Monthly Archives: October 2014

Geoff Marsland – the havana journey

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Geoff At Havana cropped

 There is no denying the incredible influence  has had on making Wellington the coffee culture strong hold, as well as spring loading and inspiring many other cafe businesses around the country. This year  has achieved a massive milestone, leading the nations coffee revolution for 25 years. So to celebrate, founder and partner Geoff Marsland is about to launch a new book, telling the original Havana story. In this interview Geoff talks about his serendipitous journey from fish to fashion to coffee, what those early caffeine fueled days in Wellington were like and what might be next for the Godfather of coffee.

http://www.havana.co.nz/

Silvia Zuur – on learning and leading

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Silvia Zuur is one of those Wellington women we’re sure to be seeing a lot more of, as she already has quite a few nominations under her belt including being a finalist in the Women of Influence Awards 2013. As a board member of , she is passionate about supporting other social entrepreneurs to get social enterprises off the ground. And this is all on top of being the founder and CEO of her own social enterprise, , an online community platform that connects people that have things to teach with people who want to learn.

In this interview we find out what motivates this young woman in her relentless quest for learning new things, and her passion of wanting us to learn too. We also get a few tips on keeping chickens.

PS. listeners there is an awesome song by “the Clean” in the middle of this interview that you can fast forward if you are time poor, but if you are not, please take some time to enjoy.

http://chalkle.com/learn

http://www.enspiral.com/

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/20151351/nicanor-perlas,-solidarity-economics

 

Alexa Wilson – the status of being

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Credit Lydia Bittner-Baird

 

Kiwi Choreographer Alexa Wilson, has been described as one of this countries great contemporary dancers. In this interview Alexa talks about her new work for , the Status of Being, why so many Kiwi’s are living a creative life in Berlin and the message behind the moves.

Thanks to Lydia Bittner for the photograph.

Gabe Davidson and Rochelle Harrison – the wellington chocolate voyage

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james, gabe and gary

Yes, that IS Gabe Davidson from the , in the middle of that shot. But where is he and who is he with? Well Gabe and Rochelle Harrison of the WCF are creating an even more wicked chapter in their exciting tale of how to keep making the best chocolate. Now they see an opportunity in sourcing their cocoa beans from as local as possible by supporting PNG cocoa legend – James Rutana ( lovely guy on the left). James helped build Bougainville’s cocoa industry, only to see it get destroyed by war and neglect. But he is committed to rebuilding it and Gabe and Rochelle want to help him. And through this vision they could be on the cusp of creating a massive healthy industry for the Pacific and a new phase of the bean to bar chocolate we are growing to love. And we can all help.

To stay up to date and find out how you can be on that boat follow this http://thewellingtonchocolatevoyage.wordpress.com/

Emily Dowding Smith – arctic snorkeler

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Meet Emily Dowding-Smith an ex Welly girl, (well Taranaki really) environment lawyer and scientist who has just returned from a test run, snorkeling the Arctic as part of a team of 10 women selected to raise awareness about disappearing sea ice and altered eco systems. And she was the only kiwi. Wow! In this interview Emily shares her reasons why this trip was important to her and her perception on what she saw on this once in a lifetime experience.

For more on this and Emily’s other adventures read her blog http://emtere.com

Glen McDonald – the inclusion solution

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Glen portrait 002

After 21 years of commitment to it was a pleasure to share some great incites from coordinator Glen McDonald. In this interview, she talks about the Vincents’s recipe that has had a positive effect on many people’s lives, as well as an interesting take on why she see’s Wellington as a “healthy” city and shares her view on the simple change that could help the nation.

Vincents is also having an exhibition for Mental Health Awareness Week that is on until 22nd October, –

Christian Pilkington – 40 years of fair trading

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Christain_Pilkington

Once upon a time, 40 years ago in fact, long before we had heard of the terms fair trade and social enterprise, a little shop called , opened it’s doors up two flights of stairs, completely unaware of the global movement they were pioneering.

In this interview longtime manager Christian Pilkington talks about what has made this unique business model thrive, some of the people and movements that have unofficially incubated at Trade Aid and the next step we need to take in our purchasing power.

I was quite moved and humbled at the 40th birthday bash when I realized that the founders of this store were pioneering ‘Fair Trade” and “Social Enterprise’ long before these concepts had their names.