Our team

Dono still doesn’t know how he ended up in public relations, but we’re so glad he did.

After starting out in government policy (he holds a Masters in Public Health), Dono made the move to what he used to call “spin doctoring” in and around the Beehive. This led to his finely tuned political knowledge and connections.

A move back home to Christchurch saw him continue in communications, championing trades training and working for the Christchurch City Council and Te Whatu Ora.

He has now been in the communications game for nearly 20 years. He’s a cool head in a crisis, there’s no problem he can’t solve, and he’s an awesome strategic thinker.

He is also pretty good at coaching his kid’s soccer team!

Jo is our lead ideas person. Her moto is simple and powerful—do good work for good people!

Her more than 20 years’ experience began in radio journalism where she worked for Radio New Zealand, Newstalk ZB and Australia’s ABC, before widening her expertise to all aspects of PR.

Her ability to deliver original, clever, client-focused outcomes is clear from her impressive collection of awards; Radio awards from New Zealand and New York, and numerous awards from the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand.

Jo’s energy and enthusiasm are boundless. She truly loves Canterbury and keeps her finger on the region’s pulse. She is active in several community roles and within the PR industry. She has taught at the New Zealand Broadcasting School for many years, and is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators and the Public Relations Institute of NZ.

Pip loves getting to know clients and developing creative and practical solutions for them.

She understands the power of well-devised communications strategies for bringing out the best in organisations, and for helping them deal with challenges. She loves using communications strategies to bring people and communities together and is a huge believer in utilising grassroots engagement strategies to achieve big results.

Her 20 years’ experience includes radio journalism, business management, communications, community relations and event management and won Public Relations Industry of NZ Awards.

She has worked in consultancy, for a major electricity generator and retailer, and managed the communications for Recover Canterbury, a post-quake business recovery organisation.

Pip loves a gnarly physical challenge. She’s a fan of adventure racing and rogaining (a bit like orienteering) and reading deliciously trashy novels to recover.

Em is a very well-connected queen of media liaison who can write just about anything in an hour.

There is quite simply no one who can multitask in the way she does. It doesn’t matter if you need three different stories pitched for three different clients and a strategy drawn up all in the same day, Em will get it done.  

Her career begin in the Newstalk ZB and Press newsrooms where she blossomed into a hard-hitting journo with a gift for writing killer stories. She then transitioned into the world of PR working for Christchurch City Council and handling media enquiries from her old colleagues.  

When Em’s daughters arrived, she swapped Saturday brunch for swimming lessons and morning walks, and joined Great Scott. We truly couldn’t live without her.

Josie is an expert at getting messages heard, whatever the cause.

Her vast experience is underpinned by some impressive and super useful qualifications—a Bachelor of Science (Psychology), Bachelor of Marketing Management, and a Masters in International Journalism.

She has worked in journalism and public relations in both the UK and New Zealand. She gets great satisfaction from developing big-picture strategies for organisations of all sizes. To top it off, she is also a gifted storyteller and talented jingle writer.

Josie’s love of beekeeping is a perfect match for her veggie growing. She’s a dog and cat person and loves a nice cup of tea (her coffee drinking tends to take the form of expresso martinis).

Te Arawa, Ngāti Whakaue

Liv is another of our super-charged communications experts.

Her passion for creativity saw her swap a law degree to pursue public relations. She is a great writer, a smart thinker and a fast worker who smashes deadlines. She has an ability to think strategically and an amazing eye for detail.

Liv is happiest when she has a lot on the go and has a reputation for making the impossible possible.

Outside work you’ll probably find Liv hanging out with her two BFFs (her Grandmas) or having a good fossick in a thrift store to find unique gems.

Antony is a long-time legend in TV and radio, and his move into communications has been a natural one. With a background in journalism and TV production, Ant knows how to tell a good story.

Now based in Nelson with his wife and kids, he spends his ‘spare’ time running an art gallery.

A consummate people-person, Maddy has a knack for discovering and telling stories in a way that makes people sit up and listen.

She has a Bachelor of Broadcasting Communications and is a seasoned journalist. She started her career working in the TVNZ sports team before becoming the Christchurch breakfast reporter and more recently a 1 News 6pm reporter.

With her background it isn’t surprising that she is known for her agility when it comes to emerging news and competing deadlines, while consistently staying calm and friendly.

Her love of people extends to her weekends, where you might encounter her officiating at a wedding, which is her side hustle. Otherwise she’ll be training for multi-sports with her partner.

Meet Ash, our dedicated Senior Comms Advisor with a passion for accessibility and a ‘how can I help’ attitude.

