Let the Courageous Conversation Aotearoa Foundation help you drive systemic change in your community

Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Porou

Chair of the Board of Trustees

Ripeka Evans is a change maker, strategic adviser, mentor, commentator, director and trustee. She is known for her work to recognise Mana Wāhine and advocacy for Treaty and human rights, anti-racism, social justice and equity. Ripeka is a lead claimant in the Mana Wāhine Kaupapa Inquiry and Chair of the Joint Research Committee for the inquiry.

Ripeka is Chair of NorthTec and Deputy Chair of Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology. She is also Deputy Chair of Tupu Tonu -the Ngāpuhi Investment Fund – and is a member of the Te Ao Māori Strategy Committee of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and Chair of Te Aupouri ki Poneke.

From 1985-87 Ripeka worked with Dame Georgina Kirby to establish the first Māori Women’s Development incorporation. She also worked for the Māori Economic Development Commission to establish the first tribal and urban Māori enterprise, employment and training schemes. In 1987 Ripeka worked with Dame Mira Szaszy, to set up the first Māori and Māori Women’s secretariat in a government department. At Television New Zealand in 1988, she established Kimihia, the Māori Broadcasting training programme for 50 Māori women and men. In 1989 she wrote the business case for the establishment of the imminent Māori Television Service. In 1993 Ripeka became the first Chief Executive of Te Māngai Pāho, the Māori Broadcasting Funding Agency.

She has also been Chief Executive of Toi Eastern Bay of Plenty Economic Development Agency and a director and trustee with Te Aupōuri Fisheries Limited and Te Rūnanganui o Te Aupōuri.

In 1977 she was banned from presenting a joint submission to a parliamentary subcommittee on children and young person’s legislation after calling out abuse of Māori and Pasifika children in state care. During the 1981 Springbok Tour Ripeka was one of the Māori women who led the protest that stopped the game in Hamilton. In 1983 Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave evidence in a trial that was instrumental to Ripeka and her co-defendants acquittal on several charges arising from the 1981 Tour.

Trustee

Glenn Eric Singleton has devoted over thirty years to constructing racial equity worldwide and developing leaders to do the same. He is the author of Courageous Conversations About Race books (© 2006, © 2012, © 2016), creator of a protocol for sustained, deep interracial dialogue, and facilitator of Beyond Diversity™, the curriculum that has taught hundreds of thousands of people how to effectively talk about race and address racial disparities. As Founder and President of Pacific Educational Group, Inc. (PEG), Singleton has created an agency that has developed racially conscious leaders in a variety of sectors: education, government, business, law enforcement, and community organizing among them. The work has been transformative and far- reaching. In September 2015, The United States Embassy selected PEG to guide law enforcement leaders throughout Western Australia. In March 2016, Singleton launched the first Institute for Courageous Conversation – in Auckland, New Zealand. Singleton’s passion for equity flows to and through his civic life as well. He is the founder of the Foundation for a College Education of East Palo Alto, California, an agency responsible for the collegiate admission and graduation of hundreds of students. In 2017, he founded the Courageous Conversation Global Foundation and serves as chairperson of its board of directors. Accolades for his work include The 100 Black Men of the Bay Area Community Service Award in 2015 and The Eugene T. Carothers Human Relations Award in 2003. Singleton earned his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.A. from Stanford University. He is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.

Executive Director

A recent returnee to Aotearoa, Sarah Smith spent over 20 years in New York City working in government relations, advancement for secondary-tertiary institutions and producing philanthropic events and initiatives across the United States. Sarah helped to establish and fundraise for the first New Zealand University internship programme in the U.S., including brokering opportunities specifically for students from marginalised communities to work at the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History and the Sundance Institute.

Working with entities such as the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the New Zealand Olympic Committee, AUT University, the United Nations and the New Zealand government (MFAT/NZTE), Sarah’s experience spans event production, coordinating trade and political visits, campaigning, fundraising and advocacy for social justice and language revitalisation initiatives.

Sarah is of Ngāti Kuri, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Rehia, Ngāpuhi and Te Aupōuri ancestry. The youngest of four children raised in South Auckland, she was the first in her whānau to obtain a Political Science and Women’s Studies degree with honours from CUNY’s Hunter College. A former New Zealand karate team representative, she is now married and a mother of three.

Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Porou

Chair of the Board of Trustees

Ripeka Evans is a change maker, strategic adviser, mentor, commentator, director and trustee. She is known for her work to recognise Mana Wāhine and advocacy for Treaty and human rights, anti-racism, social justice and equity. Ripeka is a lead claimant in the Mana Wāhine Kaupapa Inquiry and Chair of the Joint Research Committee for the inquiry.

Ripeka is Chair of NorthTec and Deputy Chair of Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology. She is also Deputy Chair of Tupu Tonu -the Ngāpuhi Investment Fund – and is a member of the Te Ao Māori Strategy Committee of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and Chair of Te Aupouri ki Poneke.

From 1985-87 Ripeka worked with Dame Georgina Kirby to establish the first Māori Women’s Development incorporation. She also worked for the Māori Economic Development Commission to establish the first tribal and urban Māori enterprise, employment and training schemes. In 1987 Ripeka worked with Dame Mira Szaszy, to set up the first Māori and Māori Women’s secretariat in a government department. At Television New Zealand in 1988, she established Kimihia, the Māori Broadcasting training programme for 50 Māori women and men. In 1989 she wrote the business case for the establishment of the imminent Māori Television Service. In 1993 Ripeka became the first Chief Executive of Te Māngai Pāho, the Māori Broadcasting Funding Agency.

