About me
Storyteller
Everyone has a story.
What's yours?
Life rolled me down the hall of radio, film and television, catching my tail in the door of music where I fell into the arms of fundraising.
I am storyteller, writer, communicator, community builder, networker and fundraiser, with a strong background in sales and promotion.
I am a hard-working multitasker with strong project management and administration skills, hard-won through creative production delivery.
I have raised millions of dollars for arts organisations and local government by tapping into the hearts and minds of communities.
Event management runs in my blood as a result of thousands of shows ranging from music to fundraisers, theatre to symposiums.
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” - Martin Luther King Jr
That was then...
I was born in Wellington into a recently arrived Greek community. I loved guitar and gymnastics but I went to university and studied Law and Science. It was expected.
I played music.
Law & Science didn’t stick. Instead I took my first job in radio, my second in TV. Then I got on a plane bound for London town. There, a career highlight was working on some of the first music websites ever made, including EMI and Craig David.
I played music.
9/11 brought me home. A catalyst rather than a reason. When I landed back in Wellington film was big thanks to The Lord of the Rings. I worked as a production assistant for the colour-grading facility. This fuelled my hunger to be able do more in the creative sector. I wanted to put my hands in the clay.
I trained as a video editor in Auckland, then cut a track into broadcast editing via the corporate video market. It was video editing that saw me head to Christchurch in 2009 to edit The Erin Simpson Show for Whitebait TV.
I played music.
I surprised myself and stayed in Christchurch when that contract finished. I was even more surprised when the earthquake happened. Fight or flight? I stayed and fought. Post-earthquake, I played music at pop-ups and in carparks, houses and any community space left standing. Then I got busy fundraising for the arts using every weapon in my arsenal; video editing to live events, sales to building communities on-line.
My fundraising achievements got noticed and I landed a big gig at Christchurch City Council as ‘Development Advisor Funding’ in 2017.
And I played music.
For most of my life music had had to take a back seat to working. But in 2019 I realised it was now or never so I booked in to record my album with Ben Edwards at Lyttelton Records. I crowdfunded $22,000 for the project, planned the release, then ran right into the arms of a COVID lockdown in March 2020. It took another six months until I could embark on the album release tour. Then, finally, the album project was complete. I am hugely grateful to have lived somewhere that was possible.
This is now...
Christchurch is home. I still play music but I want to re-invigorate my career in the commercial sector.
I want to create great things with good people.
I bring strong project management skills, video editing skills and some grass roots digital marketing expertise.
Events and entertainment are part of who I am.