Contributors
S T A F F
Shalee Fitzsimmons
Art director
Shalee (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) blew in on the wind from up north many years ago and couldn't figure how to get back. She's our resident Art Director, stylist & designer. Obscure music enthusiast and sav-guzzling misfit, Shalee puts the it into Capital.
Elaine Loh
Designer
Elaine is a designer and letterer from Wellington. When she's not at Capital, you'll find her brewing coffee at Pour and Twist. She loves single origin filter, bubble tea, and Animal Crossing and gets easily distracted by dogs, especially Tippy.
Francesca Emms
Staff writer
Francesca is a Wellington-born, Wairarapa-raised writer. The things she writes vary in content and length. Sometimes people say the things she writes aloud and other times they read them silently. She enjoys tap dancing, avoids the sun and gets carsick really easily.
Callum Turnbull
Publishing assistant
Descending from the mighty Lake Taupō, Callum studied marketing at Victoria Uni. He crystallised his love of print publications and storytelling at Salient magazine. You'll find him obsessing over a beat machine, at dinner with friends, or peeking his way through the Haunting of Hill House.
Tip Top
Employee of the month
Tippy, as she’s know to her friends, is an enthusiastic guard dog and lap warmer. In her spare time she loves chewing cardboard, barking at tall people, and hogging the heater.
Ava Gerard
Campaign coordinator
After a four year stint overseas, Ava has returned to her favourite city and joined the Capital team as a campaign coordinator. Ava is an avid art collector, seasoned traveller, radio DJ “extrordinare”, and fashion stylist.
Sophia Montgomery
Campaign coordinator
Sophia has moved from the depths of East Auckland, to the south coast of windy Wellington. You'll find Sophia either playing with her mullet pup, Wolfie, or getting up to some culinary fun in the kitchen.
Tod Harfield
Accounts
Head of our accounts department of one, Tod has been at Capital since its inception. As well as balancing spreadsheets, he enjoys dark beer and walking up steep hills – a handy hobby in Wellington.
C O N T R I B U T O R S
Victoria Birkinshaw
Photographer
Victoria is a photographer who has worked editorially, commercially and on self-directed documentary stories for publication and exhibition. She has worked extensively in New Zealand, the Pacific and the UK, where she was based for seven years. She now lives in Wellington.
John Bishop
Writer
John is a veteran journalist and longtime Wellingtonian whose writing career covers politics, economics, business and tourism and travel. Apart from journalism he’s worked in PR and marketing and for the last seven years he has been a business mentor for startups and “from home” businesses. He wants to own a dog but doesn’t have time to walk one.
Sarah Catherall
Journalist
Sarah is an award-winning journalist who loves writing about the city she has called home for more than two decades. When she's not writing stories, Sarah loves running around Wellington's tracks and soaking up the city's restaurants, cafes and art life.
David Cohen
Journalist
David is a Wellington-based journalist who's written for numerous publications including New York Times, the Guardian and National Business Review. He doubles as an author and has written a range of books including memoirs, anthologies, and a food book.
Freya Daly Sadgrove
Poet
Freya is a writer, performer and theatre-maker from Pōneke. She has a Master of Arts from the International Institute of Modern Letters, and her work has appeared in various publications in Aotearoa, Australia and the US. Her first book, Head Girl, was published in February 2020.
Evangeline Davis
Photographer
Evangeline is a film photographer from New Zealand, now based in Toronto, Canada. Her practice explores aspects of girlhood, self-expression and desire. With compassion, she captures the female form in order to challenge homogeneity and embrace a continuum.
Mia Gaudin
Journalist
Mia is a writer, lawyer and arts advocate. Her work has been published by Radio NZ, Turbine, Hue & Cry, Mimicry, and The Pantograph Punch. She’s currently working on a novel and a travel memoir. Find her on Instagram @amimia
Brittany Harrison
Photographer
Britt uses her studies in design at Vic to dabble in whatever is chucked her way. Taking photos of food is a happy accident generated by two passions of hers. You can catch her hanging out wherever the coffee is good.
Chevron Hassett
Photographer
Chevron (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine ki Kahungunu) is a multidisciplinary artist from Naenae whose interests include cultural identity, whakapapa and urbanisation. In 2017, he was awarded the Nga Manu Pirere Award from Te Waka Toi and Creative New Zealand.
