10 Questions: Laura Welsby

Laura Welsby.

Laura Welsby, 25, from Woodhill, is not afraid of silence and likes nothing more than a good book and strong coffee on a Saturday morning. That's when she's not working as communication and event manager for Habitat for Humanity in Northland.

1. Describe yourself in three words.

Happy, driven and caring.

2. What is the most important advice you have ever been given?

To live in the present moment.

3. When it's been a full-on week, what is your favourite way to unwind?

By spending Saturday morning in bed with a strong coffee and a good book.

4. What is the one thing you could not live without each day?

Water.

5. Describe your role?

As communication and event manager at Habitat for Humanity I aim to promote awareness through social media, local events and advertising about the wonderful work that our team do here.

Our new ReStore expansion means we now have an even bigger second hand store and space for some new fun community events which I am in the process of planning - so watch this space!

I am also building a strong network of local members of the construction/building sector who regularly have access to unwanted materials that Habitat could reuse or resell.

6. What do you love about your job and why?

Without a doubt the thing that I love the most about this role is that I am promoting a wonderful charity that helps both local and international low-income families living in sub-standard housing conditions into safe, decent homes.

The really unique thing about Habitat for Humanity is that our families can help themselves out of poverty by getting involved in building their own house (what we call "sweat equity") alongside our volunteers and gradually buying their home on an affordable basis.

7. What kind of challenges do you come across in your role?

The main challenge of my job is getting the word out about Habitat and what we do. We are known as a housing charity but we also have a great Critical Maintenance Repair Scheme which helps low- income families in Northland with home maintenance projects on an affordable basis. In addition to that we also have the ReStore, where people can donate or purchase secondhand goods.

Habitat also have Global Village trips to help build homes abroad and disaster relief to help rebuild communities after natural disasters and conflicts.

8. Tell us something that most people don't know about you.

I once spent 10 days in complete silence at a mindfulness meditation retreat in Malaysia.

9. Do you have any party tricks?

I can curl my tongue!

10. As a child, who or what did you want to be when you grew up? And why?

A ballerina because I danced a lot.