Our presenters

Sawasdee Ka, My name is Aranya and I am from Thailand.

I moved to New Zealand nearly 20 years ago and opened a Thai café called Aranya’s House at Wakefield Market in Wellington which we owned for 12 years.

We then opened Nakhon Thai in Haitaitai which we owned for 17 years. Now that we have sold the restaurant I have time to share my passion for teaching Thai cooking. I hope you will come and share the experience with me.

Austin, proudly from Ōtautahi/Christchurch, is a professional theatre-maker based in Wellington. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in theatre from Victoria University of Wellington and regularly performs with Playshop, The Improvisers, FIDKarts and produces independent work. He co-founded VUW’s dedicated improv club mmmpop Improv and created the interactive crime-thriller phenomenon Magnus Steele (nominated Most Promising Emerging Artist, NZ Fringe 2020). Austin performs and produces work all over Aotearoa. He recently established On the Spot Studios, hosting improvisation, dance and drama classes for young people.

Brenton is a senior trainer and performer with the Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT), and is currently WIT's coordinator. 

He has ten years of improv experience, and has performed in improv festivals in New Zealand and Australia, as well as in Fringe and Comedy Festivals in New Zealand. 

Brenton has trained with some of the best, including Loose Moose in Canada and the Maydays in the UK.  

Cat Connor is a crime thriller author, New Zealander, and instigator of trouble. By day she’s a warm body in Writers Plot Bookshop in Upper Hutt, NZ where she spends time answering questions from authors (budding, new, and established) and sharing the joy of kiwi authors with kiwi readers, she also teaches writing classes via the book shop. By night she writes crime novels; wrangles teenagers; enjoys the company of Bucky Barnes & Timmy the guinea pigs and wrestles Patrick the kitten. She flourishes on coffee, tequila, travel, knitting, reading, binge watching Netflix series, and a lot of music - not necessarily in that order and usually not all at once.

For the last fifteen years Cat has been writing The Byte Series: Which follows FBI Special Agent Ellie Conway on her journey as a member of an elite FBI team that functions on dark humor, close relationships, and strong coffee. Each book is a standalone story with the same core characters. 

Cat was published by Rebel ePublishers in the USA for 10 years and her short stories appeared in many ezines, journals, and magazines in the UK and USA. In late 2018 her publisher closed and she (with two other Rebels) formed 9mm Press.
Cat hosted a large writing workshop every fortnight at Upper Hutt City Library from 2012-2015 - that group produced three collections of short stories that were published via Writers Plot Bookshop.

 www.catconnor.com

 and

 www.writersplot.org.nz

Catherine Anderton has been sewing for the past 40 years and has worked in costume departments for film, opera, TV and theatre.

Catherine spent two years working for Sally Eagle Bridal and has two years experience tutoring sewing for Whitecliff Fashion Tech.  She is qualified to certificate level in Adult and Tertiary Teaching.

Catherine loves to create a warm and friendly class environment, embracing what learners bring to the classroom and helping them to achieve their best results!

Daniel knows pretty much all there is to know about boning and using meat products. He is passionate about teaching others to have the skills he has spent a lifetime learning and using. He believes if people learn to bone out their own meat then they'll learn how to save money, make healthy food and use these skills for themselves.

Daniel has trained apprentices, owned his own business and has been working as a butcher for his whole life.

Donna Banicevich Gera is a Wellington-based writer.

She has a BA (Hons) in English, Theatre, Film & Media Studies, an Advanced Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing, a Certificate in Writing for Documentary, a Certificate in International Theatre Directing, and an MA in Creative Writing (Scriptwriting) from the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington.

Donna’s work has been produced for radio, page, stage, and screen, with her stage plays being presented in New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Austria, the USA, and Alaska. Her main area of interest is writing of other cultures, telling migrant stories, exploring themes of lost identity, and developing work with a strong multi-cultural feel.

She has had several overseas artists’ residencies, and attended many offshore workshops, seminars and conferences, enabling her to acquire knowledge and write outside of her native homeland.

In addition to her own writing, Donna teaches writing workshops and is experienced in motivating others to achieve their goals - creative, academic, and professional. She is inspired by her students exploring the creative power of the imagination.

 ‘One never goes as far when one knows where one is going’ - Christopher Columbus

Eduardo, 33 years old, is from Mexico.  He started working at a very young age in his father’s workshop, where they manufactured aluminium doors and windows and learned the importance of manual work which, without knowing it, was the first stage of his professional life.

The family business changed and moved to retail sales like his grandfather who had a retail store for construction materials. There he learned the basic skills about construction, materials and techniques that he applied regularly to improve his home or work place. Now after a whole life he graduated as a mechatronics engineer and MBA. He continues to improve the family business in his country and now is grateful to be here to continue his development as a professional.

Elisa Di Napoli aka Elyssa Vulpes (stage name)

Is a mindset coach, a hypnotherapist and a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter, recording artist and producer with a background in philosophy, comparative religion, music and acting.

She is also the best-selling author of the book, online course and podcast Dare to Be Seen, which helps artists and speakers command the stage, magnify their presence and defeat stage nerves so they can share their gifts with a larger audience and shine their unique light on the world.

Under the moniker Elyssa Vulpes she has produced 12 albums of original compositions with a focus on inner transformation through sometimes dark and atmospheric, sometimes comedic storytelling.

She also specialises in helping artists who need to find a way forward, get their project going or figure out how to turn their creative, artistic or performance skills into a new venture.

She is committed to forming deep connections, delving into uncomfortable truths and exploring authentic self-expression.

She has been featured on radio, podcasts, blogs and online magazines. 

Qualifications:

BAHonours in Comparative Religion by SOAS, The University of London

Diploma in Advanced Hypnotherapy by Hypnotherapy Institute of Northern California

Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma by the National Hypnotherapy Council (UK)

Diploma of Hypnotic Coaching by Anglo European College of Therapeutic Hypnosis

Graduate Diploma Electronic Music Composition and Performance by Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand)

Diploma Art and Creativity by The Learning Connexion (Wellington, New Zealand)

Currently studying for and Advanced Professional Certificate in Songwriting with Berklee School of Music .

In addition to this she has studied EFT as well as Cognitive Behaviour Hypnotherapy with the Anglo European College of Hypnosis (UK) and is dedicated to attending regular CPD courses in this fields. She is an accredited certified member of NCH  and undergoes regular confidential supervision with the Lothian Hypnotherapy Network . She is the creator of free online personal development youtube channels Holistic Hypnotherapy NLP and Coaching and  “Elisadinapoli.com

Group Tutoring experience:

Dare to Be Seen Online Course

Self-hypnosis for beginners

Guided meditations for the development of emotional healing and mindfulness.

Coaching website www.elisadinapoli.com

Music website www.elyssavulpes.com