Samantha Walton Email & Phone Number

Northland, New Zealand

This role is fixed term until 31 January 2025, covering for a permanent employee on extended leave.I am responsible for community engagement across a range of projects in the Kaipara region, both ongoing engagement, consultation and advising project managers and other staff on engagement process and suitable techniques.I have input on communications and engagement strategies, policy and legislation proposals, reporting, and education on funding and Council engagement to local community groups and members to achieve common goals.I love the variety and active engagement opportunities in this role, and the chance to make a difference with how Council and the Kaipara community communicate and work together, for a more cohesive outcome across the district with genuine public input.It has been a wonderful learning curve to understand how Council works, and to share that knowledge with communities in the district. I love being involved with what is happening and help facilitate that important ongoing relationship and bridging the gap between the desires of the community and making things happen.

New Zealand

I am a public engagement and communications specialist, currently contracted with Viewpoints. I am a contractor, and am available for communications and stakeholder engagement, feedback analysis and public relations.

Paparoa, Northland, New Zealand

My partner and I moved out of Auckland late 2019, and decided to set up Kraken Construction in our new town of Paparoa, as builders were few and far between, and my partner’s skills encompassed many different aspects of building.Initially, I was only going to help set it up, but I became addicted to the satisfaction of a job well done by your own hands, and have been actively working on the tools with him. I also do the accounting, quoting, suppliers coordination and relationship building, project management, marketing, website management, and all in between!

Auckland, New Zealand

It was time to put my skills to use for myself, so I began operating as a sole trader, until the opportunity to own and run a business with my partner arose. My experience in public engagement, consultation, project co-ordination, feedback analysis and reporting, event management, internal comms, stakeholder management, and public and media relations made Little Bird Communications possible, and successful. I also have particular skill in training people in the above, and am happy and comfortable leading a team.

Auckland, New Zealand

I worked part-time for NZ Underwater Assn assisting with marketing, public communications, social media, database management, and public engagement. This is a great not-for-profit organisation that I wholeheartedly support, and was happy to assist while I also undertook independent contracts.

I was seconded for a 1yr term to lead public engagements for various projects within Auckland Transport. I had been doing this in my previous role in among my other duties, and this made it official. A three-year extension was offered to the secondment, but I felt it was time to branch out on my own.This role included:Planning, designing, writing and executing public engagement strategies for contentious projects;Writing material for a range of audiences and mediums (digital, print, social, media, consult, inform);Translating technical information into everyday language;Planning, managing expectations, project management, and ensuring consistency of messaging;Stakeholder identification and relationship management;Event management in hosting workshops and open days.

Analysing consultation feedback, picking out themes, writing reports, discussing outcomes with engineers and teams/presenting to local boards; Organising and managing temp staff (under the analysis umbrella);Assisting the consultation and engagement team in producing materials;Liaising with the design studio for said materials, producing online surveys for consultation, and organising distribution of letters and other materials to the public and stakeholders;Cleaning/organising data lists, spreadsheets, address lists etc;Other public and stakeholder communications, and organising open days etc when required.

Assisting the Communications team with various tasks including: admin; PA work; organising and hosting open days; project research; planning and running events; organising and ordering stock and merchandise; relationship building with stakeholders; minute taking; report writing; arranging meetings; organising printing, mail and courier; working with design team to produce brand-specific material; media queries and mgmt; internal communications organisation-wide; comms plans; analysing feedback and writing reports; internal comms cover; event management cover.

Smales Farm, Takapuna

Manage feedback from customers, assign engineers to investigate concerns, and prepare official responses from investigations and reports from engineers. Liaising with departments; maintaining relationships with different branches; considering future implications of work; considering political ramifications; working to deadlines; assigning cases; following up on jobs assigned.

