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.
Luke Browne
Designer
Luke is a Capital designer by day and owner of skateboard brand Daylight, by night. Originally from Hastings, England, he immigrated to Hastings, New Zealand as a wee lad. He now lives in Lyall Bay with his girlfriend and cat Chewie.
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.
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
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.
Emily Wakeling
Campaign coordinator
Emily is a keen coffee drinker, online shopper and traveller who found her way to Wellington as a young student, then never left. As Capital’s campaign coordinator, you’ll find her around the city with the latest Capital issue and always ready for a chat.
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
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.
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.
