Bakuchiol: the plant-based alternative to retinol is our new skincare hero

PHOTOS SUPPLIED 

Have you heard of bakuchiol? Pronounced “buh-koo-chee- all”, this plant-based skincare ingredient is a gentler alternative
to retinol that helps target the look of wrinkles and uneven skin tone. Compared to retinol, bakuchiol is better tolerated by skin, is mild enough to be used morning and night, is safe to use with other skincare ingredients and it’s vegan-friendly, too.

Bakuchiol is one of the three hero ingredients used in Arbonne’s new AgeWell range, a vegan skincare collection that embraces a holistic approach to skin ageing. Formulated using a range of dermatologist favourites, the trifecta of ingredients – bakuchiol, vitamin C, and plant stem cell extract – work together to deliver youthful-looking skin.

The second ingredient, vitamin C, supports collagen by providing the skin with moisture, but can’t be used at the same time as traditional retinol. However, vitamin C and bakuchiol are fine to use together, so you can get the benefit of both ingredients at once.

Sustainable plant stem cell extract is the third ingredient taking centre stage in the AgeWell range. Plant stem cell extract helps skin to look more vibrant and improve firmness, and it’s derived from natural origins but uses less water during production than traditional versions. This harmony of ingredients works to target visible signs of ageing without being harsh on skin.

COLLAGEN NURTURING SERUM WITH 2% BAKUCHIOL: Indulge your skin in this super-concentrated formula which helps reduce the look of facial wrinkles, along with stabilised vitamin C to help boost and maintain moisture by supporting collagen.

MOISTURE RESTORING CREAM WITH 0.5% BAKUCHIOL: This versatile moisturiser contains shea butter, avocado oil, coconut oil, and squalene complex to help replenish
the skin’s moisture barrier
and reduce the appearance
of fine lines.

MOISTURE RESTORING CREAM WITH 0.5% BAKUCHIOL: This versatile moisturiser contains shea butter, avocado oil, coconut oil, and squalene complex to help replenish
the skin’s moisture barrier
and reduce the appearance
of fine lines.

ARBONNE.COM

Leanne Cashmore takes us inside the Cashmore Clinic

“Having your skin looked after at my clinic is no different to going to the hairdresser or having your teeth whitened. My treatments are subtle. They may be indiscernible to anyone else, but you’ll get a huge boost to your confidence.” Leanne Cashmore is pouring tea into fine china cups at her clinic on Muricata Avenue, Mt Maunganui. A beautiful, pale-blue villa from the road, inside it’s a calm oasis.

A registered nurse, Leanne has been working in appearance medicine for 20 years. Seeing that “there was a real need for a boutique, welcoming and luxurious service at the Mount”, she launched the Cashmore Clinic in April this year. It’s a personal, one-on-one service. “Some people want to dash in during their lunch hour, and others like to take things slowly, talk about their treatment, and relax with a herbal tea. It’s very private here, and my clients appreciate that.”

A born-and-bred Mount local, Leanne is part of a talented family whose members work in creative industries. Her husband, Mark, is a pool and landscape designer (check out his design project in UNO’s summer ’17 issue) and her sister Maree Wilkinson is a photographer, while the eldest of her four children, Jordan, captains a superyacht in the Caribbean. Meanwhile, Leanne can be found at her clinic from Monday to Friday and on the occasional Saturday – during daylight hours. “I work around my clients, and prefer natural light as it helps me provide the best treatment,” she says.

The Cashmore Clinic is overseen by a small group of qualified doctors. “I’m very lucky to have worked with some of the top professionals in appearance medicine throughout my career,” says Leanne. “It’s all very friendly and connected.”

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The Cashmore Clinic services

Botox For: the face, and to treat excessive underarm sweating. It’s the most popular procedure, as it’s quick, affordable and delivers fantastic results. Fillers For: fine lines, dark circles around the eyes, acne scarring, lip enhancement, reshaping the jawline and chin, and skin hydration (with the V2 machine). Fillers provide a beautiful lift that restores lost volume in the face. Leanne says anyone who tries them becomes an immediate convert. Head online to discover more of Leanne’s treatments.

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82a Muricata Ave, Mt Maunganui

CASHMORECLINIC.CO.NZ

CASHMORECLINIC

The good life: trading your urban abode for a lifestyle block

WORDS LAURA TUCK PHOTOS BRYDIE THOMPSON

Do you dream of trading your urban home for a lifestyle block in the country with pets, chickens, pigs, a vege garden, fresh air and masses of space? Jeremy Pryor provides a snapshot of what rural life is really like.

Many of us would happily trade our noisy neighbours for peace, quiet and a supply of free-range eggs and freshly dug spuds. It’s a lifestyle that fits Jeremy Pryor of Bayleys Tauranga down to the ground. Not only does he sell the rural dream, he lives it too.

UNO: What’s rural living really like?

JEREMY: Most of us have experienced rural living to some degree – maybe you grew up on a farm like I did, or perhaps you had a friend with a cricket pitch on their front lawn. Lifestyle blocks are sought after because they allow you to have a taste of the country without all the hard work, like having to get up at 4am to milk cows. You can still maintain a corporate job, send your kids to the best schools and pop into town with ease.

UNO: How would you define the term ‘lifestyle block’?

JEREMY: There’s no black-and-white answer. I sell a lot of 3000m2 sections in residential lifestyle subdivisions, which are essentially nice homes with big lawns, as well as larger lifestyle blocks with enough land for grazing or an orchard.

UNO: What’s the best thing about living semi-rurally?

JEREMY: It’s fantastic being able to entertain without worrying about the neighbours. It’s also ideal for kids – Ash collects the eggs, Finn feeds the pigs and Charli helps me in the garden. They spend hours riding their bikes, playing basketball and in the pool, which is so much better for them than staring at a screen. We use the shed for storage, the camper and the boat. That’s the beauty of a large section, it allows you to be creative. You’ve also got the option for office space, which is great for the wallet and provides peace of mind for people like tradies, who store their tools at home. The other advantage is the potential for capital gain. If you buy an orchard on the edge of the city that then becomes subdividable, the value of the land can increase fivefold.

UNO: Who’s biting the bullet and going rural?

JEREMY: Lifestyle blocks have always been popular with retired farmers, but today we’re also seeing a lot of homesick Kiwis coming back from overseas who are looking to invest in a slice of clean, green New Zealand land. There’s been a surge in buyers who want to have chooks, plant a vege garden and eat organic produce; I call it the ‘Annabel Langbein effect’. We’ve also had an influx of people from other cities, as they’ve realised they can buy a rural property here for about the same price as an average home in Auckland. When people finally make the move, it can be seen as impulsive because it’s such a big change, but it’s usually been a dream for many years.

UNO: How do you blend a job in the city with a rural lifestyle?

JEREMY: Tauranga is the perfect location in which to enjoy the best of both worlds. My daily drive from Pyes Pa to work only takes 12 minutes on the express route, so traffic is never an issue, but with today’s technology, you could easily work remotely and live the dream. We have great restaurants, shops and schools right on our doorstep. The barter system in the rural community is also alive and well – we get our daily pig scraps from Four14 Espresso café, and in return, I give them fresh bacon.

UNO: Where are some of the best hidden spots for rural living?

JEREMY: Pyes Pa is fantastic, and I’m not just saying that because I live there! With the new Lakes subdivision and Tauranga Crossing shopping centre, there’s huge growth across the whole south-east side of town. Further afield, you’ve got Hawke’s Bay and the Coromandel, both of which are beautiful.

UNO: Your team at Bayleys seems really close – it looks like quite the party with all your families.

JEREMY: Real estate is a 24/7 job, but it’s also highly rewarding. We spend lots of time together, and Craig [Orr], Ike [Unsworth] and I also holiday as a team with our families – it’s the best type of chaos. In summer and winter, when things are a little quieter, I get to enjoy lots of quality time with my wife and kids. We love heading to the bach at Lake Rotoiti and try to get away a couple of times a year.

UNO: Any advice for those considering packing in the city for greener pastures?

JEREMY: It’s about choosing the right type of property for you, so do your research. If you’re after income, there are options with orchards or farms, or for Airbnb; the extra space will ensure your guests aren’t too close to your home, and they’ll pay a premium for a unique setting. But if you simply want more room and don’t mind doing a bit of gardening, the options are endless. Some people outsource maintenance, but I enjoy getting outside and doing the lawns; my ride-on lawnmower has a cupholder, so I can have a cold beer while I work!

The one, the only…

The Katikati-based comedian makes Friday nights funny nationwide on TV3’s 7 Days, and now he’s set to make us locals laugh as the host of the second-annual Mount Comedy Festival.

WORDS Andy Taylor PHOTOS Brydie Thompson

Anyone who’s watched Ben Hurley perform will tell you he’s a bloody funny guy, but he isn’t your typical Kiwi comic. He didn’t grow up using humour as a defence mechanism like so many others. “I really liked school, actually,” he says.  

Has he always wanted to be a stand-up comedian? “At the end of fourth form, the school sent around these forms that we had to fill out to check that we were taking the right subjects the following year, for whatever you wanted to do as a career. I’ve always been somewhat suspicious of authority, and I thought it was ridiculous that they were asking 13- and 14-year-olds what they wanted to do in life, so I put down ‘male model’. Then I crossed that out and put ‘comedian’, because that was the next most ridiculous thing that anyone could do. So ‘technically’, yes, I have always wanted to be a comedian. But I was living in a small-town in Taranaki at the time, so it wasn’t really an option.”

University, however, was, and Wellington beckoned, so off Ben went to study politics at Victoria. “They had an improv comedy club, and I met my best friend Vaughan King, who was an actor and comedian and started doing stand-up – and that kind of motivated me to do my first gig in 2001 at the Wellington Fringe Festival.” 

“I thought it was ridiculous that they were asking 13- and 14-year-olds what they wanted to do in life, so I put down ‘male model’. Then I crossed that out and put ‘comedian’.”

So much for the politics degree. “Yeah. It’s just what you do isn’t it, something academic? Stand-up is something you shouldn’t really do straight out of school because you just don’t have the life experience, so politics and international relations it was. Dai Henwood has a degree in eastern religion, Jeremy Corbett has a computing degree and Jon Bridges has a philosophy degree – or something like that. And then there are people like Ewen Gilmour and Mike King who came to comedy out of the workforce. Ewen was the funny guy at the factory and Mike was the funny guy on the ferry, and they just got pushed into it by their mates. So you kind of have these two schools and to be honest I don’t really know if there is a stylistic difference between the two or not, or whether it’s more about influences.” 

For young Hurley, the influences were the usual suspects: Billy Connolly, Jerry Seinfeld, Blackadder, Basil Fawlty. Humour was always appreciated in the Hurley household, and his father was a big fan of British comedy – although in those pre-internet days, you tended to like what you were given. “It was not like now, where you have every single comedian who has ever been at your fingertips,” says Ben. “There was a very limited range of stuff that we could see. If you were lucky, maybe the Montreal comedy festival or something like that, and the Kiwi show A Bit After Ten, which had the Corbett brothers on it. I was probably about 14 or 15 and I loved their running gags. They’d say, ‘Shall we do the Floyd gag?’ and then never, ever do the Floyd gag. And they had an open-mic section, where I saw some comedians who are good friends now and that I’ve worked with often. In fact, I still say, ‘Shall we do the Floyd gag?’ to Jeremy. I’m probably the only one who remembers it, though.” 

(The early-’90s A Bit After Ten can be found at nzonscreen.com and is definitely worth a watch. In addition to an outrageously young and clean-shaven Jeremy Corbett, it also features the wonderful spectacle of contestants vying for the grand prize of a 14-inch TV.)

After making a name for himself as a comic in New Zealand, Ben started gigging in the UK, and toured extensively in Europe and Asia. The winner of the two biggest comedy awards in New Zealand (the 2004 Oddfellows Billy T Award and the Fred Award in 2008), advocate of cricket as a way to achieve world peace (“No two cricketing nations have ever gone to war with each other – that’s a fact”) and one of the few Kiwis to be invited onto America’s prestigious Comedy Store TV show now calls the Bay of Plenty home, but touring is something he knows an awful lot about. Google his name and it’s clear he spends more time on the road than a Fonterra truckie. 

“I was in England for four years, gigging around the country five, six, seven and eight times a week, sometimes doing two shows a night, because the clubs are really full and lively over there, and doing it over and over again is how you learn your craft. I love being on the road – well, not so much now that I have a family, but I can’t imagine going to work at the same place every day. It’s hard to be away, but I guess I’m just hardwired to do it.”

Ben says there are regional differences in what people find funny, though they’re relatively subtle in New Zealand. “There are some places that are a bit more conservative than others, but that’s changing. And it all comes down to it being relatable. I mean, I can’t do a joke about Winston Peters in America or anywhere outside of New Zealand really, but even in New Zealand you have to keep it relatable. When Winston Peters left Tauranga as an MP, I made the joke that this was the first time a 70-year-old man had ever left Tauranga. And although that’s a joke that works really well in the North Island, in the South Island they just don’t know that many old people move to live in Tauranga – in the South Island they have their own version of that, it's called Nelson. 

“In America, they don’t get the self-deprecating humour so much – that’s very much a UK thing. American comics are much more defined. It’s much more about the character – you’re the angry guy or the party girl or whatever – whereas in the UK, people just say funny things.” 

Although the constant gigging and vibrant comedy circuit scene in the UK was formative for Ben, he was also happy to come home with a new appreciation for Kiwiland. “After being in the UK, I came back to what has proven to be a bit of a renaissance in New Zealand comedy over the past 10 years or so,” he says. “And that largely comes down to the TV networks and the overseas success of people like Flight of the Conchords and Rhys Darby. That woke up the networks to the success of comedy and the need to give it some legs here and air some home-grown stand-up. And out of that we got 7 Days, which has been the most popular and longest-running comedy show in New Zealand history. So people get out now to see stand-up, and that’s great.” 

His extensive gigging across the globe must also have honed his skills for dealing with those who get out to see stand-up and feel the need to chip in. “Yeah, I kind of encourage hecklers now, to a certain degree. Well, I encourage interaction at least. On this tour, for the first half of the show I pretty much just chat to the crowd, and try to keep it as fluid and interactive as possible. In New Zealand, the heckling is almost never nasty – its just drunk people wanting to be a part of the show. I’ve done thousands of gigs, and I can count the times that heckling has been genuinely nasty on about three or four fingers. But, then again, if they don’t shut up, I do start feeling bad for everyone else.”

In an industry known for driving ambition and raging egos, Ben has a refreshingly down-to-earth approach and concern for his audience and his community. Last year, in response to what he describes as a sense of helplessness about the state of things in the newly Trumped world, he put together a three-night festival at Auckland’s Classic Comedy & Bar. Called Comedy in Action, it raised money for some great charities while also showcasing some top Kiwi talent. 