She has also been Chief Executive of Toi Eastern Bay of Plenty Economic Development Agency and a director and trustee with Te Aupōuri Fisheries Limited and Te Rūnanganui o Te Aupōuri.

In 1977 she was banned from presenting a joint submission to a parliamentary subcommittee on children and young person’s legislation after calling out abuse of Māori and Pasifika children in state care. During the 1981 Springbok Tour Ripeka was one of the Māori women who led the protest that stopped the game in Hamilton. In 1983 Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave evidence in a trial that was instrumental to Ripeka and her co-defendants acquittal on several charges arising from the 1981 Tour.

Trustee

Chelsea Winstanley is an Oscar® nominated producer, an award-winning filmmaker and has been a producer, writer and director for more than 15years.

As a p.g.a. producer on Taika Waititi’s Academy nominated feature JOJO RABBIT, Chelsea became the first indigenous female Oscar® nominee for Best Picture.

In 2019 she joined NIGHT RAIDERS as a producer on the first Canadian / NZ Indigenous Co-Production written and directed by Creē first nations filmmaker Danis Goulet.

In 2019 Ava Duvernay and Array Now distributed critically-acclaimed documentary feature, MERATA: HOW MUM DECOLONISED THE SCREEN, which played at the 2019 Sundance and Berlin film festivals and is now on NETFLIX worldwide.

In 2014, she produced the hit mockumentary WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, directed by Waititi and Jemaine Clement – now a TV show for FX. And early in her career, she produced several award winning short films two of which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

As a director she began making documentaries winning a Media Peace award with her graduating film WHAKANGAHAU. She went on to direct several short documentaries and television series for local broadcasters. She was one of nine women who made the anthology feature WARU which won the LAAPFF best film award in 2018. Her short film FORGIVE ME screened at ImagineNATIVE Film Festival in October 2019 and had it’s NZ premiere at the NZIFF in July 2020.

Chelsea has several projects on her slate in various stages of development as a director and producer. KAPŌ with writer director Etienne Auralis THIEF OF SLEEP starring Mojean Aria. As a director she is currently in post with the Documentary Toi Tū Toi Ora Visual Sovereignty and developing the dramatic feature THE APPEAL.

Chelsea graduated from AUT in 2003 with a Bachelor of communications and completed the EAVE Producers course in Europe in 2011. She is currently an Artist in Residence at the Auckland University of Technology. She moved back to Aotearoa New Zealand from Los Angeles in 2020 with her family.

Chelsea is from the indigenous tribes Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāi Te Rangi of Aotearoa New Zealand through her mother and Pākehā through her father.

Trustee

Glenn Eric Singleton has devoted over thirty years to constructing racial equity worldwide and developing leaders to do the same. He is the author of Courageous Conversations About Race books (© 2006, © 2012, © 2016), creator of a protocol for sustained, deep interracial dialogue, and facilitator of Beyond Diversity™, the curriculum that has taught hundreds of thousands of people how to effectively talk about race and address racial disparities. As Founder and President of Pacific Educational Group, Inc. (PEG), Singleton has created an agency that has developed racially conscious leaders in a variety of sectors: education, government, business, law enforcement, and community organizing among them. The work has been transformative and far- reaching. In September 2015, The United States Embassy selected PEG to guide law enforcement leaders throughout Western Australia. In March 2016, Singleton launched the first Institute for Courageous Conversation – in Auckland, New Zealand. Singleton’s passion for equity flows to and through his civic life as well. He is the founder of the Foundation for a College Education of East Palo Alto, California, an agency responsible for the collegiate admission and graduation of hundreds of students. In 2017, he founded the Courageous Conversation Global Foundation and serves as chairperson of its board of directors. Accolades for his work include The 100 Black Men of the Bay Area Community Service Award in 2015 and The Eugene T. Carothers Human Relations Award in 2003. Singleton earned his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.A. from Stanford University. He is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.

Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Rāhiri

Trustee

 

2020 New Zealand Arts Laureate and renowned New Zealand Māori choreographer and art director, Moss Te Ururangi Patterson brings both integrity and humility to his racial equity work and indigenous arts practice in Aotearoa. Moss’s acclaimed art works have been presented both nationally and internationally and he is held in the highest regard by his peers and performing arts communities in which he has worked as a dedicated, and gifted artist for over twenty one years.

Moss is a passionate advocate for the empowerment of Māori culture, Te Reo Māori, and contemporary art in Aotearoa, New Zealand. His art and racial equity work is centered around indigenising arts spaces and decolonization arts practice. He is a recipient of the 2020 NZ Arts Laureate, Creative New Zealand’s Tup Lang Dance scholarship and the Te Whakahaungia Choreographic Award from Toi Māori Aotearoa. Moss holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business, a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts, a Diploma in Tertiary Teaching and a Diploma in Te Ronakitanga ki te Reo Kairangi (Immersion).

Born in Turangi Moss’s proud ancestry comes from both the central North Island and northern tribes of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Moss joined the Courageous Conversation South Pacific Institute team in 2021 with his graduation from the Courageous Conversation® facilitator programme. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Foundation in decolonisation arts practise and is actively delivering workshops throughout Aotearoa.