Mary Fenwick has used her background as a journalist to build high-level international relationships. She changes not only individual lives through her writing, coaching and educational fundraising, but her support for women as political leaders is contributing to change in countries in transition to democracy.

Mary’s job titles include business coach, public speaker, journalist, fundraiser, and mother of four children aged 21, 20, 18, and 16 years. This year, an engineering student from New Zealand will have a study placement at McLaren Automotive in the UK as the first step in a $10 million fundraising project, invented by Mary. In her work as Executive Director of the UK Friends of the University of Auckland, Mary has initiated and built a relationship with the global McLaren business. The ultimate aim is to create a permanent legacy to Bruce McLaren, who has unjustly faded from prominence in New Zealand.

Katherine Corich is a business leader, entrepreneur, mentor, adviser and academic, whose success and influence spans across business, the public sector and charities. Katherine is the founder and chairwoman of the Sysdoc Group, a consulting practitioner business founded in 1986 in New Zealand which today has operations in four regions and has consultant reach in over 72 countries. 

Katherine’s impact and legacy extends far beyond her success with Sysdoc. She continuously acts as a catalyst for change and development across many industries and organisations across the world. In 2015 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce at Saïd Business School in Oxford, where she teaches strategic business courses. 

Katherine’s talent is sought by multi-national organisations across various industries.

“My dear Wolfgang,” said Spider,
“if only you knew:
There’s a powerful magic
that’s deep inside you.

So if something is scary,
or cruel or unkind,
You can change how you feel
with your magical mind.

Excerpt from The Wolf and the Shadow Monster by Avril McDonald

Avril McDonald is passionate about mental health and believes that children should be taught how to manage tough emotions, phobias and neurological patterns early on, after fighting her own battles with anxiety since her early childhood.