NZ Herald Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is on a two-week road trip to gauge the mood of the nation and meet everyday and notable Kiwis making a difference in their communities and wider world. Today’s Nine Questions With... column is with environmentalist and social entrepreneur Brianne West.
What’s the one word to sum up your mood right now?
Optimistic.
What do you wish people knew about where you live?
How incredible Ōtautahi Christchurch is! It’s an amazing hub of entrepreneurial activity, with a great blend of city conveniences, right next to fantastic outdoor adventures like skiing, caving, hiking and water sports. It’s not the town it was pre-earthquake. I think it’s been built back better in many ways and has so much going on (though of course, in some places, the rebuild continues). It’s a fantastic place to live - though the weather could be better at the moment.
What are your passions?
The ocean and spending as much time in or on it as possible, our wonderful natural environment, wildlife and animals in general (which is why I have so many of them), and, of course, using business to change things for the better for people and the planet.
Which New Zealander (alive or dead) do you most admire – and why?
The list here is long. How to pick just one... Okay, I was recently at the Kea World Class Awards, and one of the winners was Dr Natasha Anu Anandaraja - what an incredible woman! She’s a doctor, public health specialist and founder of several NGOs - setting up health programmes across East Africa and India and advocating for gender equity. Bit of a fan girl moment there.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
This is weirdly hard to answer. Spending time in the ocean (diving), enjoying the incredible biodiversity and sharing it with friends and family, I think. Anywhere exploring somewhere new outdoors.
What is your greatest fear?
Hah, I’m afraid of so many things, I just pretend I’m not. Heights, spiders, networking events.. not necessarily in that order.
What is it that you most dislike?
Apathy towards fixing social and environmental issues in business leaders (and politicians). Also hard to narrow down to just one...
What is on your bucket list?
It’s so long! It’s a lot of travel, a lot of exploring and adventuring. Top three: exploring the Amazon rainforest, learning to cave dive and building a billion-dollar business that changes another industry.
READ MORE: Barbie Role Models: New Zealand’s Brianne West immortalised as a Barbie doll.
What do you hope/think NZ will look like in 10 years?
I hope NZ will be one of the most forward-thinking, productive nations on Earth, ensuring we look after our environment and our people while maintaining a strong economy and standards of living for all. Naive? Perhaps, but there are examples of countries that balance these things beautifully, and I absolutely believe NZ can do the same.
Environmentalist and social entrepreneur Brianne West founded regenerative beauty brand Ethique. She was named the 2019 NZ EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the One Young World’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020 as well as a Blake Leader in 2022, and was inducted into the Women Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame in 2023.
"On arriving at the courthouse, they actually tried to sell the pig to its real owner."