From the Queen of England, to the Poor Knights

As a part of the small but infallible Dow client service team you have a lot on your plate. Do you have any rituals you use to help keep the pace?

I’m a big list maker (both at home and at work) and have several lists on the go relating to different tasks and goals. Every Friday I write a list for Monday morning so that I can start the week knowing what needs to be accomplished first. Kikki K (designer stationary company) make some brilliant daily planner notepads. I’m a real fan of cool stationery. I also use a few organisation apps like Any.do which help to prioritise tasks and integrate with my calendar.

I usually start the day with a run, bootcamp or swim to wake myself up… that or a coffee. I was an avid tea drinker when I lived in England, and am still very partial to tea, but since moving to NZ I drink a lot more coffee; probably because your coffee is so much better.

You hail from the northern hemisphere, what brought you down to little old New Zealand, and why is it that it’s just so much better?

The short version of the story is that my partner is a kiwi and so I moved here to live with him. The longer version involves six months backpacking around South East Asia, an unexpected meeting whilst travelling in New Zealand, a holiday in Spain, 9 months of umming and ahhing and then a decision on New Years Eve a few years ago to jump on a plane.

New Zealand is a truly special place. It’s beautiful, that goes without saying, but it’s also a place of vibrant opportunity. It’s remoteness, which can be challenging, especially for someone like myself whose family and friends are largely on the other side of the planet, is also what makes it so unique. The no. 8 wire attitude, ingenuity and creativity that abound here make it a remarkable place to live. I love it. And as I mentioned previously, you have better coffee.

Rumour has it that you have a bit an arty-farty background. Tell us a bit about your previous experience in the art world?

Well, I have a degree in Fine Art, a Post-Grad Certificate and a Masters in Art Education, as well as teaching Art and Photography for 3 years, so yes… bit of an arty background! I have always loved Art and Design and still do some of my own stuff when I find the time, although usually it’s just making work for friends and family rather than exhibitions now.

To be honest, I just enjoy creative problem solving and ideas generation in general, (I’m a member of Mensa, and they send out monthly webzine full of puzzles… I love it. I’m a bit of a geek at heart) and what’s nice about working at Dow is that it allows me to be involved in the creative process as well as the project management, client relationship, marketing and brand strategy that I also love.

What do you do to cut loose?

I’m probably happiest outside, so I like running, fishing and hiking. I also like trying new stuff, and like having a go at new hobbies. I tried windsurfing recently… I’m terrible at it, but it was fun. I rarely stick with these things (I’m so fickle) but I like to try them out, and will give most things a go once, whether it’s sky diving, kite surfing or flying a helicopter! One that I have stuck with was diving. I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like, but am off to Poor Knights this weekend for an explore.

If I can’t get outside, then I love cooking and watching Netflix, usually with a glass of red wine. I also do yoga, but I’m not great at meditating. My brain is quite active and I find it hard to switch off. Cleaning actually helps with that, and I like the house to be tidy, so that’s kind of meditative for me.

That damned technology be everywhere, some of it has been fundamentally life changing and some not so much. If you had a spare 5 minutes to design and create a new app, what would it be?

My partner’s company actually build a lot of apps and web tools, so we talk about ideas for apps a lot!

I think the best apps are those that make an existing process more efficient; Uber, for example. There will always be a need for taxi’s (until self-driving cars become common… don’t laugh. It’s only a matter of time!) and Uber just makes the process easier – cashless; integrated with locational data on your phone; clear and intuitive user interface… It’s brilliant. We were in Paris in January and it removed any language barrier issues because you book your trip and pay for it through the app.

If I was coming up with an app idea I’d probably be linking it to one of our client projects. We often have great ideas for apps that could be used for brand launches and comms integration, and it would be brilliant to work on bringing one of those to life.