bones, playing Lindsey Salmon, the younger sister of the main character. She appeared in the 2010 film Predicament and the television film Tangiwai, based on the 1953 Tangiwai rail disaster. In 2014, she starred as Olivia Moore in the series iZombie, which ran for five seasons.Rose enjoys writing, crossword puzzles and Sudoku. She is an ambassador for Emirates airlines.
Tenor opera singer Simon O'Neill has snagged two Grammy nominations for Best Choral Performance and Best Engineered Album in Classical.
Hailing from Ashburton, Simon received his musical training at the University of Otago and Victoria University, graduating with an honours degree in music. He received scholarships to the Juilliard Opera Center and the Manhattan School of Music, earning a Master of Music degree in 2000. In late 2016 he was awarded Doctor of Music (Honoris Causa) from Victoria University. He went on to be appointed Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours.
Born in Berkeley, California Karen studied ballet, acted in school plays, sang in the Baptist choir. She graduated from The University of California with bachelor degrees in 1965 in English and in Dramatic Art. She received a Fulbright Fellowship to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in London, and apprenticed at the Actor's Workshop of San Francisco in 1961–62.
Karen played the role of the ma, Caroline Ingalls, in the Little House on the Prairie TV series from 1974 to 1983. Subsequently, she acted in the features Harry's War, a 1981 American film and Wyatt Earp, a 1994 film starring Kevin Costner. During this period, she lobbied for federal funding for shelters for battered women and appeared in many events to support the Equal Rights Amendment.
She later moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and became co-founder and artistic director of Santa Fe's Resource Theater Company. Later she moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where she performed with the company of actors at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
Karen's memoir, Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss and Love from Little House's Ma was released on November 16th.
Tim Faulkner is the General Manager and Head of Conservation at the Australia Reptile Park in New South Wales, and Aussie Ark, a charitable organisation focused on creating a long-term future for threatened Australian species. He won the Australian Geographic Australian Conservationist of the Year 2015.In 2012, Tim began to appear regularly on reality television show Bondi Vet and his own show Outback Adventures with Tim Faulkner in 2014, which ran for two seasons.Tim is married to Liz and they have two sons.
Dame Cindy was born in Whangārei, the eldest of six children. She is of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Kahu and British descent, and was the first person in her family to achieve tertiary qualifications: a PhD in Social Policy and an MBA (Exec) in Business Administration.Much of Dame Cindy’s career has been in the tertiary education sector, holding leadership roles at Massey University, Victoria University Wellington/Te Herenga Waka and the University of Auckland, where she was Director of the Starpath Project investigating the impacts of socioeconomic status on educational achievement in New Zealand. Her public sector roles have included Children’s Commissioner and Chair of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group. She has also devoted time to voluntary and community organisations working on reducing child poverty, environmental causes to protect the natural world and addressing family violence.Prior to taking up her role as Governor-General in October 2021, Dame Cindy was Chief Executive of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. Dame Cindy is the first Māori woman to be appointed as Governor-General. She was appointed as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM) for services to child wellbeing and education on the New Year 2021 Honours List.Dame Cindy is married to Dr Richard Davies, a GP at a low-cost general practice attached to the Auckland City Mission. She is the mother of two sons, step-mother to two sons, and grandmother to two grandsons.
Hon Grant Robertson was born in Palmerston North and lived in Hastings before his family settled in Dunedin. He studied politics at Otago University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, and was the President of the Otago University Students’ Association and Co-President of the New Zealand University Students Association.
Grant joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1997 where he managed the New Zealand Overseas Aid Programme to Samoa. He was then posted to the United Nations in New York, working on global environment and development issues. On his return to New Zealand, Grant became an advisor to former Prime Minister Helen Clark.
He has been the Member of Parliament for Wellington Central since November 2008. He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in the 2020 Labour Government, alongside Minister of Finance, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Racing, and Minister for Sport and Recreation.