Northcote, North Shore

I made outgoing and take incoming calls, arranged payment plans and schedules, enforced terms and conditions of agreements, handled sensitive information, processed payments, liaised with other departments to achieve the desired outcome, negotiated with customers and clients, dealt with unhappy customers and try to work out a plan that will work for them, recalled accounts from debt collection, sent accounts to debt collection if nothing further can be done. I dealt with accounts due and overdue, authority stops on bank accounts, loading new card and account details for direct debits, partially organised cancellations and transfers of accounts. I left this position when I got married and graduated from my studies, and decided it was time to go in a different direction with my career.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I met a lawyer in Malaysia who hired me to help him organise his activities (incomings, outgoings, client base, website development, meetings, feeding his cats, etc). I had to leave in August to move home to New Zealand but I enjoyed my time as a PA for him.

While working at Tadika Happy Kids I met a lot of the children's parents who were impressed at the improvement to their child's English, and hired me to teach them independently also. This was interesting, as a lot of the men had never taken such instruction from a woman before, let alone a young one! But in the business world in Malaysia, having a good grasp of English can really put you ahead of the competition, so we persevered and overcame a lot of previously held assumptions!

Taught 2-12yo children, part-time, at two different locations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Mostly English reading classes (for the older children), I taught phonics and basic reading English as a second language. For the younger students at the second location ('Kids' Gym Playland'), there were specialised classes to teach colour and basic animal lessons in English. Mostly the aim was to immerse them in English, and everything, from discipline to meals to activities to nap times, was conducted in English. Left this position to move back home to New Zealand

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Assisted with research and trials for an Adventure Tourism start up company in KL, including market research, trekking and hiking potential new routes, investigating cross-company partnerships with local providers, and liaising with hostels and backpackers to get a clearer idea of the range of what travellers want to do in Malaysia.

Maungaturoto, Northland

A basic job at a gas station: counter-work, cleaning, food hygiene, stock rotation and ordering, sole charge, lockup and opening. Left this position to move to Malaysia with partner (still studying by correspondence)

Auckland, New Zealand

In this position I honed my sales and people skills and increased my confidence in sales. I felt my personal integrity was also challenged, being in the front-line of sales, and I feel like I came out clean in this respect. This was a door-to-door cold-knocking sales position, both domestically and business-to-business. I did very well (which was fortunate, in a commission-only role), but I did not completely agree with some of the advertising tactics I was expected to use, and so I left. After leaving this position I moved home to Maungaturoto to work and study by correspondence.

Takapuna, North Shore

This job began as a simple data entry position, and saw me branch out into scanning, classifieds, filing, magazine scanning and data entry, raw data manipulation, television advertisement monitoring, and junk mail monitoring. I became the 'jack-of-all-trades' in the office, trained new staff, and occasionally managed the team. Left this position to seek professional and personal growth elsewhere.

Maungaturoto, Northland, New Zealand

A customer-facing counterwork and shop management including customer service, cleaning, food hygiene, stock rotation and ordering, sole charge, lockup and opening. I left this position to move to Auckland.

Kaikohe, Northland, New Zealand

This was my first full-time job outside of school and I loved it. I worked to many deadlines efficiently, and liaised with the sales reps to come to a suitable creative conclusion for the customer. After a while I was also put in charge of the classified advertisements that had to be put together before going to print. Left this position to move back home to Maungaturoto, due to a change in personal circumstances.

Diploma Of Communications, Communication And Media Studies

Papers: Media Skills Advertising and Consumer Society Principles of Marketing Creative Communications Intro to Media Studies Intro.

Iap2 Certification, Engagement And Public Communication

Activities and Societies: Engagement Essentials, Design and Methods I highly recommend IAP2 training for anyone working in consultation.

Management Of Risk Foundation Course, Risk Management

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba), Double Major English & Sociology, A- Overall

Papers: Race, Nation and Modernity The Sociological Project Sociology of the Environment Medieval Worlds Language and Communication Media.

Certificate Of Art & Design, (University Entrance Level), C+ Overall

Education record

Activities and Societies: School Production Decent grades; excelled in English; decent in Science, Art, Social Studies.