The radical act of hope

I grew up on Waiheke Island, off Tāmaki Makaurau in Aotearoa, (Auckland, New Zealand), surrounded by beaches, beautiful bush walks, and a slow-paced way of living. I only really understood how lucky I was to grow up there, once I left.

My dad raised five kids on his own, in a style best described as free-range parenting. I grew up racing cars, burning petrol, and surrounded by a community made up of bogans, greenies, farmers and wine connoisseurs. In this eclectic community, we were encouraged to speak up, back each other, and give back. Back then my dream was to be a professional race car driver, so the environmental movement was not exactly on the radar for a bogan kid like me. But in hindsight, the seeds were already being planted.

In my early twenties, I found my people, including some very committed 'greenies' who introduced me to a whole different way of thinking. I started out mostly noticing the recycled toilet paper, but I stayed involved because of the politics, the purpose driven work, and the possibility of being part of something bigger than me.

I studied Education and Psychology, along with Fine Arts, and got involved in social justice and environmental organising at university. After that, I started volunteering and working with groups like Kiwis Against Seabed Mining and Greenpeace Aotearoa, and since then, only worked for not-for-profits.

In 2015, I moved to Sydney to work for Greenpeace Australia as an Activist Coordinator. Later, I found myself back at Greenpeace Aotearoa, focusing on how to turn online engagement into meaningful offline action, quickly, meaningfully, and at scale.

Since then, I've worked across environmental campaigning and the union movement, always drawn to the same thing: supporting people to act and build power together. Whether it was eco agriculture campaigns, union organising, or supporter engagement, my vision and passion has been the same.

Eventually, family and timing pulled me back across the Tasman, to Naarm (Melbourne). Most of my family was in Australia, including my sister and her kids, and I was ready to step back into the environmental movement, so joining ACF felt like the right next step.

In my role I get to help shape your journey, from the information you receive to the actions that land in your inbox. It's amazing to reflect on my own journey of how I arrived at ACF and all the puzzle pieces that led me here.