He met his partner Alf in 1998 playing rugby and their family now includes four grandchildren.
Bernard is a leading financial journalist and editor with over 23 years’ experience including roles with Reuters, the Financial Times Group and Fairfax Media.Bernard is a regular commentator on financial, economic and investment issues, regularly appearing on radio and television. He is host of the Spinoff podcast When the Facts Change. Bernard was heavily involved in the formation of Reuters UK, MSN and Stuff.Bernard is the founding editor of TheKākā, with commentary and newsletters covering politics and the economy in New Zealand.Bernard lives in Wellington.
Himali is a family doctor who works in a busy Auckland general practice and in the prison system. She is also a well-known writer of short stories, essays, articles, flash fiction and poetry, and was the inaugural Verb Wellington Writers Resident in October 2020.Last month Himali's book The Unexpected Patient was released and tells stories of life, death and unforgettable clinical cases in vulnerable communities.Himali lives in Auckland with her husband Ian McInnes, CEO of Tearfund.
Toby attributes his love of comics to his family having moved frequently for his father's army career. He started making his own comics at seven while off school with a broken leg.Toby is the author of The Spinoff's non-fiction comic series The Side Eye, which won the Voyager Media Award for Cartoonist of the Year for 2019. In 2020, his Covid-19 collaborations with Dr Siouxsie Wiles were shared around the world. He has published several books, including collections of his cartoons depicting daily life: Alledaags: A Year in Amsterdam and Don't Puke On Your Dad: A Year In The Life of A New Father; and two children's books: Capsicum, Capsi Go and The Day The Costumes Stuck.Toby lives in Auckland with his wife Sonya and their two sons.
Journalist and broadcaster Toni Street is one of New Zealand's most popular television and radio personalities. Former co-host of top-rating TVNZ current affairs show Seven Sharp, she is currently breakfast radio host on Coast. Toni hosted TVNZ's coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.Last month, Toni's book Lost and Found: My story of heartbreak and hope was released. The honest memoir tells her story of life-changing illness, losing three siblings, and surrogacy.Toni is married to former North Harbour rugby halfback Matt France and they have three children.
Kate Bowler PhD is a New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, and associate professor of "The History of Christianity in North America" at Duke University in North Carolina. Kate has written four books including her monograph The Preacher’s Wife: Women and Power in American Megaministry published in 2020 and Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel in 2013.At age 35, Kate was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, causing her to think in different terms about the research and beliefs she had been studying. She penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved), which tells of how Kate navigated the aftermath of her diagnosis.Kate married childhood sweetheart Toban in 2002 and together they have a son, Zach.
Jessica grew up in Christchurch with her mother Aileen O'Sullivan, also a director. While studying performance, she realised she was more fascinated with observing actors than being one. Jessica began directing short films in her 20s, during an eight-year stint as an assistant director. After moving to Australia in 1994, she directed Heartbreak High and The Slap, which got her invited to the UK to helm British series Broadchurch.This week Jessica was awarded best drama series director at the 2021 Emmy Awards for her work on the Netflix sensation, The Crown.Jessica lives in London with her two children.
Pio Terei came to fame in 1995 when, after years as a truck salesman, he landed a comedy show Pete and Pio. He shared the show with fellow comedian Peter Rowley but later hosted his own show, with similar comedic skits, called Pio!.
Twice judged best comedy performer at the NZ Film Awards, Pio has also acted in drama film No. 2, and written and acted for anthology series Mataku. In 2009, he took over presenting duties on iconic quiz show It's in the Bag. Later he set off to rediscover Aotearoa on foot, for Māori TV show Te Araroa: Tales from the Trails.
Pio's latest endeavour is the show he's been dreaming of all his life: a weekly entertainment talk show Terei Tonight on Māori TV.
Pio and his wife Debbie live in Auckland.
Dan Carter's latest position is as the co-founder new NFT studio and marketplace, Glorious.