“It was just a reaction to what I saw as the whole futility of people commenting on injustice on social media,” he says. “Liking a post actually changes nothing, so instead I wanted to do something that would have an actual effect – and make people laugh.” 

Now he’s at it again, and is busy organising the second annual Mount Comedy Festival, which he’ll host in January. Ben says this year’s event is going to be even bigger and even better than the last. “Tauranga is New Zealand’s fifth-biggest city and I just thought there was a real need for it. There wasn’t really anything going on comedy-wise in the area; there was the odd thing going on with people coming through to play Baycourt, but no regular event. Last time, we had three nights with basically three shows, but this year we’re expanding things over five days. We’re also going to do some matinee shows with family-friendly comedy.

Ben says the support has been amazing. “I mean, it is the place to be, because everyone loves the Mount, so it's something that people want to be involved in and a lot of people have come on board with, like UNO for example. But it does really seem like this is really a thing that has found it’s time.”

Ben makes it sound like it happened, but with scheduling, promotion and venues, not to mention getting the right mix of performers, producing something on this scale isn’t easy.  “I really made it the best I could, and it really is a great line-up,” says Ben. “We’ve got Wilson Dixon [aka Kiwi comedian Jesse Griffin) headlining, who is, um, ‘technically’ from America; we’ve got the great Josh Thomson; Justine Smith, who was on the line-up last year and so loved that we brought her back again; newish comedian Hayley Sproull, who’s a 7 Days regular; Brendhan Lovegrove, who will be hosting a new acts competition, so if any locals want to test the water, this is their chance; and Te Radar, who will do his one man show 'Eating the Dog'. So yeah, something for everyone.”

This well-travelled, internationally known performer is bringing something for everyone to our neck of the woods because it’s now his necks of the woods too. After growing up in Taranaki, and living in Wellington, Auckland and the UK, Ben now calls a little piece of paradise in the Western Bay home – a lifestyle block somewhere between Katikati and Waihi Beach with “some sheep, some chickens, some kiwifruit”. Where does he find time to manage that, with all he has going on? “Fortunately, my wife is the property manager,” he says. 

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, why here? “I don’t really know,” says Ben. “I just like it here. It has a real lifestyle thing going on, it’s a great place to bring up kids, it’s beautiful, but it's not a million miles away from everywhere else. I mean, I love Taranaki as well, but unfortunately it’s just a little bit too isolated. So here kinda has it all. The best of both worlds. The best of all worlds.”

Ben’s not a typical comedian, no. But for his originality and the fact that he not only makes us laugh but also makes us think, he’s definitely one of our best. And you know what? He might be onto something about the cricket.

Great hair day

WORDS TALIA WALDEGRAVE PHOTOS TRACIE HEASMAN

Tucked into the burgeoning creative hub on Totara St, Talia Waldegrave celebrates with hair salons Ivy and barber shop Havana.

LAUNCH NIGHT

As far as first impressions go, Ivy and Havana have me sold. Brimming with young up-and-comings, local business owners and budding hair professionals, the launch night is a damn fine party. Down to earth glamour is how I'd describe it: smiling, handsome barbers hand out steaming slices of delicious pizza from The Pizza Library next door, and the bar is set up with a tangled web of mint leaves, a mountain of lime wedges, and buckets of ice to make Havana Rum cocktails. Two ultra-glam ladies kick back in barbershop chairs, pizza slice in one hand, champagne flute in the other. This is a family unit, blood relative or not.

THE GURU

On my second encounter with the Ivy Havana crew, I’m early, but am instantly greeted warmly before I've managed to get inside the door. With time to kill, I wait in the communal kitchen at the table where I’d gobbled pizza just a few nights earlier. The kitchen epitomises the Ivy Havana vibe: the fit-out has had someone with a sharp design eye oversee it, and it's fully functional too (the washing machine is tucked neatly away in the corner). Best of all, this space joins Ivy: the ladies' salon, to the Havana: the barber. Staff make themselves a cuppa and chat to clients waiting for a colour to take, or anyone else who happens to be there for a chat.

Each person passing by gives me a nod, a wave or a ‘hi’, and I wonder if they’re trained to smile this way, because it’s incredibly welcoming. 

I’m here to meet Ruth, the matriarch of the family. After 45 years as a trainer, she’s a bit of a legend in the industry. “My mother-in-law opened one of the first hair training schools in New Zealand and that’s where I started. From the beginning, I’ve enjoyed watching how life changing it is for young people and I still love every second of it.”

Ruth and her team have recently refurbished the Hair2Train building on Totara Street and created beautiful salon Ivy, and brother barbershop Havana. The branding is cutting edge and the décor contemporary cool; it’s unlike anything Tauranga has seen before.

"We wanted to offer something completely separate from the training school where people could come, sit at the table, read the paper and have a coffee. It’s about offering the whole experience, with service and consistency.”

IVY

Put simply, Ivy is beautiful. She's quintessential salon luxe with gold candles and ornate décor. It's the place to be pampered in all things hair, from cuts and styling to indulgent treatments for luscious locks.

HAVANA

The recent resurgence in the old school barbershop has brought back the traditional cut throat shave, injecting some va va voom into men's grooming and Havana is just that. The décor is all blokey and the corrugated sliding door to the car park is reminiscent of a 1950’s James Dean biker gang. 

But what makes this place tick is the people.

“Because we are aligned with the training side of things, our attention to detail is impeccable, we are good at communicating with our clients but most importantly, but what we do best is customer service.”

On my way out, I book an appointment. I can't wait to go back, I already feel part of the gang.

Back to work

UNO’s new columnist might be a comedy big shot, but he’s not immune to that first-week-back-at-work feeling, from which he’s still recovering.

PHOTOS BRYDIE THOMPSON 

No one really clocks on mentally until after Waitangi Day. Sure, your body is at work but your mind is not – it’s still riding those breakers at Papamoa, drinking cocktails for morning tea, or avoiding a flying Virat Kohli six at the Bay Oval. It’s just too bloody hot, and we’re still digesting the 4kg of ham we ate over Christmas.

It’s a wonderful time of year, and it’s also very frustrating. Trying to enlist the services of a tradesperson during January is a fruitless exercise. They know full well that you have money to give them in exchange for their services, but who needs money when you have sunshine and cold beer? They’ll get to you, but not till at least February 7.

The television shows I work on take a break over summer as well. 7 Days does about 40 episodes a year but thankfully is off air during the time when all the news cycle seems to consist of is record temperatures and the odd shark sighting. However, The Project comes back a little earlier – and it was its return that knocked me out of my hammock.

I’ve been contributing to The Project since it started in early 2017. I fill in on the panel sometimes when Jeremy Corbett is away and recently they’ve asked me to do some interviews with some big names in music. It’s not overstating it to say that this is a dream job for me, an ageing Taranaki-bred bogan whose hearing is missing a few frequencies, due to listening to Nirvana and AC/DC at louder than recommended volumes in my mum’s 1989 Ford Laser back in the day.

So far, my interviewees have included Weezer, Queens of the Stone Age, Cat Stevens, Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine and Corey Taylor of Slipknot, so when my producer emailed to ask if I’d interview my favourite guitarist, Slash, I ignored the fact that it was January 24, well shy of my official Waitangi Day work kick-off, and shook myself awake.

Saul Hudson, aka Slash, the iconic lead guitarist from Guns N’ Roses, all top hat and black curls, was to play two shows in Tauranga and Auckland with his new band Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators and had agreed to his first television interview in five years. With me. I still have no idea why.

So, first day back at work in 2019, and I’m in a lift heading up to the penthouse at Auckland’s Pullman hotel. I was feeling the pressure; idol worship aside, Slash doesn’t really ‘do’ interviews because he’s shy and all anyone asks him about is why Guns N’ Roses broke up, which he’s sick of talking about. His record label told me not to ask him anything about Guns N’ Roses or Axl Rose or Duff the bass player or Steven the drummer or the November Rain video or the ’80s or firearms or flowers of any sort. This directive came by email but was reinforced in person by his very friendly but very large, 7ft-tall head of security just before Slash came into the room. Point taken, giant security man – point taken.

Slash sat down and got out some nicotine gum. I broke the ice talking about smoking, how hard it is to quit and stay quit. He relaxed a bit as we quietly chatted about the different methods of giving up ciggies. It was a bit weird as I’ve never smoked, but I needed a way to start talking without launching into the meat of the interview. I lied, just a little, and I feel medium-bad about this.

The standard time frame for these interviews is 15 minutes, but Slash gave me 20 and I can say he’s as pleasant a man as I’ve met. For someone who’s notoriously suspicious of the media, he was generous and friendly, and I think I even made him laugh a couple of times. We covered his childhood growing up in Los Angeles, his hippy parents, how he lived on the same street as Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell, his love of reptiles and all the usual rock ’n’ roll stuff about touring and albums and crowds and fans. And guess what? He mentioned Guns N’ Roses, like, four times.

Then he left, and I drove home, adrenaline still coursing through my bogan veins. I felt a mixture of disbelief and relieved exhaustion. The next day was the start of anniversary weekend. Thank god – I needed a few days off.  

BENHURLEY.COM

What’s for dinner

Virtually every Kiwi in the country has heard of My Food Bag and recognises its public face, Nadia Lim. In the past five years, the company has produced 45 million meals; it’s New Zealand’s third-largest food retailer, and has changed the way many of us shop for and prepare our meals.

WORDS ANDY TAYLOR / PHOTOS GARTH BADGER

My Food Bag’s ‘nude food’ concept has changed the way many of us eat, making healthy, low-salt, preservative-free meals filled with fresh ingredients easy peasy.

What many of us don’t know is that its creator, Cecilia Robinson, had been there, done that. She’s also co-founder of the groundbreaking and successful Au Pair Link, another company that altered the way a traditional service was delivered while changing lives along the way. Having achieved all this in just 10 short years, it’s easy to see why Cecilia has been dubbed ‘New Zealand’s greatest entrepreneur’ by Theresa Gattung, ex Telecom chief executive and frequent flyer on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in International Business list.

Cecilia’s journey began a long, long way from New Zealand. “Sweden is a nice place to grow up,” she says of her birthplace. “It’s quite different from New Zealand, though, and the winters can be very demoralising. It’s still a very nice place to be, but New Zealand is just such a fantastic place, with beautiful beaches and a safe environment in which to bring up children.”

Which brings us to Papamoa, where Cecilia’s husband James’s parents live. “They fell in love with Papamoa, and we love the beach. And nearby, at Bayfair, is the best Farmers in the country – have you seen their toy department?! [When we visit] we go to the beach and playgrounds, then hit the cafés – it’s really just a magical place.

“Sometimes in life, you just don’t know where the road is going to lead you. Driving down last year to see my parents-in-law, we went through Katikati. It brought back so many memories, as  it was where we made one of our first  Au Pair Link placements. Ten years later, I’m driving back through with my own family.”

Cecilia’s first forays into the business world began at an early age. “Back in Sweden, my friends and I used to make things like friendship bracelets, then sell them outside the local supermarket, and I went door-to-door for the World Wildlife Fund. But there was never one particular event that started my interest in being an entrepreneur.

“Every week, my father used to say, ‘When I win Lotto, when I win Lotto, when I win Lotto…’ and it used to drive me crazy – it was part of our everyday vocabulary. It made me think that I didn’t want to be at the mercy of winning Lotto to change my life. So that was actually a good driver. Thanks, Dad!”

Once Cecilia had graduated from selling bracelets at the supermarket, it was the world of law rather than business that caught her eye. Her parents were both academics – “I think they have four or five degrees between them,” she says – so higher education was practically a given. But for someone who clearly likes to see things through to the end, the outcome was surprising.

“I studied in Sweden, New Zealand and the United States, but I still don’t have
a degree,” says Cecilia. “James jokes that I’m a law-school dropout in three countries, which is true. But on our first date, we talked about financial freedom and making your own fortune, about business and thinking about things differently.”

James’s name pops up frequently in conversation with Cecilia. They’re not only life partners, but also business partners, and joint CEOs of My Food Bag. While Cecilia has been described as a “serial entrepreneur with sass”, James brings his own skill set to the table, running the marketing, IT and finance teams of both My Food Bag and Au Pair Link. Mixing a personal relationship with business has been the undoing of many couples, but not  so the Robinsons, who seem to positively thrive on it.

“Who would you rather be in business with than the person you know the best, and trust and love the most?” says Cecilia. “And when the leadership culture is collaborative like ours, it makes a huge difference to the business. So although we do separate the various parts of the business, we also spend a lot of time providing feedback to each other. We work very collaboratively and respect each other professionally. In fact, I think the collaboration within the My Food Bag team has been one of the key reasons
we’ve been so successful.”

The couple’s first meeting and the intertwined lives that ensued sound like pure serendipity. “I’d been working as an au pair in the United States while I studied, but decided I wanted to work in New Zealand instead, because my brother was working there,” says Cecilia. “He had a dinner party to welcome me to New Zealand – and that’s where I met James, on my first night in the country.” The rest, as they say, is history.

An exciting new chapter in their story began in 2006, with the launch of their first major project together: Au Pair Link. “We were living in a little two-bedroom apartment in Auckland’s CBD, working and studying full-time, but also thinking about how much I’d got out of being an au pair – it had been such an amazing experience,” recalls Cecilia. “I gained so much from it that I thought other people would want to do it too. James was really supportive, so we started a website, and suddenly we were getting phone calls at seven in the morning from all over the country. We thought, ‘Well, there must be something here, because people really need us.’”

There certainly was, and people certainly did. Au Pair Link was New Zealand’s first dedicated au pair agency that made sure au pairs were safe and fully supported by a national network – a far cry from the previous system of classified ads and word of mouth. The company has grown to employ 40 full-time staff and has placed thousands of au pairs throughout Australasia.

“It was very challenging, because we were starting with something that was very much a cottage industry, and we realised that to succeed, we had to take a new approach,” says Cecilia. “Instead of saying an au pair was someone who just appeared in your home to look after your child, we saw them as licensed childcare providers who add to your child’s education. And that was a game-changer. Within five years, we were one of the largest companies of our kind in the world.”

Having revolutionised the au pair scene and reset the horizons of several thousand young Kiwis who suddenly had an international influence in their homes, you’d think that it was time for the credits to roll and the Robinsons and Au Pair Link to settle into a stately rhythm that would see them through the rest of their careers. But no – luckily for New Zealand, Cecilia got bored with pottering around the house.

“We were travelling in Europe and saw a model there similar to what would become My Food Bag,” she says. “I have a husband who loves to eat but not to cook, and it struck me that there would be a lot of people in similar situations. Back in New Zealand, I was on maternity leave from Au Pair Link. I’d done all the ironing and everything I could do around the house, and I got bored really fast, so I said to James that I wanted to explore the possibilities around this new idea. I did all the research, then started on the business plan. And within four hours of finishing it, I was in labour. So I kind of say that My Food Bag and our son, Tom, are twins.”

