Our presenters

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!

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.