Our People

Marie-Ann Billens understands that the key to a long-lasting career is to create a good foundation – and to find a job that never feels like work

Of all the many significant achievements in her very successful business career, what does Joan Withers identify as the most important? ‘Finding the right man at 15 and then marrying him’

Composting toilets are a sustainable waste disposal for the 21st century. Home owners share their experiences with the next generation of fuss-free, low-odour, environmentally-friendly waste systems.

Garry Wycherley and Robyn Ansell are putting tiny Awakino on the map, one building at a time

Te Kura Whare is a new-generation building embodying super-green values and the spirit of Tūhoe

Sarah Lancaster is a maker on a mission to encourage sustainability - one hand-made tote at a time. Through her business, Sew Love, she’s teaching basic tailoring skills such as hemming, mending and patchwork.

After years overseas, an Auckland couple has created an urban oasis on home soil in a house they have lived in twice.

A young Wellingtonian is thinking big with a burgeoning tiny house business.

The last thing Cathy Dickison thought she would be doing is turning her gardening skills into a dried herb business.

Native birds and high fashion might be odd bedfellows but not in the hillside home of a German expat and A New Zealand designer.

Looking for opportunities to keep their adult children working and raising their families nearby, Philip and Anne Woodward added cave exploration and a café to their farming operation in a remote area south of Port Waikato.

Environmental scientist and lawyer Fergus Power has moved from protecting the Great Barrier Reef to injecting a little “rocket fuel” into the Wairoa District Council.

Ask Rodney and Clinton and Erin and Emma... They’ll tell you it’s love that makes a family, not just blood ties.

The 2017 National Poultry Show is a celebration of NZ’s oldest poultry club, and its members are all stars of a chick flick with a difference.

The director of the new film Pecking Order talks about the bizarre world of poultry showing, and how a brain tumour has shaped his outlook on life.

An artisan cheesemaker is concerned that increasing costs of compliance will force their business to go underground.

Whanganui based green house gardener Shane McCulloch has created a niche market for the hugely popular unusual Asian vegetable market.

When the owners of an earthquake-wrecked home were told it was a lost cause, They knew it wasn’t.

A three-time America’s Cup winning team member is back on a boat but in a wooden dinghy.

An Auckland chicken-restaurant chain founded on a wing and a prayer is now one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing businesses thanks to the adaptability  of its owners.

Journalist and art critic Anthony Byrt is doing his bit to make the world – and Northland – a better place.

Art gallery founder Pauline Bianchi has overcome a life-threatening accident to create a meaningful life with her  6 year-old daughter Valentina.

Greg and Rachel Hart share a mission: to connect New Zealanders with what they eat, how they live and with the planet itself.

From a little girl in her mother’s Auckland studio to the big-city stages of the world, ballerina Clytie Campbell’s career has swept from one act to the next.

Breathing new life into an old church has taken more than a decade and cost twice the estimate but the owners are in heaven.

A revelation turned an experienced and successful architect away from the traditional styles in which he’d always worked towards something far more organic.

NZ Life & Leisure proudly supports the annual Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards. With 150 entries, from the Catlins to Kaitaia, the judges were spoilt for choice.

New Zealand towns and cities are crying out for more town criers. Two sisters are ringing the bell for a proud (and loud) institution.

Golden Bay writer Charlotte Squire learned a lot about life in downsizing her family into a 27sqm home

It’s almost time for the announcement of the winner of the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards 2017 so thisNZlife asked the award judges to reveal their kitchen secrets.

Kirsten Gilmour is winning the hearts and stomachs of Scottish food critics one sweetcorn fritter at a time in her cafe in the Scottish Highlands.

Food in a refrigerator won’t last long without power so plan your food usage carefully to avoid contamination.

Meet the selection of creative female go-getters selling their wares at the Rural Ladies marketplace.

From two sprawling high-country stations on either side of the Waitaki River, two young and creative rural ladies are empowering and connecting like-minded women.