Marise Lant
Marise Lant is a Maori Leader, Lobbyist, and Indigenous Rights Protector, as well as the Founder of the 250 Years of Colonisation the Aftermath Group that led the Protest and the burning of the Union Jack in Opposition and response to the 250 Year Replica Endeavour arrival to Gisborne on 8th October 2019. She is also known for her work on Maori Land Rights, taking the charge on the Te Ture Whenua Reforms to the Waitangi Tribunal which became (Wai 2478) that produced the 2016 report “ He Kura Whenua Ka Rokohanga” it was later taken forward to the United Nations, and as a result recommendations were made by the United Nations to the New Zealand Government. She is a current Maori Claimant to the High Court battling Maori Customary Rights on the Takutai Moana Act, (Foreshore & Seabed) She has represented on “Te Ohu Whakatika” which later produced the report, “Inaia Tonu Nei” a Maori group that provided a forum to empower Maori Voices in the conversation on Criminal Justice and Incarceration. She continues to advocate alongside many community groups on issues relating to Suicide, Methamphetamine, and Maori Incarceration. Previous Chairperson of the Tairawhiti District Maori Womens Welfare League, A Representative on the Tairawhiti District Maori Council, and supporter of the Tairawhiti Multicultural Council.
Richa Sharma
Community Organiser & Student of BA in Linguistics and Education, Victoria University of Wellington
Richa (she/her) is a 18 year old with a passion for people and planet. She has been working in the political and NGO space since high school both as a Community Organiser and on various governance boards.
Richa is currently studying towards a BA in Linguistics and Education at Victoria University of Wellington.
She has lived experience as a member of both the Queer community and as a member of the South-Asian diaspora in Aotearoa, and is passionate to ensure these voices can be represented in all levels of our society, from community and social involvement, to our democratic institutions.
Kokila Annamalai
Kokila Annamalai is a community organiser, researcher, facilitator and writer in Singapore, who works with communities at the intersections of multiple marginalities. She is deeply invested in learning and applying practices that facilitate critical consciousness, transformative justice, radical care and community self-determination. Much of her work is devoted to creating voice infrastructures with communities on the margins, in spaces such as the arts, media, civil society and academia.
Venessa Pokaia
Ko Venessa Pokaia tōku ingoa, he uri ahau a Ngāti Kauwhata raua ko Rangitāne. As a community researcher for CARE, Massey University, I have been privy to working alongside those whānau at “the margins of the margins” within the hāpori (community) of Highbury, and within the diverse communities of disabled, migrant, ageing and rainbow.
Samiksha Pattanaik
Samiksha Pattanaik is a junior researcher and PhD candidate at CARE, Massey University. Her doctoral research looks at the health experiences and social media usage of rural Indian women in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through a culture-centered approach (CCA), her research work aims to create an entry point for rural Indian women to articulate pandemic communication solutions from below, rather than being passive recipients of expert-driven solutions disseminated via digital channels. CCA enables the researcher to engage in a dialogue with rural women in order to gain a better understanding of the meanings they ascribe to Covid-19 within their rural context and the role social media plays in this process.
At CARE, Samiksha has worked with communities at the margins of the margins in Odisha’s Kandhamal District, which has a high indigenous population. She has conducted in-depth interviews with rural and tribal populations across villages in the Kandhamal district and her interviews have focussed on uncovering the health experiences of the marginalised communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her research interests primarily lie in health communication, social media, and gender issues.
Samiksha has also worked with leading news organisations in India, including the Hindustan Times, CNN-News18, Scroll.in, and the Condenast India. Also, she has worked in the field of public relations in London for two years. She holds a master’s degree in Multimedia Journalism from the University of Westminster, London. Her master’s dissertation focussed on a comparative study of infotainment features in British and Indian health television shows.
Selina Metuamate
Indranil Mandal
Abu Hayat
ALUMNI
Gayle Moana-Johnson
Jasmine Pai
Aisake Tuiwasa