As if bringing two new creations into the world in one day wasn’t enough, just four weeks later, the Robinsons presented Cecilia’s business plan to Theresa Gattung and the rest of the Au Pair Link board. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with Theresa particularly impressed and keen to get the project moving forward as soon as possible.

“Theresa came up to me straight after I’d presented it and said, ‘This is what I’ve been waiting for – so what’s next?’” says Celcilia. “We had a month-old baby, 1000 au pairs throughout New Zealand and so many existing business obligations to deal with already, but it just seemed so right, so we reached out to Nadia [Lim] and her husband, Carlos [Bagrie]. They came in thinking we were pitching something around Au Pair Link or baby food.

“Nadia and Carlos were on their way to the airport for a three-week trip to Europe and jumped on their flight straight afterwards, so we heard nothing for 24 hours. And then they said they were in! We assembled the team in November and by March [2013] we were in the market. That was a pretty intense summer.”

Understatements occur frequently in conversation with Cecilia. But if she makes it sound easy, it wasn’t. Bringing the My Food Bag vision to life required the team to master a raft of technical challenges and inject the kind of human touch that would get people out of their routines and see them up for some chang e in the kitchen. And, of course, the food had to be fantastic too.

“It’s complicated,” says Cecilia. “There are so many variations involved. But we have a really great team and what people don’t realise is that each recipe gets tested multiple times. It’s an amazing process and our suppliers come in and show us new cuts of meat or new products that we can utilise. We want to be cutting edge but still provide meals people will love and that become new family favourites.”

Like other new business models – think Uber, for example – My Food Bag has been described as ‘disruptive’, but unlike many others, it’s actually profitable. “My Food Bag is incredibly disruptive, because five years in, we were the third-largest food retailer in New Zealand,” says Cecilia. “Actually, that was probably true after two or three years – it happened so fast.

“For us, it’s been incredibly powerful to be part of giving people new options, which is what we did with Au Pair Link: instead of just having someone in your home or on a trip helping with your children, which was the old model, we changed that and added the education factor. So with My Food Bag, it was again taking an old model and making
it brand new, and when people ask how My Food Bag happened so fast and became so successful so quickly, they forget the many years that we spent reaching that point.”

What’s also not immediately apparent about My Food Bag, but becomes clear if you spend any time with Cecilia, is that beyond disruptive technologies, recipe development and delivery schedules, the company is incredibly people-focused. Staff are encouraged to bring their children to work, and virtually scolded for not leaving early if they have to pick them up.

“For us, it’s always been about people and then letting the numbers and business fall out of that,” says Cecilia. “And when I say ‘people’, I mean our team, suppliers and customers – we start with them. Leading in that way has given us great clarity about how we make decisions. We bring our kids into work and make sure people take the time to do what they need to do around their kids, so we’re people first and on the business side second. We’re mums and dads, we’re husbands, we’re wives, and we’re friends before we become business people. And that builds a lot of love and trust both inside and outside the company.”

Perhaps the most remarkable part of all in the Robinsons’ story is that by the time you read this, the couple will have stepped back from the empire they’ve created and handed over the leadership to new CEO, Kevin Bowler. During our interview, Kevin calls Cecilia. She asks UNO to stop recording, then excitedly congratulates him on his new role and invites him to dinner with James, Theresa, Nadia and Carlos, and to a photo shoot to announce the appointment to the press. “We’re a ‘check your suit at the door’ kind of company,” she tells him. “Just wear something relaxed.”

It may surprise some that Cecilia and James are willing to step down from something they’re so passionate about and that’s going so well. “One of the biggest drivers for entrepreneurs is financial freedom,” says Cecilia. “It’s like being in the Olympics. You prepare and train, and then you run the race and win and achieve everything you wanted –
but what then? You keep running?! And that’s what approaching this change was like for us.

“Once the company had reached the point it’s at now, we had financial freedom and did a lot of things that we’d dreamt of, but the key thing we wanted was the freedom of more time. So James and I said that we’d give it 12 months after we partly sold to Waterman Capital [in late 2016], get stability for our team and ensure that we were delivering, and then our time was done.

“Finding the right person to come in has been something we’ve taken very seriously, and we’ll be continuing in governance roles because we have a real passion for our people, our foodies and our products,” continues Cecilia. “But basically, we are retiring. There are people who achieve financial freedom and want to keep working, to keep running, but that’s not us – we want to use that freedom to spend time with our kids.”

Retiring. It’s hard to believe that the energy and dynamism of the half-Swedish family Robinson will fit the retired life, but they have redefined the way we eat, so they may well  redefine retirement, too.

Grace Wright: Tauranga artist

We meet Tauranga girl and artist Grace Wright as she prepares for the Auckland Art Fair.

INTERVIEW CLAUDIA CAMERON / PHOTOS HEATHER LIDDELL / SAMUEL HARTNETT

UNO: How did you start out as an artist?

GRACE: I grew up in Tauranga, so when I finished Elam in 2014 I moved back home for a year to have time to develop the ideas I had generated during my BFA at Elam School of Fine Arts, without financial pressure. During this time I rented a studio space out the back of Zeus Gallery, when they were based on Eleventh Ave. I loved painting there, with the industrial-style spaces, plus having the time to intensively work and establish my practice.

Although I live in Auckland now, I love coming back to see my family and have some down time. Tauranga will always be home.

UNO: What have you been working on lately?

GRACE: Recently I have been working on a series of paintings for the Auckland Art Fair as well as planning for my upcoming show at Parlour Projects in July. My practice is a continually evolving one, so I’m always trying to push myself forward and create something that surprises me.

UNO: Ah, yes, Parlour Projects in the Hawke’s Bay selected you as the recipient of its inaugural artist-in-residency programme. Congratulations!

GRACE: I was so honoured to be selected for this residency and have the support to bring my ambitious 11m x 6m installation concept to life. I had been wondering how our body would feel if we experienced painting more spatially by thinking of the room as a canvas. The body has always informed my work throughout its evolution and in this residency I wanted to recreate the physical sensation of how you feel when you stand beneath something monumental in scale.

UNO: Can you tell us a bit about your process?

GRACE: I see colour as a construction process, so the painting almost builds itself. I never know what the paintings will look like in the end, but I start with one colour or gesture and construct the colours and layers until the final work emerges.

UNO: What inspires you and your work?

GRACE: I’m inspired by an international style of painting that has a real presence with the viewer through scale and the relation to the body. In 2015 I visited Albert Oehlen’s exhibition Home and Garden at the New Museum in New York. It was such a thrill to stand before these huge, three metre square paintings. This feeling of intense physicality is what I’m interested in creating in my own work.

UNO: You’re showing at the Auckland Art Fair as part of the Parlour Projects stand, what can we expect to see from you there?

GRACE: I will be exhibiting a series of new large-scale works measuring 1200 x 1500mm which continue to explore a sense of artificial space and gestural abstraction reminiscent of the body. Recently I’ve been interested in constructing space through subtle illusion and colour combinations so the work will reflect these ideas too.

UNO: You’ll be joined by a number of incredible artists and galleries showing at the AAF this year, what are you looking forward to the most about the event?

GRACE: It’s such a unique experience to see all these galleries in one space, along with work from top galleries in Australia and some further afield. I also love the social aspect of the art fair! It’s a great way to catch up with lots of people in the industry and celebrate all the hard work put in by artists and galleries.

UNO: What are you hoping to achieve from being part of the Art Fair and speaking to an international audience?

GRACE: I’m excited to be exhibiting at the fair and have the support of Parlour Projects. My goal generally is to build up steadily and create work that endures. At the end of the day, art is what makes life worth living, as are the ideas and conversations that surround it.

UNO: What’s it like making art as a full-time job?

GRACE: I love it! I’m pleased with how I’ve set up my week to allow myself the time to paint. I’m definitely a morning person, so my day starts by getting straight into painting. In the afternoons I tend to stretch canvas and gesso, then attend to admin later in the day.

UNO: What skills do you think are useful in your job?

GRACE: I think you need to have a lot of faith in yourself and belief in what you’re doing.

UNO: Can you share a piece of advice for anyone wanting to move into a similar creative space?

GRACE: The best advice I ever received was learning that talent will only get you so far. The way you think determines the rest.

INSTAGRAM: @gracewright08

A methodical mind

WORDS JENNY RUDD PHOTOS LOGAN DAVEY

Stuart Crosby assumed office as mayor on October 9th 2004 after spending 18 years as an elected council member, becoming the twenty eighth mayor of Tauranga. After serving four terms, he decided not to enter the fray for the fifth. Following 12 years as mayor, and 18 as a Tauranga councillor, Stuart is now a Bay of Plenty Regional Councillor.

After chatting to Stuart for an hour or so, drinking tea in Elizabeth Café, I walked away thinking ‘I really like you.’ He was pretty specific and descriptive and gave some padding to the ‘Go back to the beach’ story, but he wasn’t rude or critical. He had a youthful and optimistic view, and a methodical mind. He definitely isn’t the ‘party line’ boy I thought he’d be. More than that, he was a proper human in a role which is largely thankless, doesn’t do much to bond you to your spouse, and occupies your every waking second.

If there’s anyone who needs a finger pointing at them and being given some credit for how bloody brilliant our region is today, it’s Stuart.

What does a mayor do?

First and foremost you are the elected member of the council. Last time we had a new council, I said ‘I am not your boss. You have been independently elected and are accountable and responsible for whatever you say and do.’ I believe we have a responsibility to create an environment where everyone can succeed, by removing barriers to their success.

The mayor’s role is set out in regulations, but it only scratches the surface. There’s another side, which only current or previous mayors would understand. It’s the responsibility of the city or area you represent. And that doesn’t stop, day or night. It’s something you can’t put on a spreadsheet or explain to someone else, because it’s a personal thing. As mayor, you are accountable and responsible for things you actually have nothing to do with. For instance, If someone has a car accident, people will often blame the road, and therefore the council and mayor. The fact they were drunk or stoned or going too fast or had bald tyres doesn’t come into it. You have to understand the situation, and think how best to represent the city, not yourself, in the best light.

The role is as much as you want to make it. I’ve seen mayors in some cities sleepwalk through the job, but the vast majority work their arses off with very little thanks or reward, but they don’t do it for that.

What do you think you brought to the role of mayor?

I have the ability stay calm under pressure, and rely on my knowledge and experience to do and say the right thing. I learned that a key attribute is to listen to people, try to stand in their shoes to really understand their point of view and then relate that view to the issue in question.

I’ve always had the view that you provide for today and plan for tomorrow. I put much time and effort with others in the planning ahead. Lots of politicians I have worked with didn’t have much interest in long term planning, just how daily issues affected their chances of being re-elected. Tauranga’s success is no accident, it is the result of a comprehensive plan which I had a role in developing and executing along with others using the resources we had at the time. 

While as a mayor you must lead, you don’t achieve much on your own. You can achieve huge things as a team.

What makes a good councillor?

I’ve always said ‘If you want something said, ask a male, if you want something done, ask a female’. Pretty much to a person, the women on the council are harder working and more focused than men. I think it’s because they communicate better, and are more passionate about the job. Generally speaking, women tend to do things which benefit others, as they are less ego driven.

And they network better too. Because New Zealand is still so small, those connections are really valuable. There are so few gatekeepers; you could have a chat with the prime minister if you really wanted to.

What aspect of the job was most challenging, did you work out how to overcome it?

When people connected to the council were affected by big losses like death, homes and businesses. I didn’t ever overcome getting emotionally involved. But I learned to front the challenge head on, and share the emotional side with those involved.

How did being mayor affect your family?

In hindsight, I too often prioritised my mayoral role above my family, and in particular in how I allocated my time. I believe this is a common issue with politicians, and especially those in roles of leadership. On the positive side there were occasions where my family met extraordinary people, because of my job.

Where are the gaps in Tauranga?

We are still struggling to find work for a professional couple in Tauranga. A recently arrived couple I know are a civil engineer and an accountant. They are finding it hard to get two jobs at the moment. The city will grow into it, though.

This building we are in, on the corner of Elizabeth Street, was a game changer. The next big one will be the new university campus. That will transform the city. The redevelopment is happening. In five to seven years, the CBD will be humming.

It will bring not only the energy and verve of students, but also the academic staff. And they will need different stimuli like museums, art galleries.

And there still isn’t enough to do for those in their twenties. We have to admit that. It will change, though. Where there is a demand, the supply will follow suit. We just need to keep them here in the meantime.

What do you think Tauranga City Council’s greatest achievement has been, over the years?

Our Growth Management Strategy called SmartGrowth. A number of key entities are working together with communities to plan ahead for the whole sub-region, which is a key element to our success. I’m proud to say I’ve been involved since its inception, and remain involved.

And finally, what advice would you give to someone who thinks they’d make a good mayor?

I will always support someone’s desire to stand as a councillor or for the mayoralty; it is a critical part of our democratic process. The problem is that many candidates have no idea about the role and the demands. Fortunately the voting public do have an understanding, and generally get it right at the election as far as the mayoralty is concerned. My advice for any candidate would be to spend time understanding the community you hope to represent, and the mechanics of that local government.

---

“When I was elected as mayor, the town was being run by a small group of grey-haired businessmen. They pretty much decided on who would, and who wouldn’t be the mayor, and who would be ‘elected’ as councillors. Someone in the group came to me and said ‘Go back to the beach where you belong.’ My first mayoral function was at Tauranga Race Course at a presentation of the Japan New Zealand Cup, where I politely recounted the story to a group which included that gentleman.”

“Luckily the power of those people has diminished, in fact it’s almost non-existant now. The city has outgrown them. There’s a different generation coming through with a different agenda. In their thirties, they have a generosity of spirit. They aren’t motivated to make cash for themselves, but to create things for their generation and those after. And they take ownership. They don’t sit back and say ‘we want this’ to the government and council, they just think about what they can do to make where we live a better place. And they stick their necks out. Most of the time they succeed. To me, that’s very exciting. ”

Throwback: Liam Messam looks back at his 2006 UNO cover

THEN

Liam Messam went straight from Rotorua Boys' High School into the New Zealand Sevens Squad and began his full time rugby professional career. He was just 21 years old when he starred on the cover.

NOW

I must have had a full tub of Dax Wax in my hair. I laugh now when I see the cover, all styled up with the clothes and 'do.

Back then I was totally immersed, committed and focused. It was almost an obsession to be the best player I could be.

The highlight of my career? The friends I've made. Although, winning the Rugby World Cup in 2015 was up there, too! We had such an awesome culture within the team.

In August, I'm off to Toulon in France. The rugby will be fantastic. I've been to Paris and Marseille a couple of times, but this will be a completely different experience.

My two boys, Jai and Bodie, they are learning a few words in French to set them up for a new life in France.