Rachel Helyer Donaldson
Journalist
Originally from Te Waipounamu, Rachel spent 16 years in London. In 2014 she sensibly settled in Wellington to set set up as a freelance feature writer and filmmaker. Taking part in her first-ever Round the Bays in February made her feel like a true Wellingtonian.
David James
Photographer
David, aka Marlborough Lights, is a photographer from Marlborough - though he calls Wellington his spiritual home. He regularly shoots fashion for retail and labels like Lela Jacobs and The Service Depot. Emotional images come first for David, who prefers a fun, energetic and low-fuss aesthetic.
Benn Jeffries
Writer
Benn is a Wellington-born writer and photographer. A lover of all things outdoors, you’ll usually find him on a river with his rod and reel. Now based in New York, Benn is chipping away at an MFA and practising his cast in some leafy city park.
Annie Keig
Writer
Annie Keig is a freelance writer and brand new Wellingtonian. With a taste for travel, earth sciences, and Sweet Mother Kitchen's Moose' mac and cheese, she hopes to plumb the depths of this multifaceted city one layer at a time.
Sarah Lang
Writer
Sarah, Capital's books and culture writer, lives in Mt Cook with coffee-geek husband Michael and son Theo. She works from Toi Poneke Arts Centre, but often pops into Capital HQ with baking. She also runs the Wellington Classic Literature Meetup group.
Suzanne Lustig
Illustrator
Suzanne was born and raised in the heart of the Netherlands. Her sense of adventure brought her to New Zealand about four years ago. Suzanne has a brain that never stops creating – she works as a graphic designer by day, and by night turns into an illustrator, pattern maker, screen printer, and experimental artist.
Bex McGill
Photographer
Bex has just completed her final year of study at Massey University, majoring in Photography. She loves fashion, cats and large amounts of chocolate.
Harley Nguyen
Illustrator
Harley is a young freelance illustrator from Hanoi, Vietnam, who loves illustrating Wellington's food. When she isn't drawing, she enjoys binding notebooks and photography. You can check her work out on Instagam @nzfoodieillustrations
Claire O'Loughlin
Writer
Claire lives in Wellington, rides her bike, plays her dad’s guitar, writes nonfiction and makes installations and performance. She has an MA in Creative Non-fiction from the International Institute of Modern Letters.
Claire Orchard
Poet
Claire was born in Wainuiomata, grew up in Hutt Valley, and now lives in Wellington. Her poetry has been published in various literary journals, including in her 2016 book Cold Water Cure (VUP). When not occupied with wrangling her own poems she enjoys reading and thinking about works by other poets.
Harriet Palmer
Journalist
Harriet is a keen Wellingtonian who grew up in Lyall Bay and now lives on the side of a hill in Mornington. She’s come out of reporting retirement to write about her city.
Laura Pitcher
Journalist
Laura is a writer, editor, and designer based in New York. Contributing to the Guardian, Teen Vogue, i-d, Dazed, Paper, Highsnobiety, Marie Claire, and more, Laura has created content spanning from fashion, culture and beauty, to social and environmental justice issues.
Matthew Plummer
Writer
Matthew is in the buildings team at Beca. In his spare time he runs the Old Wellington twitter account (@oldwgtn), and is slowly renovating a 1900s house in Mount Cook. He’s a seventh generation Wellingtonian and isn’t a fan of the Water Whirler.
Beth Rose
Journalist
Beth loves writing about people and issues. Relocating from London in 2011, she now spends most of the year writing in Wellington and the rest of the time travelling the country in a six-metre converted bus, finding out lots of interesting stuff from the boltholes of NZ.
Hanahiva Rose
Journalist
Hanahiva is an art historian and writer from the islands of Ra’iātea and Huahine and the people of Te Atiawa and Ngāi Tahu. She has been widely published for her work on Māori and Pacific art practices in Aotearoa.
Fairooz Samy
Writer
Fairooz is a Wellington writer, researcher, and pop-culture fiend. When she isn’t writing, she analyses the internet as part of a media studies doctorate. She enjoys social commentary, buffets, intellectualising reality television, and Oxford commas.
Jess Scott
Writer
Jess is a writer, eternal student and shopping fanatic. In her high school leaver's quote, she said her aspiration was to be a trophy wife with a PhD. Six years and ⅔ of a Master's degree later, she still thinks this is funny. Her boyfriend does not.
