Around the Globe: Auckland alumni spreading their talents

Ingenio magazine catches up with three alumni living overseas and finds out what they are up to and where. By Wendy Colville.

Howard Hunt: Los Angeles, United States

Howard Hunt
Howard Hunt

Global brand marketer, entrepreneur and start-up founder Howard Hunt has a string of Fortune 500 companies on his resumé – but it’s a non-profit with a mission of calming the world that has his attention.

“I’m passionate about the good that technology can bring to the world. The situation with Covid-19 has highlighted that. This means creating products and services that delight and shine more light in our lives, including a few passion projects I’ve built.”

Howard graduated from Auckland in 2004 with a BCom. Straight out of university he landed a job with a start-up, the Hyperfactory, a mobile marketing agency.

“I had no comprehension that Hyperfactory would be so successful and grow to ten world cities, and that I’d live in Hong Kong and New York and experience acquisition by a billion-dollar public company.”

After its sale, Howard worked in marketing for a portfolio of Fortune 500 brands and co-founded Framafoto, a custom framing app. Yet business doesn’t tell the whole story of Howard’s path.

“Over the years, my attention dialled in on understanding the human experience, exploring neuroscience, quantum physics, our mind-body connection and people’s experiences with inner processes and belief systems.”

After living in New York for a decade, he moved to Los Angeles a year ago to focus on creating the HERE Global Foundation, a social enterprise using technology to tackle trauma.

“Meditation was a critical door opener for me to manage my own emotional wellness during stressful workloads and this translated into launching a wellness start-up with peace-finding at the core.”

Although Howard thought about heading back to New Zealand from Los Angeles before the lockdown, he decided to hunker down with his partner and her son. “Thankfully, I’ve been blessed to have had a very supportive home life throughout this crisis.”

But many don’t, and HERE is an interactive meditation app to support mental health.

“We’re science-led, stress-busting, self-help heroes on a peace mission. Each of us is a unique melting pot of experiences, genes, societal frameworks and cultural conditionings that have shaped our attitudes and beliefs. We all battle stress, anxiety, depression, past hurts and trauma. So it’s helping people to become aware of their patterns and to master tools that aid release. Behavioural modification and emotional resilience can help us build a better society and that’s very interesting to me.”

HERE was in the middle of fund-raising just as lockdown occurred, and had pledged to partner with frontline humanitarian organisations to support the world’s most vulnerable.

“Now that the curve seems to have flattened, it’s an important time to get back on the road. We are emboldened knowing our service can help many of those facing increasing emotional challenges. With a little luck, investors will finally be bullish in the field of mental health. At least we know many are still stuck at home and can take our phone calls.”

Lim Boon Ping: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Lim Boon Ping cooking at home
Lim Boon Ping

Malaysian-born Lim Boon Ping graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Property in 1999 and has since carved out a career as a real estate agent and agent trainer in Kuala Lumpur.

But that took a backseat as a result of Covid-19 and his sideline YouTube cooking channel rapidly overtook his day job. Lim lives with his wife, mother-in-law and three-year-old daughter and he likes to cook. It got him thinking.

“One of the biggest problems for the home cook is always, ‘What do I cook tonight?’ That’s why I started my channel two years ago – to give people cooking ideas. It’s called Cooking Ah Pa (Cooking Daddy), which before Covid-19 had slightly over 100,000 subscribers,” says Lim. “But over three weeks during our Movement Control Order (lockdown), my channel views increased dramatically and is now up around 130,000.

“As well as conducting seminars on how to become a YouTuber and social media influencer, my partner and I launched a home-food delivery smartphone app, through findhomefood.com. It had an overwhelming response.”

Lim was already working with an IT developer to create other apps, following the success of his YouTube channel. They have launched several on both real estate and cooking subjects.

His philosophy: “Always move out from your comfort zone, that’s the best way to be able to learn new things and have personal achievements. Every crisis has its opportunities.”

Lim emphasises the importance of his family as the inspiration for his social media ventures. As for turning ideas into reality, he credits his university training with some of that success.

“What I really learned from Auckland is to apply theories into practice and the ability to learn new things. I will never get bored with what I’m doing. Almost every day I need to learn new things, especially with technology applications and new algorithms on social media … these things are always evolving.”

Lim will continue to expand his tech footprint, which works with his lifestyle.

“I believe in work/life balance, no matter how busy I get. I always want to make sure I’m spending enough time with my family, even when I’m not in lockdown with them. The home cooking helps me to spend time with my family, even before we had to due to the coronavirus.”

Heather Harris: London, United Kingdom

Heather Harris
Heather Harris

When you work in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), you get to immerse yourself in history every day. Heather Harris is its director of conservation and collections management and the former Aucklander says there have been plenty of thrilling moments.

“Standing on a scaffold, centimetres from a Raphael painting that was being conserved, every brush-stroke visible. Watching gorgeous kimonos being mounted and installed for display in the Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk exhibition, or just star-spotting at the V&A openings,” she says.

Being able to hold Queen Victoria’s sapphire and diamond coronet rates as a high point.

Heather moved to the V&A (vam.ac.uk) in 2018. Previously, she was the chief operating officer at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. She says her double degree in law and arts from Auckland led to a varied career, spanning diplomacy, law and the arts. “Coming out of university, you need to have planned your first move. For me, it was into Foreign Affairs, which was a great launching pad.”

Her experience in the public and cultural sectors, law and running projects led to leadership roles, and ultimately her current role.

“Working at the V&A is brilliant. It’s a world-leading art and design museum that’s modern, creative, energetic and on a mission to ensure as many people as possible enjoy its collections.”

Although that’s been a challenge during the Covid-19 crisis, Heather says there’s much to be learnt in terms of new ways of working, and ensuring that organisations plan well for all contingencies, including having robust mobile digital strategies. She says the lockdown has been an opportunity to step back and examine the risks an organisation faces in a time of crisis and to come up with solutions on how to more effectively manage these in the future.

Heather’s role is to lead the team of conservators, collections managers and technicians responsible for caring for the V&A’s collections and getting objects ready for display.

“Every year, millions of visitors come here to see the amazing array of artefacts, and to learn about their histories and origins.”

She’s planning for the museum’s reopening, which will, inevitably, be under changed circumstances. And she has advice for graduates.

“Be curious about the world, interested in the people around you and open to opportunities. Beyond this, my advice would be to follow the career thread of what interests and challenges you. Opportunities come about because you’ve made them and are ready.”

Are you an alumni living an interesting life overseas? Get in touch: ingenio@auckland.ac.nz

This article first appeared in the Winter 2020 Ingenio magazine.