NZFW alumnae Sonja de Mari and Dame Pieter Stewart are changing Kiwi lives for the better with their philanthropy and charity work. Composite photo / NZME
NZFW alumnae Sonja de Mari and Dame Pieter Stewart are changing Kiwi lives for the better with their philanthropy and charity work. Composite photo / NZME
Formerly key names in New Zealand Fashion week, what are Dame Pieter Stewart and Sonja de Mari doing now? Ricardo Simich finds out about their work giving back to make Kiwi lives better.
New Zealand Fashion Week (NZFW) founder Dame Pieter Stewart sold the event in 2021 butshe certainly hasn’t been taking it easy. Charitable work has been keeping her busy and last October she became Chair of the Board for Cystic Fibrosis NZ (CFNZ) after more than a year working with the organisation.
May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month and Stewart hopes to ignite a wave of kindness across New Zealand. She and her team are determined to do their best to provide quality of life for people with CF and their families.
After selling NZFW to Feroz Ali in 2021 and finishing her contracted work with the event, she was approached by many different organisations to become involved in a variety of ways.
“In each case, I did my due diligence to see if I could help or make a difference,” says Stewart.
“The story of cystic fibrosis immediately pulled me in – partly because of the cruelty of the genetic illness, as well as the opportunity to work with an impressive team of people.
Dame Pieter Stewart, former NZFW founder, is leading Cystic Fibrosis NZ as chair, raising awareness and securing life-saving treatments like Trikafta. Photo / Neil Gussey
“After a year on the board I was asked to become chair – so as an independent member, with no experience of CF, I am learning heaps daily.”
NZFW worked with many charities over the years and prior to founding the popular event, Stewart mixed up her impressive 50-year-plus career in fashion and business by working with not-for-profit organisations. She says standouts include years with the Child Cancer Foundation and being on the board of the Independent Schools Council.
Stewart credits her work with charities and boards for complimenting her business career.
She says through the amazing network across the organisation and production of NZFW, “it’s been great to be able to call on people for advice, direction and help, that I would never otherwise have come to know.”
Stewart says she and the CFNZ CEO Lisa Burns and their volunteers had one job to do - “change the minds of a few who held great power.” They campaigned to get Pharmac-funding for the life-saving drug Trikafta. It finally became available in New Zealand in April 2023.
“We drove an unrelenting media relations campaign that doubled down on the facts and couldn’t be ignored,” Stewart says.
“We delivered an undeniable groundswell of support from media and the public that compelled action from those in positions of influence to make a decision that would ultimately provide access to a treatment that would increase life expectancy and improve quality of life.”
Sonja de Mari, CEO of Breast Cancer Cure, leverages her fashion expertise to raise funds for breast cancer research through Fashion for a Cure events.
de Mari tells Spy she had a very colourful, varied career in the extremes of commerce and the performing arts, as well as travelling with her professional sailor husband around the world. But returning to New Zealand in 2010, fate happened.
“I landed back home and my fabulous friend Hayley Brooke was heading off for a year with her family to travel through Europe and gifted me the opportunity to produce her shows for NZFW,” says de Mari.
“It was such a privilege to work for Dame Pieter for most of the next decade.”
Outside of NZFW, de Mari became the in-demand fashion show producer for numerous collections while giving her time free for several charity shows.
In 2014, de Mari started to produce the Breast Cancer Cure (BCC) Fashion for a Cure shows and says she loved working in this space and with this charity.
Sonja de Mari previously worked as a fashion show producer for NZFW while volunteering her time for various charity shows.
“In 2021, I was appointed as BCC CEO heading a team of five and working with an incredible volunteer board and ambassadors, generous sponsors, committed patrons, amazing fashion designers, breast cancer researchers, and our volunteers.
Now in its 27th year, the organisation receives no government support.
de Mari says they view themselves as an entrepreneurial charity, funding innovative research by partnering and collaborating with corporates.
“BCC works with scientists, researchers and clinicians across seven NZ universities and 21 international institutes. BCC’s innovative research focus includes greater precision in prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment. We want cures and better quality of life for everyone affected by breast cancer.”
Fashion for a Cure is a tour de force, with dozens of NZ designers showcasing their collections at the BCC events throughout the country each year. Many of those designers take part in the Tees for a Cure campaign, which go on sale every April as well as during Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.
Sonja de Mari and Kathryn Wilson.
The original BCC Patron was Dame Trelise Cooper, who held this position for 10 years. Cooper and her team have continued their support and collaborated with BCC for decades.
Other long-term ambassadors include designer Karen Walker, broadcaster Petra Bagust and actor Antonia Prebble.
Last year, the new initiative Dine For a Cure, a concept with Michelin Star chefs Matt Lambert and Josh Emett was held in Queenstown and Auckland, and last week, BCC held its first Conversation for a Cure at the Auckland Art Gallery.
Both women were disappointed at this year’s cancellation of NZFW and for all those affected but look forward to the event being back in full force next year.
