Career Spark

At 26, Logan has already created and sold four inventions whilst also being named as a Forbes 30 Under 30 and an AsiaNZ 25 to Watch. He’s also the director of technology and innovation at the NZ Merino Company where’s he’s dedicated to generating higher-value for farmers. This sees him lead a multimillion-dollar R and D portfolio. An exceptional scientific and entrepreneurial mind, he is a reminder that age is no limit to achieving greatly. 

Some of my recent guests manage people and products, but today's guest, Dan Henderson, manages penguins, turtles, sharks, fish and rays. Today we speak to the General Manager of SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton’s Aquarium. If you’ve ever wanted to know what goes into running an aquarium and caring for fish, penguins and sharks, this is the episode for you.

Ben is a creative guru, cofounding and growing Wrestler into one of New Zealand’s leading creative agencies. Having created global campaigns for Allbirds, Niantic and Education NZ, he’s established himself as the go-to creative genius for all creative mediums, and he’s got the titles to show it. Apart from CEO of Wrestler, he’s also listed as a Forbes 30 Under 30 and a Future Director for TVNZ. In this episode, we talked about the negative connotations behind being on the 30 Under 30 list, his belief that repetition is the key to developing creativity and advice for those looking to start their own creative empire.

Luke is a young entrepreneurial dynamo, who, alongside his cofounder Lucy, created the company known as Vxt, a smart communications platform that helps automate repetitive tasks associated with calls, namely turning voicemails to text. On top of that, he’s also an advocate for volunteering, having founded Amnesty UC and volunteered for multiple community organisations. He’s an exceptional young founder with a very clear focus on people. 

Jerome has been labelled a Digital Assets Expert when he appeared on TV1’s Breakfast. He’s a Founder, an Investor, an Advisor and another believer in the Metaverse. He has 20+ years of experience with scaling companies and has strong experience around digital payments, healthcare and decentralised ecosystems. From getting kicked out of school to becoming an experienced businessman with sights set in the metaverse, today's episode is one for the books!

Award winning global businesswoman… founder… CEO… community builder… global citizen, there are many ways to describe Siân, and what I gave was just a few of them. She’s a leading community builder with plenty of experience and insight that we get into in this episode. She’s the winner of the 2017 New Zealand Global Women and Influence award and is only looking to build her brand further. She’s a high achiever, not only here in NZ, but also in Australia and the US.

Israel is the definition of hard work. He has an incredible story from university dropout to Managing Director and is changing the construction industry, looking to do things differently. He’s the Founder and Managing Director of Aotearoa Labour Hire and he’s received over 16,000 views on his TEDx video, Hard work, works. He’s a talented, humble and down to earth individual who is making waves with his business. An exciting episode where we talk about his friendship with Rob Fyfe, how he lived on 21 cups of noodles every week and where he sees his industry going. 

2017 saw Clinton Farley awarded the Australian Hotel General Manager of the year. From his beginnings in New Zealand, he’s developed a wealth of knowledge and experience in the tourism and hospitality industry across Australia and New Zealand. For now, he’s exceeding expectations as the General Manager of The Hotel Britomart, New Zealand’s first 5 green star rated hotel. He’s also non- Executive Director of Soap Aid, a Melbourne based non-profit organisation that partners with hotels across New Zealand, Australia and the United States to reprocess hotel soap bars, donating these to communities around the world with some of the highest mortality rates due to poor hygiene. If you’re remotely interested in tourism and or hospitality, this is the episode for you.

As an M&M Global 30 Under 30, Renee has plenty of knowledge in marketing and media. She’s the COO of re.stor and everblue, while also owning a consulting business - E & E Marketing. With 17 1st tier awards with 2 Cannes Lions, Renee helps shine some light on being successful within the marketing and media industry. Today, we talk about some of the important skills to be a successful marketer, how the industry has changed, the importance of sustainbiality and what sets an award winner apart from the competition.

21 years ago, Greg wrote down that he aspired to be a CEO. Rather than create his own company, he worked hard, moving through the ranks to eventually become CEO of Icebreaker. He’s been in management longer than I’ve been born and we’ll get into the ins and outs of being a manger in today's episode. This one has some incredible advice about what it takes to be a genuine leader and more than just simply a boss.

Today’s guest, Kimberley Ramsay, went from working as a tax lawyer to becoming one of the most recognisable faces in New Zealand cheerleading and also founding Vidzing, a platform to host, sell and stream content. In today’s episode, we talk about skills important to succeed in today's environment, a regular piece of advice Kimberley doesn't agree with and how she went from being a tax lawyer to running FOUR companies! 

