Kate O'Connell Email & Phone Number

Timaru, Canterbury, New Zealand

I'm fortunate to be part of the wallaby and wilding pine teams at Environment Canterbury - both teams are doing amazing mahi in the South Canterbury community I live in.We work as partners in national control programmes which means I get to work with some pretty incredible people across Aotearoa.

Timaru, Canterbury, New Zealand

I was the Visitor Promotion Specialist for the Regional Tourism Organisation for Timaru District, working for Timaru District Council and then Venture Timaru.This was my dream role. I had been wanting to get my hands on this district's marketing channels for a number of years and I'm still grateful to Sharon Taylor and her team for taking me on at Timaru District Council.The main benefit of working for a smaller regional organisation meant being involved in everything from idea conception and strategy to execution.Highlights include:* Establishing successful digital marketing channels and improving the district's story telling ie Seaside City Timaru, Geraldine Eats...replacing the totally unambitious "a pleasant stop over".* Getting people back into eateries after lockdowns by creating SCOFF - The South Canterbury Outstanding Food Festival.* Working with, and forming enduring relationships with, former colleagues and cool business people across the district.* Advocating for a South Canterbury perspective over a Timaru centric one - we're all part of the same economy independent of invisible territorial authority boundaries.

New Zealand

Minsi Design Ltd was a creative agency specialising in getting businesses thriving online and the umbrella business for some fantastic contracts with cool clients.I got to work with lots of exciting start-ups as well as legendary businesses like Whitestone Cheese!

New Zealand

After realising that social media was the perfect channel for tourism I assembled a dream team and was awarded a two-year contract to deliver a brand, website and digital marketing campaigns for Waimate District. The highlight of the contract was a Facebook comment from a local - 'it's like thinking you have a stone in your shoe and then finding out it's $5'. The 25% jump in visitor spend after launching the project was great too!

An absolute business highlight was getting to do Whitestone Cheese's social media!The only challenge was trying not to eat my wages in staff discount cheese. Outstanding people and cheese.

New Zealand

My original plan was to get into advertising so I studied marketing and design at Otago University. Instead, I spent the first seven years of my career studying economics, finance and investment and working for Macquarie Bank in Sydney, JPMorgan in London and Goldman Sachs JBWere in Christchurch.Sitting in front of a screen watching stocks move inspired me to learn share trading and I was offered the opportunity work for a private client.My challenge was to figure out the best way to make money in equity markets. I researched fundamental and technical analysis techniques and found a trading system that worked (at the time) based on a book written in the 1920s.It was so much fun and then....GFC. So, I said goodbye to a fantastic early career and went back to my original plan - marketing and design.