The highest point scorer in test match rugby, Dan played for Crusaders and the All Blacks. He was named the International Rugby Board Player of the Year in 2005, 2012 and 2015 and won three Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders, and nine Tri-Nations and Rugby Championships with the All Blacks.
In 2015, Dan released his autobiography Dan Carter: The Autobiography of an All Blacks Legend and in 2019, Dan Carter: A Perfect 10, a documentary film about his personal life and the challenges he encountered on his road to winning the 2015 Rugby World Cup.Dan and his wife Honor have four sons.
Australian psychologist and author Steve Biddulph joins John Cowan to discuss his latest book, 'Fully Human' and how we need to listen to our gut.
Born in Bangkok to a Thai Buddhist mother and Irish Catholic father, Tom spent his formative years at a Benedictine monastery school in Yorkshire, England before pursuing a career in film and television. After attending the Northern Film School in Leeds in 1995, he embarked on producing and directing his first feature film project Monk Dawson.Tom returned to Thailand in 2002 and produced multiple independent feature films through his production company De Warrenne Pictures, now one of Thailand's leading international production companies based out of Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
After producing assignments in Thailand on foreign films, Tom decided to return to his passion for directing with Mindfulness and Murder. His Thai language cinematic directorial debut, the film was nominated for 5 Thailand National Film Association awards including Best Picture and Best Director. In 2014, he produced and directed The Last Executioner, an award-winning biopic on Thailand's last prison executioner.In 2019, Tom wrote and directed The Cave, the first narrative feature film about the dramatic Thai Cave Rescue that captivated the world in the summer of 2018. The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival.
Tom lives in Bangkok with his four children.
Matt is an actor, producer, radio host, sports commentator, columnist and musician. He played Danny Parker on Back Of The Y Masterpiece Television. He was guitarist and singer for the 2000s band Deja Voodoo.Matt hosts the Matt and Jerry Breakfast Show with Jeremy Wells on Radio Hauraki. He has been a columnist for The New Zealand Herald since 2014 and provides cricket commentary for The Alternative Commentary Collective.He has two children and lives in Auckland.
Born and raised in Auckland, former boardsailer Barbara has won a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, a silver medal in 1996, and a bronze medal in 2000. She was the first, and as of 2008, the only woman from New Zealand to compete at five Olympic Games.
Barbara was the Oceania athletes' representative on the International Olympic Committee from 2005 to 2008 and was on the New Zealand Olympic Committee Athletes Commission until 2008. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee and the IOC Athletes' Commission and has sat on the Women and Sport Commission and Sport and the Environment Commission.
Kendall's brother Bruce is also an Olympic Gold medallist and they are the first brother and sister to achieved this feat for New Zealand.
Barbara officially retired from competitive board sailing in May 2010. Barbara and her husband Shayne have two daughters.
Studying in London at the Guildhall School of Music, Rae became an accomplished performer, winning the Sheriff’s Piano Prize, the Victor Hoddy Memorial Prize and the Jubilee Scholarship.
After returning to New Zealand in 1977, Rae was in high demand as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. She recorded for radio and television, and often played with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
In 2000 Rae accepted a teaching role at the University of Auckland where she is also enrolled as a PhD student.
Rae is married to veteran broadcaster Bill McCarthy and together they have two daughters and a grand-daughter.
The sportswriter and broadcaster began his on-air career exactly 40 years ago on an Auckland breakfast show. Up until last month, Phil hosted an afternoon slot on Newstalk ZB alongside Simon Barnett. Phil is also a columnist for the New Zealand Herald and a regular commentator for Newstalk ZB.
Phil is an author having published seven books under the name Loosehead Len, a satirical rugby character he created in 1973. He has also written rugby best-sellers including his book on Alex Wyllie, Grizz, The Legend, the biggest-selling New Zealand sports book of the 1990s.Last month, Phil left Newstalk ZB Afternoons, the show he hosted with Simon Barnett.Phil lives in Auckland with his wife Jan.