I have such passion and love for the game, I'll keep playing until my body can't take it anymore. As for a career afterwards, I'd like to work in youth leadership, and of course, health and fitness.

House proud: Landmark Homes latest show home brings the wow factor to Omokoroa

Its creators and its visitors are getting a real kick out of this stellar new Omokoroa show home.

WORDS Monique Balvert-O’Connor PHOTOS Amanda Aitken

Carly Stewart suspects the latest Landmark Homes Bay of Plenty show home in Omokoroa may forever be her favourite. She and her husband, Logan, own the franchise and have recently opened their latest creation, which is drawing all kinds of favourable comments. 

Sitting high with water views, the new 244m2 show home has a suitably coastal aesthetic. It’s a celebration of white well done. “It’s quite a different style to our first one in Edgecumbe Road, Tauranga,” says Carly. “It’s traditional in the sense that it’s a linear weatherboard home, but contemporary due to its fresh Hamptons-with-a-Kiwi-twist look. Think white, white, white, from the roof to the exterior and interior paint colours, to the curtains, to the kitchen…”

The two-storey house has roadside appeal by the bucketload, tempting you to explore. A long, extra-wide hallway leads from the entryway to the main living area. There’s a true sense of arrival when entering through the French doors into this space complete with a tongue-and-groove cathedral ceiling. With its exposed rafters, this pitched feature continues out to a portico. On offer here is covered seating, Kaimai views, an outdoor oven and a fire (there’s an inside fire too). A snug/media room, two bedrooms, a powder room, a bathroom and the laundry can all be found on this level of the house, with the generous garage a few steps down. 

Upstairs is dedicated to the master suite. Carly loves the “pure luxe” ensuite with
its glamorous back-lit mirrors and free-standing bath. For her, dressing houses is a way to express her creative side, and the light fittings used this home are a fine example of her flair. Brass lantern-look exterior lights hint at the nautical, while immediately beyond the front door are rattan-style drop pendant lights hung at staggered heights. A beaded handelier is an eye-catcher in the dining area, and in the powder room and master bedroom suspended lights are examples of the “subtle, special touches” Carly loves to inject. 

Also wonderful are the brushed- brass accents throughout, such as the ensuite tapware and handles on the main living area’s double doors.

This house has true multi-generational appeal. There are a number of built-in technological features that ensure it’s future-proofed – and there’s even provision for a lift.  

To be wowed by this beautiful show home, call into 2 Goldstone Place, Harbour Ridge, Omokoroa. It’s open Tuesday to Sunday from noon until 4pm, and by appointment.

LANDMARKHOMES.CO.NZ

Top of her game

WORDS JENNY RUDD PHOTOS TRACIE HEASMAN

A PLAN TO START A FAMILY AND GET TO THE TOP OF HER GAME PROFESSIONALLY SEES MARY HILL BECOME THE NEWEST PARTNER AT TAURANGA LAW FIRM, COONEY LEES MORGAN, SUPPORTED BY HUSBAND MATT AND SONS LUCA AND MITCH.

It’s not the first time Mary has been offered the position. Eight years ago, she was taken out for a coffee with then partner, Paul Cooney. “Paul knew that Matt and I had been going through IVF to try and start a family. He was very supportive. That morning, Paul asked me if I’d like to become partner, and I said, ‘I have some news to share with you too!’

“Although I knew Cooney Lees Morgan would have been happy for me to be a partner while I had babies, I felt that it was a special family time. I also knew that if I wanted to make partner in the future, then I would. There were people who told me I was crazy to let the opportunity go, and that it wouldn’t come round again. But my feeling was, if I wanted to make it happen then it would. I felt relaxed about waiting, and had faith in Cooney’s. I had seen that they treat people really well. When it comes to looking after their staff, and in particular mums, they always think long-term. I’m in a good place right now – the kids are happy, the youngest has been at school for a year, we have built a new home. Now feels like the right time to become a partner.”

MAKING THE MOVE

It was that desire to have a family, and to work in an environment where Mary could succeed whilst raising children, which drew the couple to Cooney Lees Morgan. “I had been working in competition law, doing high court negotiations in Auckland. Matt was working for Mercury Energy in a corporate role. Matt and I are both from Auckland, and it never occurred to me that we’d live anywhere else. But even then, 13 years ago, it felt busy and big. We started to look at places like Nelson, Hawke’s Bay and Tauranga.”

A connection to Sally Powdrell, chairperson of partners at the firm, convinced Mary to make the move. “I was offered a role in resource management – quite different from the competition law I’d been practising. But there were three big clinchers for me. One was Sally; she’s just amazing. She’d been made partner in her twenties, and although her children are now young adults, she was able to work part-time while they were teenagers, when she felt they needed her most. The second was that I could see the firm were driven to support community initiatives and play a role in building the community. The third was that they seemed to be a very happy group of lawyers. That’s a good sign when you are looking at committing to a firm! So, Matt and I made the move.”

“We had been living on Franklin Road in Ponsonby. We loved it, apart from at Christmas when we had to buy a load of cheap lights to stop our neighbours being angry with us. Every day another bulb went. By the end of the holiday, we were a pretty sorry sight. We could see people pointing and laughing at our efforts as they walked past!”

NEW GIRL

Mary is a ‘take-the-bull-by-the-horns’ kind of girl, which is lucky. She needed to learn, not only the different ways of doing things at her new firm, but also another area of law. “Paul Cooney had never had a junior before, but he turned out to be a brilliant mentor. He took me to every single meeting and upskilled me. There was all this new information to absorb. About a month into it, there was a hearing, and he chucked me straight into it! But I felt really supported, and so just got stuck in and had a go. It’s the way I approach most things.

“I was getting practical experience too: more so than with a big firm. I enjoyed being a junior to two QCs because I was able to go to the Court of Appeal and watch and learn about that side of things. In Auckland, I hadn’t run my own trials, but now I have four to six hearings a year. There have been two already this year. I had a three-week hearing when Luca, my eldest, was six weeks old. I presented my client’s case for four days, then a member from my team sat through the rest of the hearing. Good communication amongst my team meant we gave our client the best possible service.”

Most of the partners are from Auckland or Wellington. I ask Mary if she misses the big smoke, but she shakes her head. “We love it here, and the kids are thriving. In every way, it’s exceeded our expectations. I wanted to be able to make a life here and still be in litigation. Hearings are ‘full on’, and you need to be on your game to respond to everything that is thrown at you. Otherwise you end up looking like an idiot. In Auckland, there’s no way I could have had a family life with Matt and the children, and prepared properly for hearings. It would have been logistically impossible. Here in the Bay, our hearings are at the Twin Towers in The Mount: really close to my house! I can have a coffee at Slowfish, spend the morning at the hearing, take my client out for lunch, head back in, then go for a run around the Mount afterwards. It is infinitely better than battling through a sticky and swelling city to do the same job.”

PRESENTEEISM

It’s hard to believe the extent to which Mary’s firm make it possible for the parents to work around raising children. Old, established law firms aren’t renowned for making concessions like that, but it’s deep in Cooney’s culture to be supportive of their staff. “When my children were tiny, I was able to work two days a week for a couple of years. That’s virtually unheard of in our industry. I was still running hearings, my RMA practice and negotiating, and Cooney’s were happy to make it work. I shared a nanny with a colleague. If we had to go to a meeting together, which was not unusual, the nanny would look after all the children.”

“Recently I was up in Auckland at a conference with a group of young lawyers. They talked about the prevalence of ‘presenteeism’ at work. It’s the show of being constantly present and available at work, even if there isn’t anything to do. We discussed how damaging that culture is. It doesn’t get the best out of lawyers, so ultimately doesn’t do the best for the clients. It’s such an antiquated way of working, and one that we really don’t support.”

EXPECTATIONS

This culture of open-minded trust has a real effect on the work produced. “We are a pragmatic bunch. We’d much rather pick up the phone and have a quick chat than send out a waffly five-page letter. Because of that, we have built a good reputation both as a legal practice and employer. We have some big clients, like Zespri, Milford Asset Management, and Norske Skog Tasman, who like the way we work and choose us over the big city legal firms from Auckland or Wellington.”

THE JUGGLE

Mary is a bit of a superwoman. I asked her how a normal day looks: it can’t be easy having two small children and being at the top of your game professionally. She is incredibly fit and likes to do sunrise yoga then go for a run. If she has extra work on because of a hearing, it’s all done early in the morning. “Then it means I can do the school run. That’s my time to see how my boys are doing, and chat to the teachers. I usually get to work around 9.30 am, which is also good as I miss the traffic over the bridge. By the time I get home in the early evening to relieve the nanny, I’m done. Evenings are for Netflix!”

Mary’s favourite spots

Dinner: Burger Fuel, then Pilot Bay with Matt and the children

Glass of wine: On my new deck!

Clothes: I always shop at The Mount – Sisters & Co, Wallis, and North Beach

Run: The Rotorua lakes

Downtime: I belong to a cool book club, where we do anything apart from read books. We go for walks, have cooking lessons, and do anything else we can think of!

Jake Millar: life in the fast lane

At 22 years old, Jake Millar from Greymouth in the South Island has interviewed some of the most influential business people on the planet: The CEO of Fonterra, the CEO of Walmart, the CEO of Tesla, founders of billion-dollar startups, and godfather of entrepreneurs everywhere, Sir Richard Branson. He has interviewed around 500 people over the last four years. 

Jake sold his first business, Oompher, to the New Zealand Government at 19 years old. His second start-up, Unfiltered, has just celebrated its second birthday from New York, where Jake's now living as he launches into the States.

Jake has bottled his ability to get people to talk to him and turned it into a business. Unfiltered gives you access to the stories and wisdom of some of the world's most successful businessmen and women. Interviewed by Jake, they share what they've learned, inspiring others to achieve greatness. Each interview is about an hour-long, and is recorded on video. Jake's done around 500 of them, and they are all published on unfiltered.tv. 

Before he'd launched Unfiltered with his co-founder, Yuuki Ogino, Jake had secured commercial partnerships with Bayleys, Craigs Investments, Price Waterhouse Coopers.

In July this year, I went to Unfiltered Live, held at Auckland Museum. It was slick. Hundreds of people round the country came to hear Jake and other speakers such as the Prime Minister and Sir Graham Henry.

Dapper, neat, scrupulously organised, bespectacled, and always smiling, there's a touch of the #geekchic about Jake. But his old-school, gentlemanly manners give him an air of panache. Jake wraps up lots of information neatly and tightly in short spaces of time. He has got used to sharing the two-minute version of his story to promote Unfiltered. In an interview with an American TV channel that broadcasts live from the New York Stock Exchange, the presenters start off smiling politely at the rather young, earnest-looking fellow in front of them. But after a few minutes, their practiced, generic welcome is slightly askew, and their jaws hang a little loose.

A LOSS

When Jake was 15 years old, his father, Rod Miller, died in a plane crash over Fox Glacier, along with nine other people. Four of them were Jake's friends. Rod owned a sky-diving business. The crash occurred on the same day as the first earthquake hit Christchurch. John Key travelled across the South Island paying his respects to the victims and visiting affected families.
Afterwards, Jake wrote to the Prime Minister thanking him for coming to the crash site, and asking him for words of advice about his future. John Key responded with a personal and encouraging note, and visited the 15-year-old at his home in Greymouth. It was a bright moment amongst all that horror.

Jake says, " At seven years old, John Key lost his father, yet went on to achieve his dreams. I thought, 'If he can do it, so can I.' And I was inspired by the kindness and humanity he had shown in his leadership of our country at that awful time."

SCHOOL

From a young age, Jake has worked hard. "I set myself the goal of being head boy of Christchurch Boys' High School (CBHS) and head boy of Adams House. The two positions hadn't been held at the same time in 11 years." He achieved both those goals in 2012.

Whilst at school, Jake organised quite the line-up of speakers for assembly at CBHS: Rob Fyfe, then CEO of Air New Zealand, Rhys Darby from Flight of the Conchords, and Bill English, then Minister of Finance. Photos of baby-faced Jake honing his interviewing skills with these national heavyweights are shockingly recent. Rob Fyfe is now one of a few experienced CEOs who sit on the board of Unfiltered. He says "I have known Jake since he was 16, and he is one of the most inspiring young New Zealanders I have met in my business career.”

As he headed towards his final terms, Jake read Richard Branson's autobiography, Losing My Virginity. It ignited in him a passion for business. He could see how fun and exciting it was.

But career advice at school was woefully lacking. "You were asked what you thought you'd like to do, and were handed a few pamphlets. Where was the advice from someone who'd been there and done it? What was the best way to get started in a particular job? Where was the motivation to get out there and achieve great things? There wasn't any."

And so, turning down a $40,000 scholarship to study law at Otago University, Jake left school and founded his first business, Oompher. The product was what he had wanted a year earlier: careers advice – from the top of the pile. He interviewed people leading their industry, and invited them to share their wise words, asking questions like, 'What does it take to succeed in your industry?' The videos of the interview were published online. Within two months of launching, Jake started to negotiate with the Government who wanted to buy it. Six months later, in mid-2015, they did.

30-YEAR PLAN

If this all sounds very neat and well-thought-out, that's because it is. This isn't a series of lucky events. Jake plays the longest of games. He has a 30-year plan. That's pretty hard to fathom in our era of instant gratification. "Sir Michael Hill has a 30-year plan. He refers to it regularly. And he advised me to do the same. You have to think aspirationally to make your plan. I  thought about what it is that I wanted from life. Here's my list: family, fun, friends, finances, fortune (good health/luck), influence, and, above all else, total freedom. Whenever I need to make a decision in my life, I look at whether it will bring me closer to those goals. If it doesn't, then I say no."

RAISING CAPITAL

In 2016 he needed to raise $1.2 million to take Unfiltered to the States. "I was confident we'd be able to raise the funds, but I was humbled by the calibre of our investors. Many of them are friends I have made over the years." Some friends! Kevin Roberts, ex-CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi; and Sara Tetro, founder of 62 Models and Talent, are some of the A-list line-up of investors. Having them onboard creates a snowball effect: they bring in friends and contacts who are then willing to be interviewed for Unfiltered.

We meet Jake in between San Francisco and Fiji, and find out how he secures interviews with such big names, and commercial relationships without having launched his business. And what motivated such grit and drive.

Jenny: Happy birthday Unfiltered! Two years old in November. And now you have launched into America. How did it differ to your launch in New Zealand?

Jake: Probably the main thing is the size of the market. In New Zealand we are just four and a half million people. It's quite easy to target who you want and truly reach that market, whereas in America there are 320-odd million people, so it's hard reach them all. In America, we have repositioned our entire business. We have really focused on one very specific market as opposed to focusing on everyone. Also, we've targeted New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco at this stage, not the whole country. We've picked out places where we feel we are going to get the most traction.

Jenny: One of the most incredible things about Oompher and Unfiltered, is your ability to get people to come and talk to you. How have you done that?

