Marketing and Communications Manager

The Starship Foundation

May 2022 - May 2024

The Starship Foundation is the official charity for Starship, Aotearoa New Zealand’s national children’s hospital, raising funds to enable and accelerate world-class paediatric healthcare for children across the country. As Marketing and Communications Manager (Corporate) I was a key business partner to the Foundation’s Corporate Partnerships team, leading public relations, media engagement, marcomms and storytelling with the aim of stewarding and enhancing relationships with corporate partners. I worked closely with partners covering a wide range of categories from energy, real estate, fintech and automotive to linen, retail and home fragrance. I also worked alongside Starship families who had directly benefitted from the generosity of our corporate partners, telling their stories of courage and resilience.

Key achievements:

• Led a highly successful PR campaign to raise awareness of Aotearoa New Zealand’s first-ever neonatal transitional care unit, Whitinga ora pēpi, reaching an audience of over half a million. This included securing positive coverage of Five Star Partner Barfoot & Thompson’s role as exclusive sponsor for the unit across print, radio, television and online channels

• Worked closely with Five Star Partner Mercury’s customer engagement and campaigns team, developing quarterly customer-focused communications campaigns that showcased the impact of customer donations. Achieved year-on-year growth in the number of customers donating to the Starship Foundation on their monthly power bill

• Led the marcomms planning for Costco Wholesale New Zealand’s first-ever in-store charity fundraising activation which raised $50k over a one-month period.

Communications and Engagement Advisor

National Hauora Coalition

September 2020 - May 2022

National Hauora Coalition (NHC) is a charitable social enterprise and Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest Māori-led primary health organisation. Key activities included leading the development of NHC’s communications strategy (internal and external), working closely with the executive leadership team to deliver communications that support the organisation’s vision and purpose, proactive and reactive media engagement, managing and promoting the NHC brand, providing communications and engagement advice to internal NHC teams and managing NHC’s digital channels.

Key achievements:

• Appointed as primary media contact for the organisation in September 2021

• Documented the history and story of NHC - now displayed in NHC’s reception area

• Launched the Mana Taurite Pledge - a call for individuals and organisations across Aotearoa to commit to pro-equity, pro-Tiriti action

• Became a trusted advisor to the CEO on communications and public relations matters

• Led learning sessions to grow and support internal communications and engagement capabilities

• Led the comprehensive refresh of the NHC website

• Grew NHC’s social media following and engagement across LinkedIn, Twitter (X) and Facebook.

Project Coordinator & Acting Project Communications Lead

National Hauora Coalition

November 2019 - September 2020

Project Coordinator for NHC’s Generation 2040 project, an innovative pro-equity initiative focused on giving tamariki Māori the best start in life. Key activities as Project Coordinator included developing and maintaining project documentation, coordinating detailed project planning and scheduling, preparing reporting and proactively monitoring project risks and issues.

From May – September 2022 I was Acting Project Communications Lead. Key responsibilities included implementing Gen2040’s communications strategy, management of social media channels, event planning and media engagement.

 
Achievements:

• Successfully led the planning and management of Gen2040’s launch event, attended by media, key stakeholders and Minister for Women, Julie Anne Genter

• Generated earned media coverage for the project across print, radio and online channels

Schools Advisor

The University of Auckland

December 2016 - November 2019

Schools Advisor within the University of Auckland’s Schools Partnership Office, a division of the University’s Communications and Marketing team. Responsible for promoting the University’s brand, building relationships with a caseload of secondary schools across Auckland, Wellington, Wairarapa, Central Otago and Southland, providing high quality advice to schools, students and their whānau and event management and planning.

Key achievements:

• Consistently received excellent feedback from schools, students and whānau

• Led the office’s social media strategy and increased weekly Facebook engagement by 460%

• Led the production of a quarterly publication Link News, disseminated to 400 schools across Aotearoa

• Expanded the University’s geographical reach in Wellington by establishing trusted relationships in Porirua and the Kāpiti Coast

• Selected for REALISE, a three-month leadership programme