David’s career has largely been in foreign aid, coordinating humanitarian aid programmes and initiatives for the United Nations and other organisations in a host of countries including Rwanda, Somalia, Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Israel and Lebanon.In 1993 he was named “New Zealander of the Year” by the New Zealand Herald for his work in Somalia and awarded an MBE in the British 1993 New Year Honours List.David’s first active role in New Zealand politics was as an advisor to Foreign Affairs Minister, Phil Goff from 2000 to 2002. Elected MP for Mt Albert in June of 2009, David stood forward to lead the Labour Party when Phil Goff stepped down after the 2011 election. Since leaving NZ politics, he's been working with the United Nations, most recently in the South Sudan, where he was in charge of a 20,000-strong peacekeeping force.David is married to Anuschka and they have two children.
Mike Pero founded his mortgage broking business in 1991, and in 2011 established a real estate company under the same brand name. In 1999 and 2003, he won the New Zealand Pacific Business Award and was a founding member of the NZ Mortgage Brokers Association.
Mike was six times National Motorcycle Road Racing Champion, from 1977 to 1982, twice 350cc & 500cc racing class as well as two times in the 410cc Production Series. He set the New Zealand land speed record for a 350cc motorcycle in 1979 and the record of 238 km/h still stands today.
In July last year, Mike announced plans for a new airline, Jet Raro, connecting Christchurch and Rarotonga. He is the CEO of The Apprentice Aotearoa, a New Zealand reality television series currently airing on TVNZ 1.
Mike and his wife Rachel live in Christchurch with their four children.
Wendyl Nissen is a journalist, broadcaster and former magazine editor who is the author of ten books, mostly about living a chemical-free, old-fashioned life. She gave up her corporate life 15 years ago and now lives in the Hokianga with her husband, her father, 20 chickens, two cows, two dogs and three stray cats.Wendyl's most recent book, My Mother and Other Secrets tells stories of mothers and daughters, ageing, the way deep family traumas echo down through the generations and how uncovering old family secrets led Wendyl to a better understanding of her mother.
New Zealand actress Robyn Malcolm joined John Cowan in studio on Newstalk ZB.
Unfortunately, it completely slipped John's mind to ask her about her latest venture, Robyn's Undies... It's an exciting new business partnering with The Aunties to support survivors of domestic violence. Check them out and grab a pair or six at robynsundies.co.nz!
John Cowan interviews his very own wife & CEO of Equip Mental Health Services Naomi Cowan.
John Cowan interviews 2020 Starship Fellow in Developmental Paediatrics, Dr Jin Russell.
John Cowan interviews MP for West Coast-Tasman and Cabinet Minister, Hon Damien O'Connor.
John Cowan interviews mental health advocate and author of Stop Surviving Start Fighting, Jazz Thornton.
WHERE TO GET HELP:
If you are worried about your or someone else's mental health, the best place to get help is your GP or local mental health provider. However, if you or someone else is in danger or endangering others, call police immediately on 111.
OR IF YOU NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE ELSE:
• DEPRESSION HELPLINE: 0800 111 757• KIDSLINE: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)• LIFELINE: 0800 543 354 or 09 5222 999 within Auckland (24/7)• NEED TO TALK? Free call or text 1737 (24/7)• SAMARITANS – 0800 726 666• SUICIDE CRISIS HELPLINE: 0508 828 865 (24/7)• WHATSUP: 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)• YOUTHLINE: 0800 376 633, free text 234 or email [email protected]
There are lots of places to get support. For others, click here.
John Cowan interviews former Air New Zealand CEO and National Party candidate Christopher Luxon.
John Cowan interviews actor and Kiwibank 2020 New Zealander of the Year, Jennifer Ward-Lealand.
John Cowan interviews longtime CEO of NZ On Air and newly appointed Retirement Commissioner, Jane Wrightson.
