Our People

A couple so in love with their picturesque village can’t help but come up with ideas to make it even better.

Take an ancient, fermented drink, then add a whole lot of coconuts and billions of beneficial bacteria. A Raglan business has hit on a winning recipe.

There’s a new player in Wellington Harbour cruising alongside the familiar red tugboats and lumbering Interislander ferries.

Uncooperative steering, motor-induced driver deafness, and general lacklustre performance haven’t dulled the love between Todd Sisson and his A40 Austin Farina.

After three decades in the fast-paced world of producing children’s television in Auckland, Mary Phillips is now flourishing in a quiet valley in Central Otago.

For two years, this couple traveled in a Jeep throughout the Americas, the length of Africa and into many of Europe’s far-flung corners — often facing great danger. But the lessons they learned together on the road will drive them into an exciting future.

Combining an artistic eye with a love for animals created a career trajectory that Grace Watson hadn’t anticipated.

Hūhana Lyndon, previously a vocal critic of the Ngātiwai Trust Board, is its new chief executive.

A retiree joins a global movement, lending a hand to build relationships — and neighbourhoods.

One of the world’s most valuable herbs is growing in secret plantations in NZ, and you can grow it too.

A natural phenomenon helped one Tasman woman shake off serious post-op complications and led to a thriving produce and floristry business involving an entire family.

Living Life to the Full

At 84, Barry Gardiner is the epitome of what it means to live life to the full. With countless sporting achievements under his belt, including becoming a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, he shares his true passion for what he believes is the complete sport – Squash.

A Gisborne couple spent many years building a farm-to-plate business, now one of New Zealand’s most significant independent brands.

Sport climbing has been around since the 1800s, but thrill-seeking Gen Z-ers have made it so popular it has earned a place at the Olympics.

When temperatures soar, the hum of air conditioning and refrigeration units sound an ominous chorus. This company is offering a greener solution.

A former theatre nurse has turned her Raglan property into an almost self-sufficient “wild garden” and is now raising a gluten-free bread business that looks and tastes as good as the real stuff.

Inspired by the endless skies and tussocks of Mackenzie Country, this couple left their hearts wide open to building a life (and tiny cabin) in the nation’s night-sky capital.

When the going gets tough, it’s not just the tough who get going.

A sip of elderflower lemonade changed the trajectory of two bakers’ lives. Pete and Marleen Suy swapped their whisks for lemon squeezers and haven’t looked back.

A band of hunters and fishers is bringing a rarely sighted bird back to the Waioeka Gorge.

Stuck in limbo between lockdown and audition opportunities, actor Tyler Warwick started uploading to TikTok and Facebook, so far generating millions of views.

Diversification was on the cards when a buzz-loving broadcaster moved to a remote Canterbury valley with a sixth-generation farmer. Million Springs farm is today host to 2000 cows and a business in the trees.

Her modern spin on an ancient craft proves embroidery can be as gallery-worthy as a painting.

A Northland family share the healing powers of their land to help children in crisis, and it’s working.

A third-generation Waiheke Islander has her feet firmly planted on the soil. However, her head and heart are often off with the arts — in a supporting role at least.

Paul Barclay loves to surf, and there was just one thing he needed to make his life complete.

Helmut Modlik recognized early in life that his identity as a Māori was shaping his worldview. Now he leads his community at Takupūwāhia on the shores of Porirua Harbour.

This well-known investigative reporter keeps an eagle-eyed watch over situations — in more ways than one.

Beneath the mild-mannered exterior of this coastal crib lies a fold in the space-time continuum — one this family fell unwittingly into.

If it weren’t for chocolate and coffee, Angela Clifford and her family would be mostly self-sufficient food-wise from their bountiful organic block.

This outdoorsman’s venture, born in a backyard shipping container, is bringing finger-lickin’ good barbecue fare to the masses.

Thanks to the décor-doings of his Scottish wife, a Canterbury sheep and beef farmer now has a fancy new flock on his land — holidaymakers.

This Whanganui artist calls her work ‘mark-making with paint’ and regards it as helping her to beat crippling depression.

Coffee, Cake and Expiry Dates

No doubt it is precisely because of his extraordinary life experiences that Richard Marchant, celebrant and teacher, came to establish the Lincoln Death Cafe .