Nikki & Jordan Shearer
Food columnists
Nikki and Jordan began their cooking journey on MasterChef NZ. Their Kiwi food philosophy is based on sharing, and cooking from the land using local, seasonal produce. As busy mums and businesswomen, they strive to serve up no-fuss meals to feed the whānau.
Emma Steer
Illustrator
Born and raised in Wellington, Emma is the owner of Steer Illustrations. She works full time at Iko Iko selling her art work and creating exciting window displays each week.
Sharon Stephenson
Journalist
There's not much Sharon won’t do for a story, including getting married in Vegas! From her Mt Victoria home, she writes for a number of national publications. After five years in London and another two in Bristol, this staunch Wellingtonian is happy to be home.
Maddie Tait-Jamieson
Illustrator
Maddie completed a fine arts degree at Beaux Arts de Montpellier in France. She is currently based in Wellington, probing the in-betweens of contemporary art, and under the handle Madshrew, the wry world of comics.
Deirdre Tarrant
Writer
Deirdre, mother of three boys, founder of the former Footnote Dance Company and teacher of dance to generations of Wellingtonians will sort out your troubles as our Agony Aunt.
Melody Thomas
Writer
Melody is a writer, columnist and producer for radio who uses her work to offset terrible FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out. Writing for Capital provides just the excuse she needs to pry, consider and explore the world vicariously, all from her little window desk in Island Bay. Catch up with Melody between issues on Twitter @WriteByMelody.
Joelle Thomson
Wine columnist
Joelle was bitten by the big buttery chardonnay bug at Aro Street Café in the late 1980s and has never looked back. She has written 16 books and now comments on wine for RNZ National. Check her out at joellethomson.com
Chris Tse
Poet
Chris is the author of two collections of poetry published by Auckland University Press: How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes (winner of the Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry) and HE'S SO MASC. Chris and Emma Barnes are currently co-editing an anthology of contemporary LGBTQIA+ Aotearoa New Zealand writers.
Piripi Walker
Te Reo Translator
Piripi (Ngati Raukawa) was manager of Te Upoko o Te Ika, Wellington city’s Maori language radio station from 1987 to 1991 and remains trustee and deputy chair of the station’s trust board in 2019. He lives with his wife Heather, in Silverstream, and is a hands-on Koro to his seven mokopuna.
Roger Walker
Car columnist
If there were a university for car designers in New Zealand, Roger, a successful Wellington architect, would have studied there. Over the years he’s owned more than 30 cars, written about some of them, driven a few slightly too fast (but, of course, not any more), and spent two seasons as a co-presenter on the AA Torque Show.
Nicola Young
Writer
Nicola is a writer and city councillor. Her career began at The Evening Post, followed by an extended (20 year) OE in England. She’s a born ‘n bred Wellingtonian; for the past 14 years she’s been part of Te Aro’s population boom.
Oscar Keys
Photographer
Oscar is a young photographer, videographer, and spatial designer based in Wellington. Recently he's been diving, directing music videos, and making perfume - thankfully not all at the same time. You can find more of his work at www.oscarkeys.com
Griff Bristed
Factotum
Griff grew up in Mt Vic and after flying the coop several times, somehow finds himself working there now. He is a surfboard riding, rugby playing, plane flying salesperson with a love for adventures. Not to mention Harry Potter, food and dogs.
George Staniland
Photographer
George is interested in documentary photography and images tied to the notion of truth. He enjoys using travel to facilitate his photographic practice and often finds himself drawn to making images with a human element. Ultimately, he is interested in creating something beautiful.
Anna Briggs
Photographer
Anna is a young freelance photographer. She has a love for photographing her surroundings showcasing their natural beauty in a stylish and tasteful way. You can check out her work at annabriggsphoto.com
Lucy Wormald
Intern
Lucy is an aspiring writer and storyteller. Originally from Australia, Lucy came to our fair shores to complete a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University of Wellington – and has no plans to leave. She has a lot of love for toe-tapping tunes, daydreaming and peanut butter. Bringing one of her daydreams to fruition, she joined Capital as a general helper-outer-er.