John Cowan interviews Actress, Broadcaster & The Great Kiwi Bake off Contestant, Naomi Toilalo.
John Cowan interviews Mike Chunn, former Split Enz member and founder of the Play It Strange Trust.
John Cowan interviews Dr Ralph Pim, an expert in character and leader development through sport.
John Cowan interviews martial arts champion and social justice campaigner Richie Hardcore.
John Cowan interviews leader of the National party and Leader of the Opposition, Hon Simon Bridges.
John Cowan interviews former Miss Universe and author of Life, Loss, Love, Lorraine Downes.
John Cowan interviews political commentator and Waitematā local board member Vernon Tava
John Cowan interviews Olympic medalist and NZ Chef de Mission for the Commonwealth Games, Rob Waddell.
John Cowan interviews 2018 Halberg Lifetime Achievement Award Winner for services to motorsport, Morrie Chandler, ONZM.
John Cowan interviews former MP and political historian the Honourable Dr Michael Bassett.
John Cowan interviewed foreman on The Block NZ, Resident Builder on Newstalk ZB and co-host of Slice of Paradise, Peter Wolfkamp.
John Cowan interviews Jake Bailey
Diagnosed with Burkitts non-Hodgkinson lymphoma, a rare and aggressive cancer in 2015, Jake Bailey captured the world with his speech as head boy Christchurch Boys' High School. Now in remission, Jake has published a book detailing the struggles he faced.
Jake is currently presenting inspirational speeches around the globe and is an official ambassador for two charities - Maia Health Foundation in New Zealand, and Tour de Cure in Australia. Jake speaks about courage, and the things he learnt that gave him clarity throughout his journey, in the hopes of helping other people facing difficulties.
John Cowan interviews the founder and CEO of Xero, Rod Drury. Xero is a leading international cloud accounting solution for small business.
Rod was 2013 EY New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year, NZ Herald Business Leader of the Year in 2012, member of the NZ Hi-Tech Hall of Fame, NZ Hi-Tech Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006 and 2007, World Class New Zealander for ICT in 2008, and Honorary Fellow of the Institute of IT Professionals NZ.
John Cowan Interviews Matt Grey, Chief Executive of Zeal.
Matt Grey served at Zeal in several positions over the last seven years, and took over the role as Chief Executive in April this year. Matt is deeply passionate about caring for New Zealand’s young people and is considered a father figure by many. He was a counsellor at several colleges prior to his work with Zeal.
Zeal runs youth centres in West Auckland and Hamilton with their aim as providing every young New Zealander with the opportunity to discover, express and develop their unique creativity.
John interviews Dame Suzie Moncrieff, the founder of the World of Wearable Art show, a sculptor and arts entrepreneur.
At school, Suzie particularly enjoyed art and sculpting. After returning to sculpting in her 30's, she found herself disappointed by the high fees the gallery charged to exhibit her art, and decided to open her own gallery in a cottage. It became the site of the first WOW show in 1987.
In 1998, Suzie was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts and tourism and was later promoted to Dame Companion of the same order. She was named Wellingtonian of the Year in the arts category in 2011, has been a finalist in the New Zealander of the Year awards, and in 2014 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by Massey University.
John Cowan interviews supermodel & actress, Rachel Hunter.
Born in Glenfield, Auckland, she burst into the international fashion industry at the age of 17 after being shortlisted by a modeling agency, going on to become one of the most photographed international cover models in the world. Rachel has also starred in several movies and television shows and hosted her own reality shows Style Me With Rachel Hunter, and Rachel Hunter’s Tour of Beauty.
John Cowan interviews social entrepreneur and author of Twenty-One Elephants, Scottie Reeve.
John Cowan interviews NZ Prime Minister and leader of the National party, the Rt Hon Bill English.
John Cowan interviews recently appointed chief executive of Oranga Tamariki, Grainne Moss.
