Lisa Heald - Coach & Cultural Identity Consultant

Lisa Heald is a solopreneur based out of Christchurch. Her business has two main areas of focus Cultural Equity Consultant and Coach. She believes that it is a lack of confidence that holds good people back from taking the cultural competence they have learned and turning it into capability (knowing to doing). Her mahi is in this confidence space.

Whakapapa - he tangata Tiriti ahau. Nō ingarani, nō Airani, nō kōtarani ōku tipuna.

The Early Years

Lisa grew up on the Kapiti Coast. She attended Raumati Beach and Waikanae Primary schools and then Paraparaumu College, where she achieved both her School Certificate and University Entrance.

She remembers riding bareback with her horse on the beach at sunset. These years she lived for being on the beach.

The whanau lived at Peka Peka. Lisa had a sick older sister and a baby brother. She left home at fourteen and was then placed in foster care, which she hated. At sixteen, she left foster care and lived with my friends’ families, moving around every few months. Lisa grew to love the mothers in those families who cared for her.

She remembers getting a part-time job at Chicken Spot when she was fourteen. The school was my safe place. She enjoyed horse riding, dog obedience, and athletics during these years.

She put a pack on her back and went overseas at age Seventeen.

Massey University

Lisa attended Massey University in Palmerston North she gained a Batchlor; Education and Psychology, Dip in Teaching, Batchlor of Broadcasting; Television Production

“I was the first one in family to go to university. I didn’t know how to enrol and got it very wrong. People at Massey University helped me on enrolment day to sort out my courses. Worked as a morning waitress in a large hotel during this time.”

She later gained a BBc while based in the South Island.

Working life

After university and before Teacher Training, Lisa worked on Furniture trucks as a labourer and driver. She explains she may have taken the concept of the Girls Can Do Anything campaign a bit too literally.

After getting her teaching diploma she worked at Awapuni Primary (Palmerston North) and Foxton Beach Primary.

“I moved up to Turangi and worked at Tongariro High School. I was often the only Pākehā in the class and usually the smallest person too. I lived and worked with Māori. I was looked after and learned much about how people lived so differently in our country. It changed me forever, and I have taken this learning, and the aroha received with me through my life.”

“Since this time enabling and empowering Māori youth, using my Pākehā privilege, started in Turangi and I have never stopped. I prefer Māori culture to western culture. It is more nurturing and gave me a concept of whānau that I never had. So, for this reason I am forever giving back.” - Lisa explains

Lisa moved to Ōtautahi to look after her unwell father. This is when she completed her Batchelor of Broadcasting from Canterbury Polytechnic Institute, which is now Ara Institute of Canterbury.

Lisa worked as a Literacy and Numeracy tutor for WINZ at Ngā Hau E Wha marae.

Lisa then worked at Linwood College before heading off to the New Zealand Graduate School of Education, where she led the Secondary Teacher Training Program. From here she went to Riccarton High School where she was Deputy Principal for nine years.

”This school changed much over the time I was there. I found it very racist when I arrived. Supporting the Kaiako Māori and rangatahi was important. Then enabling Māori to be Māori and for them to share this with the school was our next mission. We grew the Kapahaka, we also started having Māori hui – a board member was heard saying, ‘we have families here I never knew we had’. We hosted Manu Korero. What a proud moment that was.”

“It became very multicultural with over 70 different nationalities. Building an inclusive environment for all while continuing to strengthen our commitment to honouring our te tiriti relationship, being multicultural in a bicultural setting, was my mahi,” she explains.

Hobbies and Social Activities 

“I do love tramping in the mountains, and I ski badly. My biggest hobby is waka ama. I belong to Te Wai Pounamu and paddle at a national level – long distance.” - Lisa explains.

Lisa’s Business Today

Lisa describes herself as a solopreneur.  Her business website and reviews can be found here https://lisaheald.com/

“I have my own business as a Cultural Equity Consultant and Coach.”

“I believe that a lack of confidence holds good people back from taking the cultural competence they have learned and turning it into capability (knowing to doing). My mahi is in this confidence space.”

“When I was at primary school, I remember the land marches, Bastion Point and was worried my Māori friends were going to have their parents taken away by the police and their houses bulldozered. These early memories made me curious to discover what was happening in my country. I grew up with racist parents and didn’t even know we had a treaty.”

“Fast forward, and in my education mahi, I experienced white flight and racism. I always worked to create equity and call out racism. I was doing this mahi before we even had names like equity, inclusion, cultural safety, competence etc.”

“I believe my strength has been to change cultures wherever I work.” - Lisa explain’s

te ao Māori

“I can work fully in the space of creating equity through te ao Māori. Being an external consultant and coach I can be more effective in creating positive cultures and strengthening cultural confidence with people who want to do the mahi.”

“ This is great, I can now work with people I like, doing what I love.” she smiles and explains.

“I still mentor rangatahi. It warms my heart to see how they can turn their lives around. I have always done this mahi. I can easily see what other Pākehā cannot: racism, discrimination, low expectations, white privilege and it’s entitlement. All this makes it difficult for rangatahi to grow potential and connect in this white world. It is harder for them to get jobs, be given opportunities and see their worth in the working world.”

“I work with Māori and Pākēha to change this.” Lisa explains.

What Lisa has learnt

“I am much wiser. I am a social introvert. People describe me as a conduit between the Pākehā and Māori worlds. Connection and community are important to me. Enabling people is what I do. My superpowers are in leadership, empathy, equity, being positive and supporting others, creating innovation.”

“I love to learn and enjoy chanlleges.” - Lisa states.

Future Goals

Lisa explained to me she wants to live “freedomfully and meaningfully.”

She will grow her very successful business.

“My mission is to ensure that anyone who meets me leaves with more acceptance of others, te ao Māori, and with trust in Tino rangatiratanga.”

Lisa also wants to visit Iceland :-)

“Other than that – who knows” - Lisa smiles and acknowledges there is much to do.

Interview and article by Tony Cutting
for Kumara Vine