General ManagerInternational Hospitality Internship Programme Beginning my role as a Business Development Manager opening Australian markets for Working In, I have now progressed to the role of General Manager, where I oversee the International Hospitality Internship programme. In this capacity, I am responsible for:Growth Strategy: Crafting and implementing growth strategies for this business unit, with a strong focus on customer satisfaction and generating a healthy return on investment for all stakeholders.Relationship Building: Establishing and nurturing long-term relationships to support clients with their future employment needs.Success and Satisfaction: Ensuring the success and satisfaction of all parties involved through dedicated and focused processes, enhanced by a personal touch of care.As General Manager, my responsibilities have expanded to include:- P&L Accountability: Overseeing the overall profit and loss of the intern business.- Team Management: Leading and scaling the business by managing a dynamic team.- Key Partnerships: Managing key partnerships and client relationships.- Operational Oversight: Bearing overall responsibility for all processes, revenue, and costs.This fabulous new role allows me to leverage my expertise to drive business growth, foster strong client relationships, and ensure operational excellence.

The Boutique Wine Festival originated in Auckland in 2013 making it one of the original wine festivals in New Zealand.In November 2017, I purchased the New Zealand Boutique Wine Festival and produced the 5th festival in June 2018. Later in 2018 I rebranded to Craft’d Limited with a view to expanding the business to include marketing and festivals throughout New Zealand for small production alcoholic beverage companies. Craft’d Events soon began to attract corporates and individuals wanting events, and so the Craft’d team grew.I am proud to have produced the Craft’d Wine and Spirits festival at Generator@ GridAKL in July 2019, and co-produced Gindulgence Auckland in February 2020. Both of these events were extremely successful, boosting revenue, growing profit and increasing sponsorship. We doubled attendance at the festivals and received an excellent Net Promoter Score of 89%.When COVID-19 hit and we were unable to produce festivals, I used my strategic acumen and innovative approach to launch Craft’d Boutique Tours and Craft’d Virtual Tastings. This demonstrates my agility and ability to maximise a pivot opportunity in a difficult situation. As well as this, after seeing an opportunity to offer luxury experiences within New Zealand for those who usually travelled abroad, I developed a ‘staycation’ offering. These trips provided unique luxury getaways and gave our guests special time to live, learn, laugh and love in New Zealand. I also developed unique retreat packages for corporates, organisations and individuals, which have been very successful.

Onboarding as an Associate with the re/cognition team. The role is wide and varied as I help grow the business for Sandy. Marketing, strategy, operations, setting metrics to measure growth, compliance and streaming-lining for growth! Super excited to be working for an exceptionally qualified expert in the field of resilience and leadership development.

EO helps leading entrepreneurs learn and grow through peer-to-peer learning, once-in-a-lifetime experiences and connections to experts. I was regularly called on to assist and advise peers in a strategic advisory capacity, as well as acting as a mentor to EO members in 2020/2021.Despite still relatively being new to the organisation, my integrity, trustworthiness and previous success in the Events industry meant that I was asked to join the Board as Learning Chair within two years. I was then voted in as President in 2013 because of my ability to successfully plan, create, and execute quality local learning events to help members grow in both their business and personal lives. 2013 was a banner year for the organisation and in 2014 I was voted Member of the Year.As well as this, I volunteered to create and deliver the biennial SPAC (South Pacific Area Congress), which was approved by the SPAC board, and ratified by our chapter. I became Chair of the SPAC Board and led a committee of 18 to create what is still regarded as the best ever SPAC – IGNITE event in EO. I was awarded the global award for Best Event at the EO Global Leadership Conference for the IGNITE 2015. I have become an active member of the committees, guiding and assessing the SPAC events. At a global EO strategy summit in Mexico in March 2016, I created a strategic plan to bring EO into the digital space. Additionally, I created and delivered an EO retreat for members during my tenure as President and have created forum and chapter retreats 2016 and 2019.