John Cowan interviews TVNZ journalist and co-founder of One Mother To Another, Joy Reid.
John Cowan interviews Sophie Pascoe, New Zealand's most successful Paralympian.
Sophie currently holds 4 World Records and after her success at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, Sophie took her gold medal count to nine and her total medal count to 15. In 2008, Sophie was the youngest athlete at the Paralympics and the youngest ever New Zealander to win a medal.
Born in Christchurch, Sophie has an amazing story - where an accident at a young age has set her on a path of achieving some incredible sporting records.
John Cowan talks to Troy Kingi, a musician-actor of Te Arawa, Nga Puhi and Te Whanau-a-Apanui descent.
Troy is best known for his role as TK in Taika Waititi's film Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
Raised in Rotorua, Te Kaha and Kerikeri, Troy took to music at a very young age. During his Time at Te Aute College, Troy took a particular interest in the guitar. Since then he has grown to be a master of both electric and acoustic guitars; drums, bass, keys and countless other instruments. It is this musical literacy that allowed him to begin composing his own songs in the early 2000s. Troy also spent time at the Mainz music and audio institute where he honed his musical skills and made more musical contacts. In early 2012, Troy had been spotted by producers of an upcoming New Zealand film Mt Zion. He attended an audition and the director was instantly struck by Troy’s unique personality and musical talent.
He enjoys spending time with family, helping youth, sports and recreational diving. Troy currently lives in the Bay of Islands of New Zealand with his wife Huia and soon to be four children.
Greg O' Connor (former President of NZ Police Association) is seeking to become the Member of Parliament for the Ohariu electorate in Wellington. He intend to use the skills he acquired leading the New Zealand Police Association for 21 years to advocate for the people of Ohariu. His role in the Police as Executive Chairman, required him to build the business skills and knowledge to lead an organisation with $40 million revenue and with $60 million dollars in assets. He has also become a very effective advocate, regularly dealing with New Zealand's political, media and business leaders. He was the key leader in the inception and development of an international body, one that now represents 1.5 million Police Officers worldwide. He sits on boards as diverse as an Intellectual Disability service provider and a farm machinery importer. He is based in Wellington.
Dr Alistair Reese is a farmer, historian and public theologian. He enjoys hiking, horse trekking, swimming in the sea and a good coffee. For many years Alistair has been preoccupied with reconciliation in Aotearoa NZ, with a particular emphasis on Pākehā identity and how we can live in a colonised land. Much of his speaking and writing reflects on Te Tiriti/Treaty of Waitangi as a doorway to reconciliation. He holds postgraduate degrees in History and Tikanga Māori including a PhD in Public Theology. He and his wife Jeannie live near Te Puke in the district of Tapuika/Waitaha.
John Cowan interviews the new Archdeacon of Canterbury Jo Kelly-Moore. Jo was the previous Dean of Auckland's Holy Trinity Cathedral. She will work with the Bishop of Dover, Trevor Willmott, to oversee the Archdeaconry of Canterbury, in what is a significant and senior appointment in the Church of England.
John Cowan interviews award winning Wellington Chef Martin Bosley about his life, career and his project working with Prisoners.
John Cowan interviews Minister of Social Development and acting Minister of Youth, Hon Anne Tolley.
John Cowan interviews television personality, bestselling author, and clinical psychologist, Nigel Latta.
John Cowan interviews accomplished photographer and founder of The Purpose Hotel Jeremy Cowart.
John Cowan chats with newsreader, marathon runner and author of Leading from Behind, Niva Retimanu.
Real Life host John Cowan interviewed Martin Crowe just after the release of his autobiography, Raw, on June 9th 2013.
SEE ALSO: Cricket legend Martin Crowe, 1962-2016
PHOTOS: Martin Crowe - Kiwi Cricketing Legend
John Cowan chats with New Zealand comedian and broadcaster Te Radar (aka Andrew Lumsden).
