Our presenters

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!

Tzvetelina (“Lina”) is a professional cake artist with over 20 years’ experience in hospitality and custom cake design. Through her business, Flowerlina’s Cakes & Crafts, she offers fun, hands-on cake decorating classes.

Join her class at Wellington High School Community Education Centre and learn how to build a cake as you develop techniques such as wielding a palette knife, buttercream piping, fondant sculpting, and sugar flowers — no experience needed! 

See Lina’s work on Instagram at  https://www.instagram.com/flowerlinas_cakes_and_crafts/

Vanitha Loganathan moved from Malaysia to Wellington 2 years ago to live with her husband. She is a trained teacher who holds a degree in Teaching English as a Second Language with Distinction.  She also completed CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) in Wellington.  

When she was in Malaysia, she was teaching English in schools for 18 years. She also gave private English lessons to adults who wanted to improve their communication skills. Her participation in the Native Speakers Programme for 5 years, conducted by mentors from Canada, helped her get a better insight of how lessons overseas are conducted. She has since been incorporating the ideas to make her lessons fun and meaningful.

As a passionate teacher, she is always keen in developing students' English language skills. She believes in creating a conducive environment and carrying out interesting activities to encourage her students to participate actively and learn at their own pace through practice and self-discovery, thus developing their self-confidence.

Vanitha also loves to write. She has written a few stories on how she rescued street dogs in Malaysia and the stories were published in a leading local English daily there.

I am a registered psychologist with the goal of supporting young people to thrive and live with vitality and joy. 

My aim is to support parents to navigate their challenges and truly “tune into their teens”

Warwick has recently returned from living in Australia, where he taught English to migrants and refugees at TAFE (equivalent to the New Zealand Polytechnic). He also worked as a teacher trainer, training Australians in Australia, Turkey, and Vietnam. Prior to that, in New Zealand, Warwick taught English to migrants and refugees at the Auckland University of Technology. This included teaching General English, English for Starting a Small Business in New Zealand, English for Computing, and English for the Workplace.

How did his career start? While travelling overseas, he found himself teaching English in Cairo, Egypt. Warwick's thirst for adventure has led him to jump out of planes all over the world, take up white collar boxing and set up a language school in Bulgaria. More recently he undertook a 15,000 km road trip around Australia with his 12 year old son, on a Russian Ural motorbike with a sidecar.

Warwick is also a writer of fiction (thriller romance), and is exploring audio book recording.

Warwick said, “My students will learn and have fun doing so, even if it is in the evening after a hard day's work.”

His qualifications include : RSA CELTA, DipAdultTertEd, MA TESOL, MACommSt (Hons) 

Watene Kaihau

Cultural advisor and facilitator

Watene has over 15 years’ experience in teaching te reo Māori and tikanga from early childhood to adults and as a cultural advisor for various organisations. 

 Watene is a skilled Māori cultural advisor, facilitator, and storyteller with extensive knowledge and experience in Te Ao Māori, committed to fostering culturally inclusive environments across various sectors. Watene was raised in a Māori immersion environment, where the beach, river and forest were the classrooms. He is fluent in te reo Māori and deeply knowledgeable in tikanga Māori. 

 Watene has advised and led organisations on engagement with mana whenua, cultural ceremonies, events, developed Te Ao Māori cultural frameworks, and cultural learning programs as well as delivered tikanga and te reo Māori training to a wide range of stakeholders.

 Watene started here at National Library as a Kaiārahi in 2017 then became a Learning Facilitator for He Tohu, finishing here in 2019.

Wil founded Tactical Survival Academy in 2008, bringing over 15 years of international experience in high-performance training, motivational speaking, university lecturing, and personal development across NZ, Australia, the UK, Europe, Singapore, and the USA. Holding graduate and postgraduate degrees, he specialises in real-world tactical training for civilians and security professionals.

Since launching Tactical Survival, Wil has trained thousands—from everyday Kiwis to NZ Defense Force personnel, police (including tactical units), emergency staff, diplomats, and private security.

A Master Instructor in Protect Krav Maga, Wil trained under Dr. Itay Gil earning his rank after intensive Krav Maga, self-defence and counter-terror awareness training in Australia, New Zealand and Israel. He is also NZ’s representative for FIMA, the leading worldwide Krav Maga federation. A certified range officer and competitive shooter, Wil actively competes in IPSC action pistol and rifle matches.

Beyond training, Wil works in the Film & TV industry as an actor, stunt performer, and fight choreographer on international blockbusters and local productions. He continues to expand his expertise, training in Kali and JKD under Steve Brown of the Inosanto Academy.

Will Allardice started playing guitar at school, learning classical and pop tunes and after university, completed Trinity classical grades and began teaching Saturday morning classes.

He has now taught guitar, electric bass, ukulele, and mandolin at schools and privately in the Wellington region for over 25 years.    His interest in music/guitar ranges from early classical to the present day so Will has an extensive collection of teaching material and expertise.