Courtenay Scott-Hill
Intern
Courtenay has recently completed a Bachelor of Communications at Massey University. Journalistic writing is Courtenay’s self-professed specialty which she is putting into practice interning for Capital and ArtZone. In her free time, Courtenay enjoys afternoon naps, taking amateur scenic photography pics on her Nikon DSLR and long sunset walks around Island Bay.
Sally Ward
Writer
Sally has studied at the International Institute of Modern Letters and is an incoming co-editor of Salient Magazine (2021). You can find her features at https://www.salient.org.nz/features-1 and food writing @salevator.
Jackie Davis
Writer
Jackie is a novelist, playwright, short story wrtier and creative writing tutor, who lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Victoria University and is the author of two novels, both published by Penguin Books NZ Ltd. She has been published in New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the US and has won and been placed in numerous short story competitions. She has also had short story fiction broadcast on radio. She writes for both adults and children.
Emma Sidnam
Writer
Emma is a poet, singer/songwriter and student in Wellington. Originally from Auckland (born next to Cornwall Park) she has spent the last year using art to draw together the pieces of her identity. In her spare time, she drinks kombucha and gin and experiments with photography. Find her on Instagram: @acrylix56
Juliet Slattery
Writer
Juliet was originally English and lives in New Zealand. Now that age and Covid have made her completely unemployable, she has found more time to write. When considered employable, Juliet worked in health and teaching. She lives close to the sea and bush with a bunch of people who are in some way related to her. When not writing she swims, runs and kayaks and tries to learn te reo Māori.
Anthony Lapwood
Writer
Anthony holds a Master of Arts from the International Institute of Modern Letters. His fiction has featured in literary publications in New Zealand and internationally, as well as on Radio NZ. 'Journey to the Edge' is taken from his debut collection of stories, Home Theatre, which is forthcoming from Victoria University Press. Anthony lives in Wellington and can be found on Twitter and Instagram.
Matthew Casey
Sports writer
Matthew has just completed his studies at Victoria University and is now the co-editor of Salient magazine. A politics and sports enthusiast with an undying love for Rugby League and New Zealand music, he’s on a mission to try every corn fritter in Wellington.
Kirsty Frame
Intern
Kirsty’s love for Wellington led her to Victoria University in 2016, and her love for story-telling led her to Salient magazine last year. Naturally, she’s found her way into the Capital office. You’ll find her swimming in Seatoun, hosting dinner parties in Mt Vic, or at the Saturday Newtown Markets.
Adrian Vercoe
Photographer
Adrian drinks black coffee, is attracted to semi-broken cars, and likes cameras that make clunking noises. Originally from Dunedin, Adrian now calls Wellington home and can be found enjoying a hazy IPA in Lyall Bay or navigating a dinghy around Worser Bay.
Diana Simumpande
Photographer
Diana is a freelance photographer. For her, storytelling is creative nirvana. Whether it's through a keyboard or a camera lens, she takes little thoughts and turns them into ideas, stories, and experiences that speak to people.
Ian Apperley
Writer
Ian Apperley is a freelance writer and prolific blogger. He blogs on local issues, and writes for the National Business Review. After living for the majority of his life in Wellington's Eastern Suburbs, Ian and his partner Karene exchanged the city life for a farm in Wairarapa where they train horses, grow chillis, experiment in horticulture, and spend a good deal of time working from home.
Sharon Greally
Writer
Sharon has been writing reviews and freelance articles over the last few years. She is also an artist, mother, wife, arts tutor at Inverlochy Art School, blogger for the International Arts Festival, and musician in a couple of local bands. She's a veritable Renaissance chick.
Unna Burch
Food guru
Unna aka Forest Cantina is a mum of two, wife of one. She lives on the outskirts of little suburban forest where she keeps bees, chickens, and grows her own organic vegetables. Unna is a self-taught home cook and loves all things edible.
Maeve Hughes
Writer
Maeve studied at Elam School of Fine Arts and also holds a Bachelor of English Literature with a minor in Creative Writing. Maeve, who regularly writes reviews for Art Zone, lives in a tall house in Wellington, loves reading, and has published one book of poetry, Horsepower.
Emily Wakeling
Sales Manager
Emily is a keen matcha drinker, online shopper and traveller who found her way to Wellington as a young student, then never left. As Capital’s sales manager, you’ll find her around the city with the latest Capital issue and always ready for a chat.