With in-depth experience ranging from government comms to change comms, Ash’s previous roles have seen her in the Beehive, at embassies and on the road. There’s no crisis, change, or high-profile project she can’t tackle – and she’s the breeziest person in the room while doing it.

Ash’s journey in comms started when Judith Collins offered her a job straight out of uni. A trained journalist with a knack for communicating, it wasn’t long before others saw her potential and the opportunities flowed. In 2021, she met a boy from Ōtautahi - the rest, she says, is history.

When Ash isn’t volunteering with her pals at Dementia Canterbury or walking her dog Cosmo, she’s planning the next DIY project for her 1930s bungalow.

Andrew is one of those rare talents—he designs AND programmes great websites.

He has experience with several website programming languages and is a dab hand at devising digital campaigns and search engine optimisation. He also knows what it takes to produce collateral that packs a punch.

Andrew is a collaborator extraordinaire, believing it fosters the most constructive working relationships and produces the best-informed outcomes. He is uber efficient and looks to find clever and innovative ways to solve problems.

Outside of work Andrew’s focus is keeping pace with his daughters and with all emerging technology. When time permits, he sneaks in a bit of gaming.

There is quite simply nothing that Hannah can’t do; she’s one of our talented communications generalists.

She is a talented writer, has dipped her toes into photography and you’ll even find her moonlighting as a radio host on RDU drive on Tuesday afternoons.

She initially studied film in Wellington before being drawn back to Ōtautahi where she completed her Bachelor of Broadcasting, Communications and Journalism at Broadcasting School. Hannah is thriving in the creative and often demanding world of PR.

On her weekends you’ll find Hannah enjoying a single shot latte, writing her next artist profile for Yo Vocal Magazine or enjoying some indie surf rock tunes.

Mona may be the youngest on the team, but you wouldn’t know it with his expert professionalism and immaculate people skills. A Comms Advisor by day and te reo Māori teacher by night, Mona is passionate about bringing communities together. Interested in equity, equality, and indigenous rights, he’s a forward-thinking guy who lives his life authentically. Of Sāmoan, English and Irish descent, Mona’s heritage is super important to him, and you’ll see him wearing a tapa cloth earring every day in honour of it.

If he’s not at work, Mona will be speaking fluent te reo with his whānau, brushing up on his Sāmoan language, or making music and writing poetry. Along with smashing mahi and singing in the office, he’s putting the Great Scott dress code to shame with his funky style.

Hatty sprinkles magical designer dust on everything she touches. From the serious to the silly and everything in between, Hatty applies talent and insight to create the ideal visual outcome.

She is a superb illustrator and animator; but design isn’t the only tool in her toolbelt. She is also skilled in video production and project management.

Originally from Scotland, Hatty handles her workload and relationships with grace including urgent last-minute design requests and our all too frequent Scottish accents attempts.

Hatty loves her work, but not as much as she loves her chocolate lab Quincy Bones, even if he does swallow socks. She dances and socialises like a butterfly, and loves a cheeky hazy any night of the week.  

With a flair for impact and striking design, Janelle’s passions lie in making the impossible possible and going above and beyond.

Janelle has been here, there and everywhere, working in Edinburgh for two years before coming back to Ōtautahi to try out agency mahi. She loved it so much, she thought she’d keep at it and join us at Great Scott.

Janelle loves to work with clients, and her favourite thing is to watch a project land from start to finish. With international experience from start-ups to big corporates, she can whip anything up faster than you can say ‘ka rawe’.

When she’s not in the office, you can find Janelle at the beach, at a gig, or skiing down a nearby mountain.

Kurt is part of our dedicated in-house video and photography team.

His interest in people and their lives drives his storytelling. He loves nothing more than drawing out the unique story, no matter what the situation, and transforming it into compelling viewing.

Kurt learnt on the job through blood, tears and a fair bit of sweat, starting off as a keen participant in CrossFit and eventually transitioning to capturing the journeys of competitors. These days he turns his gaze, camera and creativity to any scenario, weddings, gigs, events, sporting competitions… the list is endless.

Outside work Kurt enjoys a fine red wine. He earns it by staying involved with CrossFit and then rounds it all off with golf in for good measure.

Lavinia is arguably the best video editor around and a key part of our talented video production team.

Starting out as a news editor for Mediaworks, she went on to study journalism and reported and produced stories as the Foreign Editor for TV3 News, now Newshub. She was also involved in cutting promotions before helping to run a successful video production company.

Lavinia is calm, patient and loves to collaborate, believing working together gets the best outcomes.

At home she divides her time between racing her beloved sled dogs, cooking, baking, and being a mum to her two teenage daughters.