Cocoon House is a start-up venue in Freemans Bay which is home to New Zealand’s most exquisite private events. I was tasked by the owner and operational manager with creating a commercially successful, luxury venue. As a start-up with a small team, my role covered strategic planning and implementation, marketing, events, HR, onboarding, as well as working with the operational manager and sales team. By doing this, as well as onboarding staff to market and manage the venue and creating a series of curated events, we grew a successful business.

NZEA is a voluntary organisation which provides leadership and representation to inspire a world-class events industry. The current Board is made up of influential figures in the event landscape with credibility and respect in the industry. This role involved supporting, advocating for and promoting membership of the Board and liaising directly with local and national government bodies. I had a strong focus on making things happen and creating relevant and active events for the membership. Due to my energy and commitment, and my work on crafting events seminars for members, I was judged the Best Emerging Event Professional in 2017. I was on a subcommittee to tender for and select an onboard delivery supplier for the NZEA Annual Awards Events between 2016 and 2018, and was part of the team to negotiate the annual conference purchase.

Uno Loco Events and Media has built its reputation by delivering the most creative large-scale events, media and experiential activation in New Zealand and around the world. Part of my role for the earn-out was to ensure the seamless integration of all Soiree clients to Uno Loco, ensuring smooth delivery of events and excellent communications and service and ensuring the clients stayed with Uno Loco. A highlight was being named the winner of the Best Luxury Event at the Luxperience Awards: We were awarded the Best Luxury Event title in Sydney for a Harvard Business Alumni Reunion. This nine-day event required creating a wide variety of bespoke ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ activities while ensuring a balance of not too much travelling, enough rest and relax time. Highlights included a beach BBQ with Al Brown and being welcomed into Peter Jackson’s private museums.

Conventions and Incentives New Zealand (CINZ) is a membership based organisation which exists to create and support increased business tourism, including conventions, meetings and incentives in New Zealand. Along with one other, I acted as an advocate for the 250 silver business members to ensure their participation in domestic marketing initiatives and strategies and that they received domestic business opportunities.With a fellow board member, I was responsible for all silver membership communications, including Board report highlights, opportunities, events and other specific silver member material. I advocated for this component of the overall membership as well as collective Board issues. Having come from the private events sector, I was an advocate for private sector incongruities within the industry. Despite archaic and difficult barriers to achieving PCO (Professional Conference Organiser) accreditation, I attained membership of this lucrative position held tightly by only a few.

Soirée Events was one of New Zealand’s foremost event management agencies, producing over 50 events annually, and creating extraordinary experiences where outstanding creativity embraced strategic business objectives. Well- networked with HNWI and ultra-HNWI, it consistently delivered measurable value and enhanced clients’ reputations.As founder and owner, my role involved creating and growing the business from one to a family of ten ’Soirettes’. From developing the business strategy, implementation, securing marquee clients, building the outstanding team, and managing a positive work environment, I led the team delivering hundreds of exceptional events to our clients. In 2016, Soirée Events sold to Uno Loco, creating one of the most formidable event and media agencies in New Zealand.A highlight was winning Best Event at the EO Global Leadership Conference for the IGNITE 2015 conference: With a budget of $US250k I created a seamless three days of learning ‘without walls.’ Highlights included a visit to Waiheke, a Black dinner at The Cloud, a trip to Alan Gibbs’ Farm Sculpture Park and guest speakers Sir Michael Hill, Sir John Kirwan, Ric Kayne, Corporal Willie Apiata, Geoff Ross, Jeremy Moon, and Karen Walker. I also produced a number of large-scale public events including the NZ Open (2012 – 2015), the Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony (2015), the NZ Rally (2012), the NZ Financial Markets Authority Annual Event (2011 – Present) and the NZ China Trade Association Awards Events (2015 and 2017).With long-standing corporate clients like IBM and Bayleys, Soirée became an extension of businesses, adopting client processes and protocol. Soirée clients benefited from a tight focus on agreed financial and performance KPIs using economic predictions and modelling. The result of this focus was a track record of consistently delivering measurable value and enhancing our clients’ reputations.