Jake:  The main word is persistence. We just go, and go, and go, and go. When we reach out to new people to interview, whether it's Sir Richard Branson, or Ashton Kucher, or Sarah Blakely, we just hammer them. I know that sounds aggressive, but you have to be because there are so many journalists and media agencies competing for that attention. Quite often we'll follow someone up 15, 16, 17 times before we get the interview.

Jenny: How do you know when to stop?

Jake: It depends. If I am not getting a reply at all, then I'll probably carry on. If someone's not interested, they'll usually come back straight away and say so. So if they don't send that reply, then you can probably always push harder. A founder of a very successful and well-known company recently came back after four or five emails from us with a one-word response: 'no.' That was it. That's enough for us, we know he's not interested right now. But that doesn't mean I'll give up for the rest of my life.

Jenny: As well as being persistent, you need to be good at reading people, and likable. How did those attributes develop?

Jake: Growing up, I spent a lot of time around adults. My parents never got babysitters or went away on holiday together without my brother and me. We did everything together. So, if there was a dinner party, we would always be there. From about four or five years old. I don't think my parents ever went on holiday together when we were young. We were always together as a family, so I spent lots of time, listening to adults and watching how they react to each other.

Jenny: Oompher and Unfiltered are quite similar businesses. What made you start another so similar to Oompher?

Jake: I really wanted to build a valuable business, and Oompher had taught me lots of important lessons about target markets, product/market position, and how to commercialise a product. I knew I wanted to start another business, and I was tempted to start something completely different, like manufacturing or software. Unfiltered was similar to what I'd been doing, and I knew how hard it was to commercialise media. But I’d done about 30 interviews with people after Oompher – which I was passionate about – so I decided to give it a crack, and Unfiltered was born.

Jenny: Before you launched Unfiltered, you had some big names signed up as customers. How did you know, at 19 years old, how to pitch your idea to them?

Jake: Partly from experience with Oompher. Our business model was to get companies to sponsor the content, with their branding at the back of us as we filmed. A kind of traditional advertising model. Also, I really believed we were solving an important problem and would have an audience of young, aspiring entrepreneurs. I knew that market was really valuable to these companies.

The person who probably helped me the most was my accountant from PwC, Scott McLeaver. We ‘white-boarded’ the whole business, how it could make money, and what commercial partnerships might look like. He gave some great advice. As a teenager owning a new business, it was invaluable to get that kind of support.

Jenny: How do you make the cut to be interviewed on Unfiltered?

Jake: There aren’t really any criteria. We look at who's hot in the media, who our subscribers are pitching to us, saying, 'I want to learn from that person.' And we look at why they might be relevant: maybe they've sold or founded a company, or they are growing fast globally, or expanding internationally.

Equally, it could be someone in whom there's hardly any public interest, but we discover they have an amazing story. Brendan Lindsay from Cambridge would be perfect example. Prior to him selling Sistema Plastics for $660 million, nobody really knew who he was. He'd kept his story very private. He's very humble. We love breaking big stories like Brendan's.

Jenny: You’ve interviewed a number of people from the Bay and Waikato on Unfiltered. Chris Liddell, former CFO at Microsoft and General Motors, is from Matamata. Theresa Gattung, ex-CEO of Telecom, is from Rotorua. John Lord, founder of LivWell (Colorado's biggest, legal cannabis dealer), is from Te Awamutu. And of course, your good friend Nick Mowbray, co-CEO of Zuru Toys, who's from Tokoroa. What do you think it is about those provincial areas that's produced such successful people?

Jake: There are a huge number of really successful New Zealanders globally who are relatively unknown, here. I believe the CEO of Walmart USA, Greg Foran, is from Hamilton too. I think coming from a small town, you are always hustling, trying to get ahead. When you grow up in a big city, everything's there. When you come from a small place, there's always something to reach for. For instance, my journey started in Greymouth on the west coast of the South Island. From there I went to boarding school in Christchurch, then I moved to Auckland, and now New York. It's called step migration. People generally move from a smaller place to somewhere slightly bigger. If you are born in the big city, everything's there. You probably don't know what to aspire to next.

Jenny: You wrote a list of 21 things you'd learned at 21 years old, and said that friendships were one of the most important things in life. But you have also spoken about not seeking out friendships when you were at school. What changed?

Jake: At secondary school I was very goal-driven. That made me different from most of the boys there, and I felt they weren't very tolerant of people who did things differently. I liked playing badminton, wanted to become head boy, and wanted to start a business. But what was expected was to sit around in the common room, talking about rugby and cricket. When you are at school, there isn't really much you can do about that, because you are stuck in that environment.

That was one of the deciding factors in leaving and starting my own business. I knew that if I  studied law, I would end up in a law firm answering to a boss I might not like, trying to get further in my career with people I didn't really want to be spending time with. If you have your own business, you get to decide who you spend time with. I was able to start working with people I really liked, and start building the deep and meaningful relationships that were missing at school.

Jenny: Immigration to the Bay of Plenty is strong, and many of our imports are looking to run a national or global business from here. What advice can you give them?

Jake: Utilise technology in every way you can. Today it's possible to run a global business from any small marketplace. You need to attract the right talent, and be prepared to travel. Just remember, everything's possible.

Jenny: And finally, who was the hardest person to track down?

Jake: That would have to be Sir Richard Branson. He's a very difficult person to talk to, because so many people are trying to interview someone like him. When I finally got his email address, I sent him a personal letter, and he agreed to an interview. Even after that it took persistence to make sure it happened. Then, all of sudden, I was waiting in our studio and being told that Sir Richard had just arrived.

To see the rest of Jake's interview, giving his million-dollar advice for starting up a business, and talking about his friendship with ex-Warriors owner, Eric Watson, and his Lifeline fundraising dinner at the Coatesville mansion, watch below:

Drifting through life

“There’s a lot to think about at such high speed. It’s a guessing game as to where the other car is because you often can’t see anything through plumes of smoke.”

WORDS TALIA WALDEGRAVE / PHOTOS JAHL MARSHALL

Jodie Verhulst is the number one female drift car driver in the country and watching her drive is phenomenal. Her arms and legs move at rapid speed, as if she is performing a type of dance, but her demeanor is cool, calm and collected. 

“It’s really just muscle memory and I don’t even know what I’m doing half the time.”

Jodie is one of the nicest people I think I’ve ever met. My editor, introduced us with the words, “Goodness, don’t you two look alike?” Jodie nods, smiling politely, but all I can do is blush. I certainly don’t see a similarity but am humbled in any way to be likened to this beauty. 

It is the hottest day of summer and we are at the D1NZ Drifting Championship, at ASB Baypark Arena. It is an assault on the senses. Stifling heat is intensified by the compulsory wearing of closed-toed shoes and the noise is like nothing I’ve ever heard; piercing and shocking, it sends vibrations rattling through my entire body. The smell is an overwhelming combination of petrol, dust and burning rubber. Cars come at me from every direction and it pays to be on high alert. It’s ridiculously exciting. 

You'd be forgiven if like me, you were not entirely sure what drifting is. Don't tell any of the lads in my life because along with the photographer from this shoot, they'll either scoff at, or disown me for admitting my ignorance. I had to google drifting and back it up with YouTube to work it out. Drifting is a technique in which a driver deliberately over-steers, losing traction while maintaining control. It’s all about showmanship, angle, speed and line.

I meet with Jodie a few days later and her explanation is far more relatable. 

“Drifting is like ballet but with two cars. You mimic the car in front and getting as close as you can without touching. There are two laps, one when you’re the leader, one when you’re the chaser. It’s a different sport to get your ahead around in the beginning, because instead of breaking into the corner, you actually accelerate.”

I’m in awe of this impressive woman who is killing it, in what is seemingly a man’s world. 

“Although we live in a time where there’s a balance between the sexes, you definitely feel a bit of pressure being one of the only females.” 

“My brother introduced me to cars and my partner Drew introduced me to drifting, and it was all downhill from there.”

“The response this weekend at the Championships has blown me away. I’ve had women coming up to me saying how much they love my driving, even the older ones. I’ll often catch some of the shyer, young girls out of the corner of my eye and I love to be able to give them something real to look up to other than pop stars or film stars. That especially, is a highlight with what I do. Although it’s just a bi-product of my driving, it makes me really happy, it’s really cool.”

Jodie’s partner Drew is the other half of her team and together they live and breathe all things drifting. I comment that she is very brave working so closely with her partner in such an intense environment, many relationships wouldn’t be able to weather it. 

“Drew has been an incredible mentor. He’s been one step ahead of me the whole time. I’m very lucky because it doesn’t matter to him that his partner is out there battling and might do better than him. I’d love to go head-to-head with him in a battle, there’d be no holds barred and I think there’d be a lot of damage to the cars!” 

This leads me to question the safety in drifting. I found myself on edge of my seat for the duration of each race - it’s hair-raisingly scary. 

“We’re increasing speeds and making the cars lighter, so it’s risky, but safety always comes first. We have a cage, harnesses and helmets, so compared to other sports, it’s quite safe.”

“If you’re not getting that feeling of nerves and adrenaline, and if you’re not scaring yourself, then you’re not pushing hard enough. It’s very powerful and you definitely work up a good sweat. I’ll be drenched by the end of today. Getting into the car is like stepping into a sauna.”

Jodie’s sweet nature seems contradictory to someone who would head into battle, deliberately aiming to knock out her opponent. It’s clear that drifting, like all sport, is incredibly competitive. 

“It’s a tough sport, and in the last two years, the gap has closed so much between competitive drivers. You have to do something special and really push the boundaries to stand out. I’m competing against people who have been in the sport five or six years longer than me, so I really have to go as hard as I can. It’s about more speed, sharper angles.”

Heightening this adrenalin-fuelled atmosphere are the fans. “The atmosphere at Baypark is insane, particularly as this is our home track. We’ve had people yelling in our ears and getting right in our faces, but that’s all part of the build up and adds to the excitement. When the drivers were introduced last night in the preliminary round and my name was called, I couldn’t believe it. The audience just went nuts. There’s just nothing like that and I’ll never forget it, not for my entire life.  I was actually choking up a little bit.”

I mention that a lot of my friends have been talking about her, without knowing about our interview. “There are a lot of closet drifters out there I think!”

Jodie tries to get me into the car so she can give me a ‘hot lap.’ I have absolutely no qualms in telling you all, I firmly declined. Save your tyres, save your petrol and use it far more wisely on someone else. I’ll be sitting firmly on the edge of my seat.

Davinci Clinic: the cooler way to shift stubborn weight

WORDS Pip Crombie PHOTO Logan Weaver

We all have stubborn areas of fat which we just can’t shift, even with regular, intensive exercise and a good diet.

While surgical procedures like liposuction and abdominoplasty are popular for removing excess areas of fat and tightening loose skin, they do require a general anaesthetic and significant recovery time.

Good news. There are now some non-invasive techniques for helping to get rid of areas of stubborn fat, typically around the waist and tummy, thighs and upper arms and double chin. One of the most popular techniques is CoolSculpting, using a technology called Cryolipolysis®.

Widely acknowledged as being safe and effective, CoolSculpting is the only FDA-cleared procedure to use controlled cooling to safely target and eliminate diet and exercise-resistant fat.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
Fat cells freeze at higher temperatures than the surrounding tissues. CoolSculpting technology safely delivers precise cooling to gently and effectively target the fat cells underneath the skin. The treated fat cells are crystallized (frozen), and then die. Over time, your body naturally processes the fat and eliminates these dead cells, leaving a more sculpted you. As a body-contouring procedure, it offers an effective solution to shifting stubborn bulges, has no down-time, requires no anaesthetic, no needles, is suitable for most people, friendly to your budget and perhaps most enticing of all, is performed with only minimal discomfort. 

SAFETY FIRST!
Make sure you go to a specialist nurse who is trained to develop a customised treatment plan for your areas of concern, advise on the suitability of CoolSculpting and work within your budget.

There are lesser versions of the CoolSculpting technology available on the market. If you are investigating options, you will see that only CoolSculpting is permitted to use the term Cryolypolisis®. Be wary of imitations and counterfeits and devices which lack the safety mechanisms of CoolSculpting. The extensive training necessary for CoolSculpting ensures that our nurses are very skilled in recommending which areas will respond to treatment and how many treatments are required. This provides consistency in results and optimal outcomes for you, the patient. Two or more treatments are usually scheduled and results are not immediate, but generally become evident over weeks as the fat cells die and are eliminated. So it’s not immediately obvious that you have had any ‘work done.’ Both men and women are loving the results of CoolSculpting at the Da Vinci Clinic. Take a moment to enquire to find out if it’s the answer you’ve been looking for to combat those unwanted bulges. 

davinciclinic.co.nz 

Taaniko: the woman behind the mural

WORDS Laura McCleannan PHOTOS Tracie Heasman

If you’ve driven down Totara Street recently, chances are you’ve seen it. A young Māori woman’s striking features, painted by famous Irish street artist Fin DAC, embellish a 7-metre-high wall in what has become one of The Mount’s most recognisable murals. Her hair is wild, her stance strong, and her eyes are a clever reflection of Mauao in the distance (if you look close enough). Her name is Taaniko Nordstrom. She’s the model, artist, and entrepreneur behind Soldiers Rd Portraits – a unique Māori portraiture business that Taaniko runs with her sister-in-law, Vienna, in Cambridge.

“People don’t realise it’s me, until they see me wear the moko,” Taaniko explains during our photoshoot. Seeing the two faces side by side, however, it’s clear Fin is one helluva talented artist. He first flew to New Zealand in 2015, in search of a muse for the Mount Maunganui Street Art Festival. “His usual aesthetic is Asian women,” Taaniko says, “but he wanted to paint someone indigenous. He googled ‘Māori woman portrait’, and my face came up. I said yes straight away because I knew it would be a statement – a Māori woman with a moko in the middle of The Mount? How cool!

“Fin didn’t know anything about the Māori culture, be he wanted to learn. So when he started to paint the mural, I came to Waiata Tautoko, and sang for him. I told him this is how we show support in our culture, and he was blown away. After getting to know me a bit better, Fin felt like my hair needed to be wilder, so he went back and changed it. We really vibed as artists.”

While Fin was painting her, Taaniko was trying to keep up with her own portraiture business, which was exploding in New Zealand as well as internationally. “I’m the typical Kiwi entrepreneur story – I got back from travelling in 2013 and was dirt broke. Mum is an artist so we always had portraits of native American chiefs on the wall. But it wasn’t until I saw the original photos of these chiefs (at the Smithsonian in New York) that I started thinking about photos of Māori leaders. I wanted to bring them to life in some way.

“When I got home I went to the op shop and asked mum to help me whip up some old-school korowai (cloaks), piupiu (skirts) and collars. I got dressed, went into the shed, drew a moko on myself, and took a photo on my iPad. I aged the photo with a filter and chucked it on Facebook. Almost immediately I had people asking where I had the photo taken and how much it cost. I was like, what? People would pay for this?!

