Iwi affiliation

Ko Rangitoto te maunga
Ko Hauraki te moana
Ko HMS Ionic te waka
Ko Kaipatiki te hapū
Ko Ngati Pākeha te iwi
Ko Briar Collard tōku ingoa

Rohe

On my mum’s side, I am a fifth generation New Zealander, with my grandparents settling in a little town called Glenfield/Kaipatiki (or Mayfield as it was known at the time). I sadly don't know about my whakapapa beyond my grandmother on my father's side.

I stayed with my whānau in Glenfield until I was 19, when I started moving around the country to chase performing arts! First to Palmerston North to study, then to Stratford (to do some mahi at the Festival of Lights) and then back to Auckland, where I studied further and have continued to work until now.

After about 10 years, I find myself having come full circle, now living only 5 minutes from where I grew up!

How I got where I am today

I started out pursuing a career in acting. Out of high school, I was stubborn and determined, and continued to audition for drama schools for 4 years in between part time work, short-term training and whatever other acting was available!

After not a lot of success, I crossed paths with Tainui Tukiwaho who was one of the teaching staff at Unitec, where I completed a Certificate. He invited me to be a part of a small children's theatre show that he and Amber Curreen had been asked to bring to Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival in early 2015. Later that year, I threw myself into my first kids show tour, performing in full te reo Māori for kids around the North Island. This was the first of my year's performing in and tour managing Te Rēhia Theatre Company's "Ruia Te Kākano" series.

After this, creative mahi quickly began consuming more and more of my time, becoming a core part of the whānau at Te Pou Theatre, which Tainui and Amber established in 2015, and continuing to work in or on a great number of Te Pou and Te Rēhia Theatre projects. In 2016, I moved into working at the Te Pou whare full time, managing venue hires and administration. At this time, I also worked alongside Boni Tukiwaho in the early days of his company b.Terongopai.t, which has now evolved into Taurima Vibes, the company producing Auckland Fringe Festival 2020 and 21.

At the end of 2018, after relocating Te Pou to it's awesome new whare at Corban Estate, I moved on to my work at Eyes and Ears video production and continue to work as a Producer there. In 2020, we were proud to have our short film "LOVE IS REAL!" featured in the NZIFF "NZ's Best Shorts" competition, as well as being listed on international short-film website "Short of the Week".

In between all of this, I have continued to produce my own productions under "Dusty Room Productions", a company I established in 2016 to produce our very first show, "A Man Walks Into a Bar" by David Geary. The company continues to grow and evolve and we continue to be a vehicle for sharing stories that celebrate humans and encourage curiosity and compassion. Our current and most ambitious offering yet is "Alone", which debuted at MOTAT's Aviation Display Hall in 2020, and won the "Best Theatre" and "PANNZ Tour Ready" awards at Auckland Fringe 2020.

Whānau

My biological family are my mum Joanne, my dad Glenn, and my three sisters, Erin, Jess and Sarah. My sister Erin also has three boys under 10. My family, while not creatives themselves, have always done their best to support everything I do.

I live with my partner Matt, our 11 month old puppy Bear, a very patient cat called TomTom and two turtles, called Wilson and Dora. They are all my safe space to call home at the end of everyday.

The team behind "Alone" are not just trusted colleagues but also whānau - as is the nature with a lot of small theatre productions, we have all poured our hearts, souls, blood, sweat and tears into a journey that we really believe in, and I am so proud to walk alongside the whole team.

Through all of my mahi, I am so grateful to have built an enormous, supportive whānau around me. Tainui, Amber, Boni and all the rest of the whānau at Te Pou have, and continue to be, my whānau and mentors. They taught me just about everything I know when it comes to producing theatre, as well as allowing me to discover what my values are, that I continue to hold onto in all of my work. I would not be where I am today without the opportunities that they gave to me and led me to.

There are too many people to name them all, but my path has been shaped entirely by the people I have met and worked with, the stories they have shared with me, and the stories we share together, and I would not have achieved everything I have without them.

Something cool

Nerd alert - I am ALWAYS happy to chat about different tools that help with staying organised!

I live by my Asana.com to-do list everyday. I'm sure you can picture it - a beautifully colour-coded, digital to-do list in a calendar form, where I can drag and drop my tasks around. I now just need to get my Alexa to talk to my Asana so I can talk to Alexa and add tasks on the go!

Note: Asana actually does heaps of other stuff too, but this is my most-used feature!