John Cowan interviews Jemaine Clement about his life and latest projects including his recent role in the Cure Kids' #TeamBallPlayerThing video for kiwiscurebatten.com.
John Cowan interviews underwater cameraman Steve Hathaway along with his teenage daughter, TV presenter Riley from Young Ocean Explorers.
John Cowan interviewed the Rt Hon David Lange shortly before his passing, 10 years ago.
After spending his childhood in English orphanages and foster homes, Ray developed an interest in science at the age of 14 while living rough on the streets of London and finding warmth and inspiration in public libraries. He went on to become an award-winning scientist and successful businessman. However, it is Ray’s groundbreaking work in the developing world that has brought him respect and recognition internationally. Today, an international network of scientists, technologists together with New Zealand companies and Nobel Laureates support him and somehow everyone finds themselves donating their time and knowledge for free and they are rewarded by making a difference. His work has been recognised by his peers and he has received numerous awards including New Zealander of the year 2010 and The Blake Leadership Medal in 2010. In 2011 Ray was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit Knight of the Grand Companion in the New Year Honours for services to philanthropy.
James attended Wellington High School and then Victoria University of Wellington. He later lived in London for 12 years, during which time he worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and completed an MSc in sustainability and business leadership at the University of Bath.
In 2010, Shaw returned to NZ and worked as a consultant for HSBC bank on "environmental awareness programmes for future leaders". In 2014 was elected to the New Zealand parliament as a representative of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. He was elected the party's male co-leader in May 2015.
As well as being co-leader of the Green Party, Shaw is also the spokesperson for economic development, commerce, trade & investment, tourism, small business, sustainable business, SOEs, open government and electoral reform.
Ruud was born in Indonesia and moved with his Dutch parents to Holland when he was still young. Natural history has always been Ruud's passion and from an early age he possessed binoculars and chased birds in a wide range of habitats. After high school, Ruud enrolled at Wageningen University, where he gained an MSc honours degree in silviculture, animal ecology and conservation, while managing to travel extensively around Europe. In 1978, Ruud migrated to New Zealand, where he was appointed scientific advisor for the Nature Conservation Council. From 1982 to 1996 Ruud was employed as an entomologist with MAF in Auckland. But it became apparent that the plight of creepy crawlies needed an advocate. So in 1987 "the Bugman" was born in the shape of a talkback show (Ruud's Awakening) on Newstalk ZB, a number one-rating programme that has continued in various formats over the past 17 years. Ruud is a trustee of Project Crimson, the Little Barrier Island Supporters Trust, Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Trust and the Zoo Charitable Trust, as well as patron of Keep New Zealand Beautiful. He served on Auckland's Zoo Enterprise Board from 1989 to 1998 as a co-opted member. Ruud lives in Auckland with his wife Julie and son Tristan, and when he is not lecturing or working on media projects, he does research, or works as a consulting entomologist for Government Departments and private companies, or he prepares a new destination for the next eco-tour he wants to lead. He loves nature, ecology and invertebrates so much that he goes out of his way to find little bits of paradise all over the world; while constantly striving to change people's perceptions about the small things in life that matter so much to our world!
Campbell Roberts is the founder and Director of the Salvation Army's Social Policy Research and Parliamentary Affairs Unit. These operations include running hospices, homecare services, addiction services, sheltered accommodation, employment training and early childhood education. Campbell has been a serial social entrepreneur in developing the Salvation Army's welfare and social policy initiatives in New Zealand, as well as being a leader in wider church and community initiatives on poverty and housing issues, and on prison reform. In recent years, Campbell helped establish the New Zealand Housing Foundation which is supporting innovative models of providing housing solutions for low-income people. He also co-founded the Rethinking Crime and Punishment Campaign which is working to create a wider change in public attitudes on the prison system.
John Cowan interviews New Zealand politician and co-leader of the Māori Party, Te Ururoa Flavell