“I called Vienna and told her to bring her camera to the Kawhia Kai Festival. She’d never done a portrait before – she’s a landscape photographer. But she loved the idea, so we packed up a big suitcase of props and an old broken gazebo, and set up a stall. It was completely hotchpotch – our backdrop was a duvet cover from the Sallies in Cambridge. We did over 40 portraits that day, and two days later we rocked up at the South Auckland market and did another 50 portraits. The rest is history.”

“We’ve moko’d up kids in a New York subway, a barber shop in Brooklyn, and couples under the Eiffel Tower. We got a lot of attention quite quickly because no one does what we do.”

In true laid-back kiwi style, Taaniko didn’t even organise market stalls – they just turned up and sweet-talked their way in. I suppose tenacity is a given with six older brothers. “My family have always encouraged me to be proud of my culture and to think outside the square. In fact, the name Soldiers Rd was inspired by memories of travelling to The Mount from Cambridge as a child. Whenever we’d pass Soldiers Rd at the bottom of the Kaimais, Mum would ask us what we thought the name meant. I thought it represented someone’s story, or their journey through life. When we first started editing our portraits, all of the eyes looked so defiant. Immediately I thought of Soldiers Rd, and the name stuck.”

From homeless men on the street to the Duchess of Austria on her private yacht, Taaniko’s shot thousands of people, and her work has taken her across the globe. “We ran Soldiers Rd from Papamoa for a year and have a studio in Cambridge, but our whole business packs into two bags, so we’re always travelling. We’ve moko’d up kids in a New York subway, a barber shop in Brooklyn, and couples under the Eiffel Tower. We got a lot of attention quite quickly because no one does what we do – no one had taken moko off kapa haka stages and used it in a completely different space.” So, what’s the Soldiers Rd experience like? “It’s authentic,” Taaniko explains, “but it’s also a modern take, because we shoot all nationalities. Whether you’re brown, white, yellow or green, the first thing we do is whakawhanaungatanga – we talk about where we’re from and establish a relationship. I start styling as soon as people walk in the door. But this connection sets the vibe for the day, and that's the most important part. If I can’t connect with the person and make them feel proud of who they are, their eyes will look dead in the photo. I have half an hour to mould a mind and create a story. The fastest part is taking the photo!” She’s not a trained makeup artist or hairstylist, but Taaniko credits her love of fashion and time as a flight attendant for her beauty and styling skills. “We dress clients, style their hair and use a stencil to do a temporary moko. The stencils have been blessed for the purpose of reuse. All of our props are from op shops or old theatres. I chop them up and use big clips from Bunnings to keep clothing in place.”

Taaniko is proudly contributing to a resurgence of Māori culture in New Zealand. If you haven’t seen her on Totara Street yet, look up next time you drive away from The Mount. “Twenty years ago, it wasn’t possible to have a job that paid me to inspire Māori and non-Māori through Māori culture. I’m so excited to think that my kids will grow up surrounded by Kiwis with a connection to our important culture. Everyone has a legacy and a story, and my favourite thing about Soldiers Rd is that I get to visually capture it for people.”

soldiersrd.nz

Something in the water

His face is already pretty much etched into the national psyche, and that easy smile and cool, calm demeanor have become known around the world, but in person, Peter Burling could not be more humble, more unassuming, or any more relaxed.

He may be an Olympic gold medal winner with a string of international titles to boot, and of course there is that not insignificant matter of bringing the America’s Cup back to its rightful home here in New Zealand, but in the flesh the man responsible for whipping a multi-million dollar boat through water at speeds approaching 100 km per hour is just a sweet-natured, very casual, amiable twenty-something. He’s arguably the world’s best sailor, but at heart he is still just a boy from the Bay, unfazed and unchanged by fame and more than willing to spend some time in front of the camera and talk to UNO about the journey so far.

It is a journey that began around 20 years ago in the Welcome Bay estuary, where an eight-year-old Burling and his brother first set sail in Jelly Tip, a wooden Optimist-class yacht that had definitely seen better days. “My brother got into it first and I just kinda got dragged along,” Burling says of his earliest foray into sailing, with that trademark understatement. “My Dad had been into sailing and thought it was a good skill to have. And it kind of spiralled from there.”

And when he says spiralled, he means it whirled wildly and unstoppably onto national then international stages: he won his first Optimist nationals at nine years of age, competed in the World Champs in Texas aged 12, and scooped the 2006 420 Class Worlds title in the Canary Islands at the tender age of just 15; a year later he won the Under-18 World Championship, took the 49er World Champs with Blair Tuke in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, and – again with Tuke – took home silver in the 2012 Olympics and gold in the 2016 event. Then came the America’s Cup and the New Zealand Order of Merit for Services to Sailing, but before we go there, lets just back up the bus and get back to Welcome Bay in the early noughties. 

“I have a lot of fond memories of that time,” Burling says. “Around here can be a pretty tricky place to sail, but one of the cool things about it is that you can sail in any conditions. In a lot of places you end up sailing in only one type of weather, but here, because you can get out in all kinds, it means you are quite well- rounded as you’ve had to deal with a lot of different things and looked at different ways of wining races - if you want to, you can sail in some pretty big swells at times here! The other cool thing about Tauranga is you have the keel boat club and the dinghies kind of just in one group, with adults and younger ones competing. It’s unique in that there is everything from the Learn to Sail level right on up to the keel boat club, and there’s not many around the country that have that.”

The sailing environment he encountered in Bermuda with the America’s Cup Challenge also had similarities to his early escapades on the sea around Tauranga, with a relatively limited area of open water and changeable conditions; but perhaps the main thing his formative years taught him was adaptability, a decidedly Kiwi trait if ever there was one. “One of the skills I did learn here at a young age was to be able to watch other people do a sport and to learn off them, to notice different things about how they’re sailing and have things set up, and to be able to adapt things really quickly and see whether you are sailing well or not. A large percentage of our sport is how quickly you can get the boat to go, and when people say someone is a natural sailor, they mean that person has an instinctive way of getting a boat to go faster than it should. And that is something learnt from hours of getting things balanced and learning about what is fast and what isn’t.”

And whatever happened to Jelly Tip? “I honestly don’t know,” Burling shrugs. “I’m not even sure if it was even my boat. Jelly Tip was bought for my brother and I ended up with it. . . Who knows where it is now.” Somewhere in Tauranga, someone may just have a piece of sailing history sitting in the backyard.

As Burling’s skills grew and the awards piled up – repeated questions about when the silverware outgrew the mantle piece and where they live now are all answered with a sheepish shrug and deflective smile – he also had to learn how to juggle his competitive life and the more mundane aspects of youth. Like getting an education.

Having attended Tauranga Boys College (at the same time coincidentally as cricketer Kane Williamson), he embarked on a mechanical engineering degree at Auckland University, but half way through, in his words, he decided to “major in sailing” instead. Competing in European sailing at pretty high levels and then coming back to try and focus on exams was probably never going to work, but while he may not have come out with a degree, he is the first to admit that two years of engineering studies eventually paid off on the water.

“At the Olympic level,” he says, “a lot of it is just a seat-of- your-pants kind of thing, because today you have a single platform that you can’t really change or improve.”

This is, after all, essentially a one-design race and everyone uses virtually identical equipment, so – as Burling says – “It’s a question of how you set it up and how well you can sail it!” But in something like the Americas Cup it’s different; the variables are almost infinite and change – literally – by the hour. And in that fast moving, high-tech environment, knowledge is power.

“I’ve always really liked the engineering side of sailing,” he says, “ever since I was a little kid and making things and trying things on the boats. I’ve always been quite pedantic on having a really clean and well-thought- out boat, not having anything on there that doesn’t need to be there, and having it all neat and tidy.”

And he would be the first to admit that this has translated from the waters of Welcome Bay to Bermuda. “I do feel like I had a good understanding of the systems on board and our team had a strength in the link between the sailing team and the designers, so that we knew how hard we could push it,” he says, again with an achingly acute sense of understatement. “At the end of the day, we are the ones who have to decide whether to back off or take the risk and play the game. But that is always something that I really loved, that whole side of it.”

If it sounds like a calculated risk, it is. Burling has described international level competitive sailing as being a massive game of chess, and though he finesses that description a little, it is clear he still sees it that way in his mind. “It’s a little different,” he says, “in that you can slightly change your pieces from time to time. But yeah, the better you are the less mistakes you make. And while you have to have an underlying plan, you also have to wing it sometimes.

And just as on the board, so too on the water, it is often he who dares – wings it but errs on the right side of the parameters – that wins. As we all saw played out on our

TV screens, in this level of competition things can go spectacularly wrong, and when they do, they do so at speed. Who can forget the heart stopping minutes that stretched in to hours when it seemed New Zealand’s America’s Cup challenge had nose-dived figuratively and literally. But pushing things to the limits, and recovering from the results of dancing too close to those limits, is what marks the difference between winning and losing.

“They’re incredibly cool boats that we sailed in Bermuda,” Burling says. “We were really pushing the technology side in regard to what you could and couldn’t do, particularly in regard to the structural side of things, and there are so many decisions to be made in regard to how many risks to take in regard to that structure. On the windy days during the Cup, you were really looking at the loads on everything! And whether it was luck or good management we seemed to have got it pretty right.”

‘We’ is a very common word in the vocabulary of Peter Burling. It is not the royal

‘We’, it’s just ‘we’ as in ‘us’, in lower case, and it is striking how even in his own mind he edits out Peter Burling and defaults to the team persona. Striking, and also remarkably endearing in someone who is clearly such a very competitive person; you don’t take home the huge string of awards Burling has amassed without wanting to win, though he confesses – a little apologetically – that he’s forgotten just how many World Champs or 49ers wins he has: “You’d have to look it up,” he says. 

“I’ve always been fairly competitive,” he admits, and that really is an understatement, “but I think we have gone through a period in New Zealand when we had heaps of people who were really competitive and who were pushing each other forward. And that has left us in pretty good stead for what we are doing today.

You learn that you have to keep improving and be your own critic and not really rely on too many people to help you out. We had quite minimal coaching when we were young, so that tends to make you more self reliant, and in this sport that is pretty important.”

Burling had barely been back on dry land – and yes he is aware that a huge chunk of his life is spent on the water – when he entered the international Moth class World

Champs at Lake Garda in Italy, and with almost no prep time he placed a very creditable second. Then it was back to New Zealand to continue touring the Cup, but along the way he announced that he would be joining Team Brunel in the Volvo Ocean Race, a decision that will put him up against his long time sailing partner Blair Tuke, who will be part of a different team in the race. The Volvo, formerly known as the Whitbread Round the World Race, demands a whole new skill set, with the crews being expected to much more than just sailors – medical response, sail making, engine and hydraulics repairs are all par for the course, and some legs of the race can last for up to 20 days. It ain’t for the faint hearted.

But having mastered everything from the one-man Moth class to the finely choreographed racing of the America’s Cup, it seems only fitting that he turns his talents to a new challenge. “Its something I’ve always seen as the other side of our sport,” Burling says, “and it has been a great opportunity to jump in with a team that is going to be on the pace. But we’ll have to wait and see how competitive we are, though it will be really good fun and a great chance to develop some skills. I enjoy change and variation and that is why I like doing other events and finding other ways to improve yourself. Everyday is different.”

In addition to being a remarkable success story, perhaps what we like about Peter

Burling is not just the dedication, the classic Kiwi can-do attitude and the team spirit, but the ability to do it all with a composure that borders on, well, almost disinterest.

The perfect antidote to the white-knuckle rides of the America’s Cup Challenge races were Burling’s pitch perfect performances in the post-race press conferences. He was famously accused of being asleep at the wheel, but his opposition and TV viewers alike soon found that to underestimate Peter Burling was to make a grave mistake. By the final races, more than one commentator was calling Burling’s deadpan delivery on and off the water his secret weapon, a star-turn that both baffled - and incrementally and incredibly infuriated - his opposing skipper.

“Yeah,” he says, slipping into trademark laconic post-race monotone, “it’s always been something that, from a young age, there has been pressure in competing and

I’ve always enjoyed that. I generally bring the best out of myself when I have a bit of pressure on, when you are racing for something rather than just going out for a sail.

But during the Cup, you always look quite relaxed because you know what is going on in the background and you know there are so many bits and pieces in place and obviously you have to perform really well and there is a lot of pressure, but you try to get a nice easy message out and keep everyone nice and relaxed. The main part of my job is to sail the boat fast, and we definitely did a good job of that as a team. We had some pretty tough situations to overcome at times, but we pulled through those pretty well. Having to pull through some bit and pieces – some are public knowledge and some aren’t – pulls you closer together and once we got past that first weekend, when we knew we were in with a chance, I don’t think we were ever going to let it go.” 

Bits and pieces. Those would be the near total disaster of a wrecked boat, quite possibly injury or death, and the dashed hopes of a nation who were waiting and watching eagerly at home. But as we know they overcame the bits and pieces – the public and not so public – and took home the sailing world’s greatest trophy.

“The awards are not really why we do it,’ Burling says, “but it is cool to be recognized for what we’ve managed to achieve.” There’s that we again, but then – lo and behold – there is also a brief flash of just Peter Burling. “For me, a lot of it’s about having fun along the way. Win or lose, at the end of it you want to have had fun doing it,” he says.

And behind the cool, calm exterior and the laid back public persona, behind the calculated risk taker and the perennial team player, that is all you probably need to know about Peter Burling. It’s about having fun.

The Captain: the rise of Sarah Goss

WORDS AND PHOTOS CAM NEATE

The Black Ferns Sevens team has dominated the Women’s Sevens Series, claiming three of the four World Series crowns since its inception in 2012. Cam Neate meets the captain, Sarah Goss (Sarah Hirini), and looks into the background of this world-class athlete.

Sarah Goss led her team to take silver at the Rio Olympics last year, which also happened to be the sport's debut appearance at a summer Olympics. From the frozen fields of Manawatu to an Olympic grand final on the other side of the world. For the majority of young Kiwi sportspeople, the idea of success is often found at the post-match tuckshop. The victorious mince and cheese pie or perhaps the player-of-the-day Moro bar. In conversation, it seems our cover story subject knew from a young age there was success to be had far beyond the walls of the tuck shop.

Armed with the exciting task of writing this feature on Sarah I found myself tracing my own steps back to the cold winter mornings in Blake Park, Mount Maunganui (the location for our cover shoot), searching for inspiration. Rugby, the great New Zealand sport, is for me rich in nostalgia: Wednesday after-school practices, freezing cold feet on game day, thick jerseys, mouth guards and half-time oranges. The nerves, the burning feeling in your throat as you sprint down the wing and the sweet victory of that very first try. It appears, despite my youthful obsession with the sport, my knowledge of the game, and the status quo of women’s rugby in New Zealand is today, rather lacking. Or was, until I sat down with Sarah. 

