Our presenters

Stella Carruthers is passionate about sustainable living and green values. An area of particular focus for her is low-waste-lifestyling in the context of creativity. She calls herself a radical homemaker where domestic tasks are carried out to affect wider societal change. She believes small changes at a personal level can make a big difference on the global issues of our time.

Working for herself in a portfolio career means her work life supports a lifestyle built on her sustainable living values inspired by urban self-sufficiency actions. Living in this manner means she has the time and mental space to do domestic DIY actions which helps to reduce her impact on the planet. It also saves her money which makes this lifestyle structure sustainable in the largest sense of the word.

Stella holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Victoria University of Wellington and a library diploma from The Open Polytechnic. She has recently completed a Master of Writing degree with a major in writing for community change.  She has wide experience as a tutor in community contexts – working across a range of venues in Wellington teaching classes in various textile crafts as well as facilitating green living workshops.

Stella is a strong advocate for and believer in lifelong learning values and continuing education. She sees her work with CEC embodying these values perfectly. She lives as a lifelong learner herself regularly taking community and online classes to continue her own learning journey.    

The spirit of curiosity and ongoing self-development these lifelong learning actions support are values she considers when approaching her whole life. A deep interest in the world around her, creativity, reflection and ethical consumption are central tenets to her personal philosophy. Stella hopes to share some of these values through her CEC class tutoring.

Strato Cotsilinis has been a fly fisherman for over forty years and has represented New Zealand on a number of occasions at international competitions.

He has been on the executive of Wellington Flyfishers Club for over twenty years and is currently president of Sport Fly Fishing New Zealand, the national organisation which runs both local and international competitions.

Together with other Wellington Flyfishers Club members, he has been running the courses at Onslow for over ten years, which have been particularly successful as shown by the outstanding evaluation reports received from the participants.

 http://www.manictackleproject.com/index.cfm/PageID/105/

When Sue Field is not teaching classes and workshops at Wellington High School, she runs a busy health practice, using massage and movement education.   She helps people with a variety of physical discomforts – back pain, stiff neck, injuries and rehabilitation after hip or knee surgery.

Many of her clients have postural and pain challenges associated with working in front of a computer for long hours, which is an issue she addresses in her one-day workshops.

Sue has a science degree and a naturopathic diploma, plus 30 years experience learning and teaching yoga.  She completed the four-year Feldenkrais Method® professional training after the method helped her recover from persistent neck and back pain.  She is one of New Zealand’s most experienced Feldenkrais teachers and is continually updating her skills.

With 25 years in private practice, and 20 years tutoring both privately, and through the Community Education Centre, she brings a wealth of knowledge to her teaching.

Sue Lytollis is a well-known Self Defence teacher.  She developed her eight-hour self defence course for women and girls in the 80s and has been awarded a QSM for services to women.  She has a black belt in Judo and a 5th level black belt in Kendo (Japanese Fencing) and is now the national coach for the NZ Women's Kendo Squad.  

 Sue, however, is the first to say her courses are not martial arts classes.  They are an amalgam of practical thinking, harnessing women's internal anger and ability to defend themselves and their children and an environment where the many ways women can be harassed and made to feel afraid are explored.  

 She teaches verbal, psychological and physical self defence moves and explores situational attacks. Women who complete her course feel greatly empowered, not only to deal with fear and the potential of attack in their lives, but they also gain a greater confidence to do the things they may have hesitated to do before.

Suryagita Cox (MATTSNZ, Prov. MNZAC) is a certified Alexander Technique teacher with 19 years experience.

She trained in the UK and now has a private practice in Wellington teaching individuals and groups. She also practises as a voice coach and Psychosynthesis Counsellor. She has a passion for enriching people’s lives through helping them to achieve full health and well-being.

With a wealth of experience in the financial sector, I currently serve as a Portfolio Analyst at an investment company, where I manage over $6 billion in cash flow daily. My work revolves around optimizing financial strategies and ensuring effective money management on a large scale.

Beyond my professional role, I am deeply passionate about financial education. In my past experiences, I have conducted financial literacy workshops across Wellington, focusing on empowering youth to manage their money effectively and teaching them how to be proactive in their financial.

Thorn Richards is a jeweller and tutor experienced in a number of techniques including fabrication, lost wax methods and sand-casting, working in copper, brass, bronzes and silver.

They hold a Masters in Fine Arts and Post-Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts from Massey University Wellington, and a Bachelors in Visual Arts from Dunedin School of Art.

Thorn loves teaching and mentoring jewellers along their making journey and has tutored hundreds of jewellers in a variety of classes in Te Whanganui-A-Tara Wellington over the past 4 years.

Thorn’s own jewellery work combines casting and fabrication techniques to transform organic forms into wearable treasures.
Examples of Thorn’s creations can be found here 

Tony graduated from Auckland University with a masters degree with 1^st Class Honours in Spanish and Italian. 

At school and at University, he received awards for his accomplishments in Spanish.  In the era of School Certificate, Tony’s adult students were among the best performing students in NZ.

He has travelled throughout the Spanish speaking world and has taught English in Madrid.  

Tony is passionate about teaching Spanish and has been involved with a number of students for whom learning Spanish has been a life-changing experience.   The purpose of all the classes is to build within the student a confidence and an ability to convey meaning in Spanish and to be able to understand, in broad terms, what local people are saying in reply.  The learning journey is about not worrying about making a mistake, but simply enjoying the thrill of successfully being able to convey what you want and who you are in a language that is beautiful to the ear, and relatively speaking, less difficult than others to master. 

Be able to order a wine, chat about NZ and who you are, book a bus and chat to the person you are sitting next to on it, all from the comfort of your Wellington High School classroom.

Tony Yuile is a certified life coach, clinical hypnotherapist and Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner.

Following a 30 year career as a chartered accountant and risk management specialist, Tony began his coaching career in 2013. He helps individuals to harness the power of their mind to achieve success and well-being in life, work and business.

Tony's particular area of expertise lies in mind management - helping people to 'change their minds' so they gain freedom from worry, anxiety and stress, overcome limiting beliefs and unhelpful habits.

Tony’s solution focused approach uses a range of techniques drawn from the fields of solution focused coaching, neuroscience, positive psychology, mindfulness and clinical hypnosis. His website is www.tycoaching.nz

Tyrone Barugh has spent time in businesses as a freelance content writer, working for clients as varied as Tripadvisor, Viator, Harmoney, and Montoux (SaaS for life and health insurers).

His sophisticated understanding of content creation underpins his ability to show you how to market and sell – both key skills for any business owner.

In 2022, after years of working in businesses and practising law, Tyrone’s entrepreneurial drive saw him combine his legal training and business knowledge to open his own boutique legal firm, called Spilt Milk Law Ltd. Tyrone’s unique combination of practical business experience, supported by his pragmatic approach, is underpinned by his ability to hone in on the essence of where you need to focus your business efforts. His deep understanding of legal and compliance issues relating to business is matched with his practical “sleeves-up” experience as a business owner.

This one-day workshop has been created to help inform and inspire you to have success in manifesting your small business dreams!