Our guest today is Sam Johnson, who took his place in the headlines when he assembled the Student Volunteer Army following the Christchurch earthquakes. Through Facebook, he curated 11,000 volunteers to help with efforts to put the city back together. He’s had great success beyond the SVA and we touch on that today. We talk about his definition of success, his new perspective and what to do if you're thinking of starting your own charity.

In this episode, we talk to Lance Burdett, a certified FBI negotiator, having spent an illustrious 22-year career as a detective inspector and a crisis negotiator for the New Zealand police. Today we talk about the flaws in the education system, what a career as a crisis negotiator looks like, why he made the jump from being a self-employed builder for 18 years to join the police and finally his fight with depression and why helping others in a similar situation brought him back. He’s also the author of Behind the Tape and Dark Side of the Brain.

Today’s guest Omer started his career in New Zealand a little differently than you or I. At age 13, he came over from Turkey by himself to study and has a great amount of success with small businesses and start-ups. With a proven knowledge of the influencer space, e-commerce and NFTs, he knows how the internet is evolving. Currently he’s an e-commerce consultant and strategist with a lot of promise in the NFT space. We talk about how he came to understand the opportunity the internet was presenting and how exciting the NFT market is becoming.  Omer's Socials:Twitter: @Hazer_NFTLinkedIn linkedin.com/in/omerhazer1/Website is: hazerconsulting.com

Have you ever seen a movie where the protagonist needs to get somewhere fast and an ally says, “I know a guy”. Well, today's guest is that guy. Tony McCombe is a commercial pilot with 23 years of experience in the aviation industry. He now is now the CEO of DJets, a private jet hire and air charter service. Today we talk about his fascinating path to becoming a pilot and answer "could I be a hero and save the crashing plane?"Check out Uplift in Kindhttps://www.facebook.com/UpliftInKindJacob's Give a Little Pagehttps://givealittle.co.nz/cause/help-us-make-jacobs-dream-of-a-jet-flight-come?fbclid=IwAR3yxw_g8npfYis8lMq7w-8uTlM2FMKihwgoyq0beV6hMFt5sAIyKfNmgtQ

Nearly every kid dreams of working at a toy company and today's guest Stephen is one of the limited few who does just this. He's the Head of Corporate, Commercial and Intellectual Property for Zuru Toys, Edge, Health and Tech and also the Head of Regulatory and Compliance. He’s been named as a Finalist/Excellence Awardee for In-House Lawyer of the Year for 35’s and under at the NZ Law Awards. And what’s more, he’s fellow Matamata College alumni.

Today's episode features Kevin Biggar. You may have seen him on TV, where he co-hosted First Crossings and Intrepid NZ, or perhaps you may have attended one of his motivational seminars or workshops, or you may know him from winning the trans-Atlantic rowing race or being the first Kiwi to trek unsupported to the South Pole. Wherever you’ve seen him, he is certainly someone who has a unique career path which we’re going to get into today.

Phil Thomson isn’t patrolling the streets stopping crime, he’s working at solving it a different way, digitally. He’s a cofounder of Auror which aims to enable businesses and Police to prevent and reduce retail crime. With a background in Intellectual Property, he’s also been made a Life Member of the New Zealand Law Students Association. Today we talk about how he came to cofound Auror, how law can be creative and the benefits of joining student societies.

Today's guest is Emily Blythe, who is making waves on her mission to modernise the airport industry and solve a multi-billion dollar issue. She’s the Young Enterprise’s Innovator of the Year and CEO of Pyper Vision. In this episode, we talk about her entrepreneurial beginnings, the science behind her product and we also get into how she spends her 24 hours, beginning with waking up at 2am. 

Today we speak to Grant Johnson, the Founder and CEO of RocketSpark. From beginnings as an accountant to founding RocketSpark out of a student flat, he has quite the resume. His company now has thousands of customers from 27 different countries all while operating out of Cambridge. We talk about the importance of customer insight, what Grant would do if he were to do his tertiary education again and the importance of mental health in a startup environment.

Today we have Daniel Crothers, an intuitive and future thinking entrepreneur, who has cofounded multiple companies in early web development, cannabis media, blockchain technologies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). We talk about his beginnings as an apprentice printer into co-founding his first company, how he accidentally cofounded a cannabis media publication, how important timing is when it comes to capitalising on trends and VeVe’s current work, touching on their partnership with Marvel.

Want to learn about how some New Zealander icons, entrepreneurs and influencers got into their careers? Us too! At Career Spark, we're exploring many different people and how they developed their career. Join us, in exploring some interesting industries, companies and occupations, which, hopefully, will help spark your career!

Today, we have the face and co-founder of LetsPlay.Live, Australasia’s biggest and most iconic esports organisation. He’s an icon of esports everywhere and he’s not slowing down now. In this episode, we talk about the mentality of always saying yes, his secondary education and how he came to form the organisation that is LPL.