Growing up in rural Manawatu, Sarah and her two siblings spent any spare time they had outside of school helping mum and dad on the family farm. A modest upbringing according to Sarah and a household that has not seen a lot of change since, with both parents still grinding out the farm work every day. "My parents would be working on the farm from 5am until sometimes 8pm. I remember getting home from school and we’d have to do our chores. We’d bring in the firewood in and cook dinner whilst my parents worked. We’d have dinner, watch the news and go to bed."

It was in the frosty winter fields surrounding their home that Sarah began to dream of her future: an aeroplane pilot, a champion hockey player, Big Macs, hot chips and fizzy. Quite the banquet of ambition, but anything is possible when you are a kid. Once high school rolled around Sarah was off to boarding school, which not only saved her parents an hour daily return trip but it was there at Fielding High where Sarah was able to fully immerse herself in sports.

“It meant I was able to play whatever sport I wanted without my parents having to drive me around everywhere. It was all just there”. Gymnastics and netball transitioned into competitive hockey, and ultimately rugby in her final year at school. At the time, Sarah’s coach had recommended taking up rugby to help improve her fitness for hockey but she soon found the full contact and competitiveness of 15-aside rugby much more stimulating than hockey and as a result, traded her hockey stick for a pair of rugby boots. However, it was not a completely smooth transition into her newfound passion.

“I hid it from my parents for about three months, thinking they were going to tell me off for playing rugby. I felt like back then, there wasn’t much support for women’s rugby despite my family being massive rugby supporters.” But once Sarah decided to tell her parents of her new secret love, they were only disappointed they had missed watching her games and according to Sarah, “they’ve watched me ever since. I remember telling my parents back in seventh form when they asked what I was going to do following year and I remember saying I’m going to become a professional rugby player and back then they kind of laughed, but I am someone who will just go after it and I will do everything I can to prove people wrong. I’m stubborn, and it ended up happening.”

In 2010, the Black Ferns won their fourth consecutive World Cup against England on English soil. The live final on Sky Sports was something Sarah recounts as pivotal to women’s rugby, and it was a key moment that truly sparked the flame for her own competitive campaign. That same year, aged 17, Sarah was selected to represent New Zealand in the New Zealand Maori sevens rugby team, travelling to Italy.

Despite playing at an international level, these were still early days for women’s rugby in New Zealand and players were having to hold down full-time jobs to support their rugby careers. Finally, in 2013 the New Zealand Rugby Union were able to offer full time contracts to the women’s teams, which Sarah simply says was “massive” and a transitional period she is certainly proud to have been through. “It makes you really appreciate what you get now”.

Throughout that period, Sarah studied at Massey University (she has been the recipient of the prestigious Prime Minister's Athlete Scholarship for a number of years), and has worked hard to fit her studies around training. It's clear that Sarah feels that education is the key to a life after rugby.

Sarah would train in a makeshift garage gym with local police officer and fellow teammate, Selica Winiata. The 5:30am training sessions were followed by extramural study and then back to the garage at 6pm once Selica had finished her shift.

Allan Bunting, coach of the Black Ferns Sevens teams says Sarah has an “unbelievable work ethic, a relentless desire to learn, grow and look for every opportunity to better herself.” There was no funding or fancy recreation centres in those earlier years of Sarah’s career, but her concentrated self-motivation and gruelling hours of training would soon begin to pay off. 

Goss modestly accepts that leading New Zealand to victory in the World Sevens tournament in 2016, and winning silver in Rio, were particularly proud moments. It is evident however that these awards and accolades are somewhat trivial to her true personal pillars of success; being able to fly her parents to international games, working with local school children and donating sponsored gear to those who need it is. Sarah says "Being successful to me is about knowing I’ve done everything I possibly can to achieve my goals, this hopefully means I’m inspiring others to do the same." Fellow Kiwi Olympian, Rose Keddell from the Black Sticks, acknowledges Goss’s unique journey in women’s rugby, the milestones and the success it has had under the guidance of Goss. “Sarah has been through all the major changes in New Zealand women’s rugby. From gaining contracts and funding, seeing women’s rugby become a professional sport and of course being in the Olympics last year. The sport is in a really good place.”

Compared to Sarah’s fierce and powerful on field performance, there is a very soft and warm side to her demeanour. Sarah’s eyes are teary when she speaks of pride and family, the personal trials and tribulations of a closet rugby player to one who performs now on the world stage. At twenty-four years young, you could say Sarah Goss is killing it, though contentment is not a word used often in her vocabulary. Sarah is conscious about keeping everything her life fresh and exciting and not allowing rugby to be her only passion.

“If there’s something in my mind that I want to do, I have to do it. I was in 6th form and called the local aerodrome and said I wanted to join the flight school. They sent me out a package and all of a sudden I was going up in a two-seater Cessna before school, watching the sunrise around the Manawatu ranges.” 

I like to stay busy. If I didn’t have something outside of rugby then I'd feel stale and I would worry about rugby all the time and that's not healthy for anyone. For me, having that rush of being in an aeroplane, it gives you perspective. This is a theme we often return to in conversation. Sarah recounts one time she was up in the air on a practice flight and her door swung wide open. “All I could see was the ground below me. I got such a rush, I wasn’t really scared, it just made me feel alive. It’s important to have these moments, and life outside rugby to give balance. I did 12 hours towards my PPA and then had to stop because rugby took over. Once I get my degree then I will get back into it." Sarah has also nearly completed her bachelor of arts degree, majoring in Maori studies and a minor in sports science. It has taken her about seven years so far, fitting in papers between tours and training, but the end is in site.

“I’m doing a full immersion Maori paper at the moment which I’m finding very difficult because I’m not fluent in Te Reo”, she laughs, “then I only have one other paper to get my degree. My sister was the first person in my family to get a degree and now I can’t wait to get mine.” It all comes back to those words from her rugby coach, Allan Bunting, that Sarah “has a relentless desire to learn, grow and look for every opportunity to get better. She is a natural leader who inspires by her actions and words. She will be successful with whatever she puts her mind to.
And the rest of those childhood ambitions? “Before Rio, I didn’t have hot chips and fizzy for a whole year. The nutritionist was like ‘what are you even doing?’ I didn’t have to give them up totally, but it was my inner competitiveness. I convinced myself that if I gave in, I wouldn’t make the Olympics. The night after winning silver I went straight out for hot chips and fizzy and it was all I ate for a month”.

Photographing and speaking with Sarah on the exact rugby field I once played on was quite surreal. I probably would have thought back then that I would be the one being interviewed as a rugby star, not the dude with the camera around his neck. But there we were. A professional rugby player standing on my old patch of grass looking amazing and strong and elegant and determined. And me, well determined to capture all that.

This was a new adventure for me, not a job or a task or work but more an opportunity and a challenge to do something new. I find people fascinating, it is almost a hobby of mine to hear new stories and gain knowledge from all walks of life. Sarah’s story is intriguing on so many levels and it was humbling to spend the day getting to know her. I am proud of what she has achieved so far in what is only the beginning of her career and in particular her stance on success and the importance of being a positive role model. Perhaps once the battery dies for good on my camera career, I’ll make a late comeback for number 12 in the black jersey. After all, it’s a game of two halves.

Siblings surfing: Jonas and Elin Tawharu

Jenny Rudd meets two of the world’s top junior surfers, brother and sister, Elin (15) and Jonas (17) Tawharu. They have grown up surfing on their doorstep, here in The Mount.

WORDS JENNY RUDD PHOTOS JEREME AUBERTIN, SALINA GALVAN + CAM NEATE

“Representing New Zealand in any sport gives you the grit and resilience needed to get through difficult times in life.” John Tawharu is the father of Elin and Jonas, two of New Zealand’s brightest surfing stars.

The siblings have just returned from the Azores in Portugal, where they competed in the 2016 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship. Elin came 3rd in the U16 girls’ division (the first Kiwi podium finish in nine years), and Jonas was the top Kiwi competitor in the U18 boys’ division. This year was the biggest in the competition’s history, with 370 competitors from five continents, and the first in the era of surfing as an Olympic sport.

We meet Elin and Jonas at the UNO office. In their Mount College uniforms, they look like any other teens, but they are world-class athletes competing at the highest possible level.

IN THE BLOOD

There’s a fair bit of sporty blood flowing through the family; John, a teacher at Omanu Primary School, has represented New Zealand in softball and rugby. Step-mum Jo teaches at Tauranga Intermediate. They both coach the surfing teams at their respective schools. Jo has toured with the New Zealand women’s team as a qualified judge.

“My children have grown up surfing at every opportunity,” says John. “Living by Moa Park in The Mount, they have always been able to skip across the road in their wetsuits. Every weekend for years has been taken up with surfing, either here at home, or out on one of our infamous weekend surf missions. We study the weather reports, checking swell and wind conditions, work out where the best surf will be, and leap into action. It’s such an exciting way to live. Jo makes a stack of homemade pizzas the night before, and we start getting chilly bins, portable chairs, and all our kit out of the basement; everyone’s hunting around for wetsuits, fins, boards and sun-block.”

“Jonas decides exactly what time we need to leave to get the tide at its best, and I always say that Jo is our lucky charm: she almost always calls the surf conditions bang on. The adrenaline’s pumping as we round the last few corners, desperate to get a glimpse of the waves after a few hours on the road. I’ve lost count of the number of times we have zoomed down that hill at Manu Bay, Raglan! I feel very lucky to do these adventures with my partner and children.”

WAVE AFTER WAVE

The ocean has been the backdrop to Elin’s and Jonas’s lives. As toddlers, John would kick a ball into the waves. They would dive in and scoop it up, so the water splashed on their faces, giving them confidence in the water. As small children, John took them out boogie boarding in the rougher white water, to teach them about the power of the ocean. “Ever since she was little, I have always called Elin my Storm Girl. I’d take her out in cyclones, when the white water was smashing around all over the place. She just loved getting rumbled over and over in the waves, and even now she doesn’t ever care about being smashed by huge, dumping waves. That’s her thing – gnarly waves. Jo calls her the Queen of Gnarly.

“As a youngster, Jonas would surf all day with no rest, wearing himself out completely. Then he’d be wrecked for a few days. He’s had to learn to come in and get food and drink every few hours. He has an analytical mind, and has always been particular about his technique, practising over and over again to get it right. Jonas’s love of physics and interest in how things work is ingrained in him; as a nine-year-old, he gave me a lesson on weight transference on his skateboard!“

“The surf season is long and hectic, running from January through to November. And expensive. All us parents worry about how we are going to find the thousands of dollars needed for travel and accommodation as we take our children on the national tour. If they make the national team and go to the World Championships, it’s even more expensive. It always comes together, though. We fundraise hard, doing movie nights, garage sales, and car washing. And the community really gets behind us, which is fantastic. Jo is our master-organiser in the family, making sure everything stays on track. Everything clicks when she’s on board; her brain is amazing.”

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ELIN

“Dad used to push me into two-foot, glassy waves on his fat fish board when I was little, and I would try and stand up. It was exhilarating, and I was hooked. Those are my earliest memories of surfing at my local break, Crossroads. Learning to surf at The Mount has given us such a great advantage. There’s so much coastline here, and the curves, peninsulas and islands create lots of different waves. The Mount has produced a lot of good competition surfers, as it’s a beach break, which is changeable. You have to be flexible to adapt. If you always surf a point break or river mouth, you don’t get enough practice with the smaller, slushy waves.

EARLY ADOPTER

I picked up surfing properly when I was nine. I’ve always been competitive by nature, and won my first national competition when I was eleven, in Taranaki. I was given a greenstone surfboard trophy. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that feeling. And being round the professional surfers was the most exciting thing I’d ever experienced: watching them sign autographs, have their photos taken, and engage in awkward chatter with fans (like me!). Just to be near them, I was frothing as a grom. I wanted to dress like them, look like them and, one day, surf like them. Everything changed after that. I set myself the goal of making the New Zealand team before I turned 18, with a vision in my young head of travelling overseas and representing my country.

NATIONAL TEAM

Then, just as I turned 13, I was selected! I wasn’t expecting it at all. What made it doubly exciting was that Jonas made the team too. I think it’s the first time a brother and sister combo have ever been selected together. Can you imagine the excitement in our house? I have been selected to represent my country each year since then, and this year I won the bronze medal in Portugal in the U16 girls’ division. It was beyond my dreams to make it to the final, surfing with the best in the world at Praia do Monte Verde, where a large swell pounded the beach break. Even though the conditions improved throughout the competition, the waves were pretty unruly and hard to read, so I was seriously stoked to get a medal.

FAMILY

I’m so lucky to have four supportive parents. My mum, Anna, and her partner, Paul, are yoga instructors, so have always practised lots of yoga with us. It’s great for keeping your body strong, open and flexible. All those extra things really give you an edge when competing at a high level. And Mum and Paul are always ready with a good massage after we’ve been training hard. So we can dissect our technique, Jo spends hours filming us, and offers fantastic analytical advice. She’s incredibly supportive of women surfers, having been with Surfing New Zealand for so many years.

My dad has always coached our sports teams, like many other supportive parents, and he and Jo drive us for miles looking for swell. He and Jo have given up so much of themselves to help us succeed. My dad’s always out in the surf. In fact, he’s the biggest grom I know. He’ll be out there when it’s absolute crap, just loving it, for hours on end. I’d surf every day of my life if I could. It’s an addiction, a habit your body and mind craves. I love the exhilaration that comes from the challenge of riding waves and speeding along the face. I’d like to have a go at the professional junior circuit in Australia. Finding funding for that is the biggest challenge. And I also have next year’s World Champs on my mind. I want to win it.”

ELIN’S ACHIEVEMENTS

2011 U12 Women’s Champion, Taranaki. 2013 Ranked 3rd nationally (U17 girls).

2013 New Zealand Primary Schools U13 Girl’s Champion.

2014 U16 Women’s Champion, Gisborne. 2014 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, Ecuador (U16 girls), 13th place.

2015 Ranked 2nd nationally (U17 girls).

2015 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, California (U16 girls), 16th place. Best result for New Zealand team that year.

2015 Ranked 7th nationally (open women’s).

2016 Ranked 2nd nationally (U17 girls).

2016 U16 and U18 Women’s Champion, and placed 3rd in Open Women’s, Dunedin.

2016 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, Azores, Portugal (U16 girls, 3rd place. First Kiwi in 9 years to reach podium, best result in New Zealand team that year, helping New Zealand team to finish 10th overall.

2016 New Zealand Secondary Schools U18 Champion, Raglan Academy Competition.

2016 Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology Secondary School Sportswoman of the Year for Bay of Plenty.

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JONAS

“Surfing is my passion, and I’m completely committed to it. Elin and I are at Mount College during the week, but all weekend we are on the road or at home, surfing. We have done this for as far back as I can remember.

THE HOME FRONT

Having surfed all over our country, as well as many other places in the world, I’d say New Zealand is as good as it gets. Nowhere else will you score pumping waves with epic landscapes and backdrops like we do here. You can surf a volcanic crater at Muriwai, and see great whites and sea lions in Otago. You seem to feel much more immersed in nature and the ocean. Although there are better and more consistent waves in other countries, it still cranks here when it needs to, especially on the east coast of the North Island. But of anywhere, I have the most fun at home, here in The Mount. Even when it’s two-foot mush. We grew up surfing at our local break – the coolest place with the best locals.

AIM HIGH

This year, I won all three Billabong competitions on the circuit here in New Zealand, which put me at number one in the national rankings for the U17 boys. That helped me get selected for the U18 boys’ team to compete at the Junior World Championships this year in the Azores. Elin and I are pretty competitive with each other, but more than that, we support each other. At the Junior World Championships this year, I watched my sister smash her way into the final and get a bronze medal. I was so stoked for her! Supporting her from the beach, with all our teammates, as she competed with the best in the world was an amazing moment.

BUILDING RELATIONS

The cost of competing is really high. Elin and I recognise just how lucky we are to have two sets of parents who do so much to support our surfing financially. We have some fantastic sponsors too, many of whom have become friends, as we’ve spent so much time together on the circuit. Getting sponsored isn’t just about getting stickers on your board: it’s about working together to make sure both sides benefit. Surf companies do want to support young athletes, but they expect us to use and promote their products in a positive way.

ACADEMIC SUCCESS

I really enjoy school. I think having a strong academic background is important, and have just finished year 13 at Mount College. I studied physics, calculus, biology and sport science, and am considering studying further at University of Otago. My greatest achievement so far was recognition from one of the world’s greatest surfers. Around a thousand surfers, from all round the world, entered the ‘King of the Groms’ video competition last year, each submitting a video showcasing their surfing. Californian, Dane Reynolds, picked my video in the top 30. It has spurred me to work harder on my surfing. Looking to the future, I’d definitely like to craft a career in surfing. I’d like to work with companies in the surf industry, and advertise and market for them. But that’s in the future. Right now, I’m concentrating on getting selected for the 2017 New Zealand team and the pro juniors in Australia next year.

JONAS’S ACHIEVEMENTS

2014 April: Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, Ecuador (U16 boys), 43rd place.

2014 U16 Boys’ Champion, Gisborne. 2015 Ranked 2nd nationally (U17 boys).

2015 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, California (U16 boys), 47th place.

2015 Quiksilver King of the Groms World Top 30 U18 Boys’ finalist.

2015 New Zealand Piha Grom Series, (U17 boys), 3rd.

2016 Ranked 1st nationally (U17 boys). 2016 U20 Boys’ Champion, Hawkes Bay.

2016 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, Azores, Portugal (U18 boys) 33rd, top performing New Zealand U18 boy.

2016 Champion Billabong U17 Boys Grom series, at Mount Maunganui, Whangamata and Piha.

2016 U18 Boys, Dunedin, 3rd.

Selfie-made mavens: Tash Meys and Kristina Webb

WORDS Jenny Rudd PHOTOS Supplied + Shawn Rolton

We caught up with Instagram influencers TASH and KRISTINA in a whirlwind three weeks before they moved to LA.

The two girls have just finished collaborating on a project which came about directly from Kristina’s Instagram popularity: Color Me Inspired, a colouring book to bring the world to life: maps made up of flowers, sweet treats and beachy scenes. It is total 14-year-old-girl heaven, and the follow up to the hugely popular Color Me Creative.

By the time this magazine is published, the two girls will have moved from the Bay of Plenty to Santa Monica, California, to keep building their already impressive careers. Tash and Kristina prove what an exciting future our world has, as their Millennial Generation steps into the world of business.

THE CONNECTION

Last year Tash hosted a brunch with Viv Conway (21), another Instagram entrepreneur, who sells sportswear she designs, manufactures and distributes on her own Instagram page, @vividsportswearofficial. They invited some friends, thinking it would be fun to hang out together, have a picnic, and use it as a photoshoot opportunity to get content for Instagram. Tash invited Kristina along; they had been going to Paula Knight’s art classes together since they were young, but this was the first time they’d stepped into friendship. Tash knew that Kristina worked in social media too, as Kristina’s @colour_me_ creative brand was going well in America.

“Kristina told me she’d been commissioned to do a second book, but that she was considering turning it down, because the deadline was so tight. We chatted about ideas for the pages, and really hit it off together. A few days later Kristina offered me a contract to collaborate with her on Colour Me Inspired.”

SHARERS

It’s this easy blurring of lines between work and play, as well as looking for ways to blend their business interests to help each other wherever possible, which characterises the working ethos of the Millennials. They tend to enjoy working on social and environmental projects, and because of that, are less inclined to see personal wealth as a measure of their success. Their Generation X parents were taught to play their business cards close to their chest. Information is power. Always keep a trump card up your sleeve to keep on top of office politics. The hard-nosed, shoulder-padded eighties-boardroom Gordon Gekko world is anathema to the Millennial. They have a different way of looking at the world of paid work. “Collaborate, don’t compete,” says Tash.

WHAT IS A MILLENNIAL?

A generation is a group of around 25 years. We have been naming these groups for a while, but not always with any consistency. They aren’t numbered. They get nicknames. And they are open to interpretation. Here’s UNO.’s take: Baby Boomers: born late 40s to early 60s as a result of post-WWII cuddling. They love shiny stuff, cash and gadgets, and stability at work. Generation X: born mid 60s to mid 70s. A bit disaffected, probably as a result of all the daycare they were thrown into whilst their parents were busy getting divorced. They spent their twenties scoffing drugs and dancing all night. Millennials, also known as Generation Y: born early 80s to early 90s. Tash, Kristina and their mates. The children of the Baby Boomers.

Here’s the best description of that age bracket by Harry Wallop, of The Telegraph: Unlike the generation before them, they are smarter, safer, more mature and want to change the world. Their pin-up is Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani education campaigner, who survived being shot by the Taliban, and who became the world's youngest ever Nobel Prize recipient. They are the first generation of technology natives. They don’t like being sold to, and they aren’t massive fans of accumulating stuff. They don’t do drugs, they don’t drink, they smash back green smoothies, and only want to do business with ethically minded companies.

“The internet has offered a level playing field for young people wanting to work online. No one asks you how many years of work experience you’ve had or what your grades were like at school. You just start doing it yourself. In fact, it is one of the few careers were being very young is beneficial.”

WHAT IS AN INFLUENCER?

An influencer is generally someone who has over 10,000 Instagram followers. Brands pay them to advertise their products, leveraging off the relationship the influencer has built with their followers. It’s important for brands to choose the influencer carefully. For instance, Kristina might post a pic of her using Faber-Castell Pencils saying ‘I’m totally in love with these new pencils! They are perfect for colouring in details.’

The internet has offered a level playing field for young people wanting to work online. No one asks you how many years of work experience you’ve had or what your grades were like at school. You just start doing it yourself. In fact, it is one of the few careers were being very young is beneficial. The brand would get their product in front of two and a half million people who love colouring in. They know it’s the perfect target market. Think about John Key and his 18,000 people on Instagram. Tash and Kristina could get in front of the equivalent population of nearly the whole North Island just by posting one photo. Wouldn't a politician love that targeted reach?

TASH MEYS @tastefullytash

She posts pictures of impossibly delicious food (all made and styled herself), her art, and all things to do with wellness. She also runs a number of other accounts on behalf of businesses, who have seen hers, and pay her to make the same success of their own.

“Ever since I got my first camera at 11 years old, my friends and I have played ‘photoshoots,’ taking it in turns to be the photographer and model, going on adventures and finding cool locations to shoot. We’d then hugely over-edit them in photoshop and post our work on Bebo. It was a surprise to be asked to do the photos for a fellow student's birthday party but it went well and I did a couple more after that including a twenty-first. I’ve taken photos for a website and recorded a wedding video. Even though it was a bit scary taking on these things at the beginning, I learnt so much from each one and since then have made a point of taking on every opportunity that comes my way.”

DRIVER

Tash is an absolute bundle of energy and drive, her brain zipping off in all directions. She has the ability to create her own opportunities, and the character to be grateful for them. A sharp marketing brain is matched by her creative ability as an artist and photographer. Looking through the global window of Instagram has afforded some huge opportunities, which Tash is grasping with both hands.

“I switched my degree from psychology to consumer food science after getting sick from eating processed foods in my first year, doing some research into nutrition, and becoming fascinated. “Taking photographs of food for my Instagram page has enabled me to exercise my artistic skills; decorating smoothie bowls and creating a food photograph is similar in my eyes to painting a canvas. It's all about the layers, the different textures and the colours. Since I have now built my Instagram to a level of followers where I am considered an influencer in my industry of health and wellness, I can start to branch out and include art, lifestyle and typography. It's interesting how when I left school I decided not to go down the art route, but everything I do seems to come back to it.”

TEACHING OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS

It’s down to Tash's collaborative nature, as well as her ambition and well-placed confidence, that along with one of her clients, whose Instagram page she and Viv Conway run, she organised an Instagram workshop. They invited media agencies to come and learn about Instagram and what it could do for their clients. It was impressive to watch a twenty-two year old hold court with all the creative industry experts, most of whom were about twenty years her senior, explaining how the algorithms in this social media platform work.

In fact when we approached Tash about featuring her, she immediately did some research on us, and asked why we didn’t have an Instagram page, then pitched to us to let her and Viv launch and run it for us. The range of work Tash is being offered is quite astonishing: brands pay to feature their products on @tastefullytash; she has been approached to manage social media for an Australian celebrity; she gets professional photography commissions; she was invited to collaborate on Kristina’s book; and she manages Instagram accounts for several clients in New Zealand, Australia and now America, where she has moved to. Santa Monica is the health and wellness capital of the world. Tash has placed herself right in the centre of it.

As far as Millennials go, Tash Meys leads the field.

Kristina Webb @KRISTINAWEBB

Kristina has been sketching, drawing and painting since her early teens and posting her art online to a huge community of followers: 1.9 million, who clearly adore her. Her art is encouraging of others; there are plenty of positive affirmations dotted about, such as anti-bullying messages. She started on Tumblr, and has moved to Instagram. Kristina has hundreds of fan pages copying her art and reposting originals.

“On my seventeenth birthday, I was in Michigan on a student exchange programme. My host family bought me an iPhone, which I had wanted for so long! Purely to start using Instagram. As I looked around, learning how to use the app, I was surprised to find one of my drawings - the back of a girl holding her ponytail to the side - on an account with a large following. I commented with ‘thank you for posting my drawing.’ The picture was reposted with a credit to me. Within a few days, I had 16,000 followers.”

GROWING POPULARITY

Posting new drawings daily, Kristina’s following swelled. She produced a wide range of art: a series of Starbucks coffee cups, drawn on and decorated with tiny cups, drawn on and decorated with tiny plastic jewels, sketches of celebrities, and she would randomly surprise her fans by doing a portrait of them after they hashtagged #drawmekristina. Celebrities like Tyra Banks, Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande noticed her art, and commissions started to roll in from big names.

AGENT FOR INFLUENCERS

Kristina’s mum, Janette, knew that Kristina needed an agent. “It was becoming increasingly difficult to know how to negotiate with some of the bigger companies like YouTube and Disney, both of whom had offered Kristina commissions. I was in America with Rochelle, my older daughter, who now manages most of Kristina’s business affairs. We orchestrated a meeting with one of the top agents in the industry, who signed Kristina up on her first interview.”

One of her commissions came from YouTube, who asked her to create a piece of art to recap on the 100 most popular trends of the year. “After watching every single video, I mapped them all out, and finally managed to get about 75 of them into the drawing. YouTube then sent out the artwork as a thank you to everyone who participated.”

Interviewing Kristina in her apartment in the Mount, with her mum making toast in the background, it’s hard to fathom the sheer scale of her success. It seems there are a combination of factors at play: adopting the platform early (four years ago Instagram was in relative infancy); posting daily; responding to her followers in a heartfelt way; and being passionate about adhering to her own creative vision.

The other element is the attainability of Kristina’s success. Her art is very much of a current style. Her fans are able to copy her drawings, and feel they have something to aim for. What sets Kristina apart from the field isn’t anything particularly new - it’s old fashioned practice, determination, and hard work.

PUBLISHED AUTHOR

In 2014 her agent in Los Angeles suggested a book. He had a contact at Harper Collins. Kristina had to produce a 50 page proposal. Janette explains “She went above and beyond, decorating every page of the proposal and giving much more detail than requested. That’s totally indicative of Kristina’s working style and commitment.”

Her first book, Color Me Creative, was a huge hit with tweenies and young teens. The first half is an autobiography (written in the same friendly, personal tone she uses when chatting with her followers on Instagram); the second half is full of creative challenges for her fans to complete inside the book. This was accompanied by a long book tour and the recording of 15 videos in Miami (there are icons in the book to scan with your phone, which unlock short videos of Kristina).

On the book tour, mothers of these young teens thanked her personally for not swearing on her page, or posting photos of herself drinking alcohol. For all her global success, Los Angeles agents, published books, and commissions from the world’s biggest names, all Kristina really wants to do is be left to her own devices with a bundle of coloured pencils, her Bose speaker, some paper and her iPhone.

Getting inspired

Digital content creation. It sounds complicated, but it really means taking pictures of beautiful things, which you make or curate, ready to put on social media channels like Instagram. In the old days, photographers were like demi-gods. Swanning onto shoots, dressed in black polo necks with a team skittering along behind them who responded to demands “I need 12 swans sprayed gold, NOW!” They charged a fortune for their creative genius.

With digital cameras, that’s all changed. If you want to have a go, set up an Instagram account, and start posting pics!

IMPROVE YOUR ART SKILLS WITH PAPAMOA-BASED ARTIST PAULA KNIGHT

"Tash first started coming to me when she was just seven, and Kristina as a young teenager. "They both had a strong desire to listen and learn. To me, they are the best kind of students and I loved showing them how to improve their work. We would go over and add details to portraits and hair, developing shade and colour and finely tuning their abilities until they both developed into confident artists.

“I remember when Kristina was working on a school art project and a trail of purple glitter followed her everywhere. Kristina came and went as she went to the USA, but at one point she was attending both my kids’ and adults’ classes, her desire to learn was so great.”

HAVE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE GREAT LOCAL INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS, AND START ENGAGING @vividsportswearofficial @mtmaunganui @bayofplentynz @tastefullytash @bop.eats

UNO. INSTAGRAM PAGE Viv and Tash have been running it. Fancy yourself as a photographer? Post pics with #unomagnz and we’ll feature the best! Do the art challenges in Colour Me Creative, and hashtag them #cmcbook and #unomagnz.