Rich in Context is pioneering research commissioned by Hi Money and conducted by COGO  into how people actually experience, understand and use money — and the social, cultural and economic forces shaping those behaviours.

Across Australia and New Zealand, I’ve looked beyond financial literacy to ask a more useful question:

What happens when we put people’s financial behaviour in context?

The research explores the realities behind the numbers — how gender, relationships, work, wealth, confidence and the systems around us shape financial decisions.

It gives financial services organisations a different lens on their customers — and where the opportunities really are.

More information about the report is here and media release here.

Trade Careers— a national programme built from the ground up on women's and employers' own accounts of what was actually stopping women entering the trades. Contributed to doubling women's participation within five years.

Getting more women onto the tools.

Government money was pouring into the trades, but only about 3% of the people on the tools were women. I worked with BCITO to find out why, then built the programme that helped change it.

The problem. After COVID-19, investment surged into the trades and the sector had a serious labour shortage. Yet only about 3% of women were on the tools. Everyone could see the gap, but no one had asked women and employers what was actually stopping them.

What I did. In 2020 I approached BCITO and, together with them, led the development of Trade Careers.

• Investigate: we started with research into the barriers to participation, speaking to both women and businesses.

• Translate: we ran co-design sessions across the country, then built a website, a video series, guidelines, resources and practical information for women, employers and the sector.

• Make it mainstream: we told the story in ways tradies would watch and talk about, including Dave the drag king!

The result.

• Under BCITO's Building Women Framework, which Trade Careers supports, women in BCITO apprenticeships rose from 3.2% to 5.7% (BCITO 2025 evaluation, which I authored).

Waihanga Ara Rau who became the lead agency from 2022-25 was disestablished in 2025, and I now hold all the IP, so I can offer Trade Careers directly to businesses.

In 1988, economist Marilyn Waring published Counting for Nothing — a landmark argument that unpaid work (mostly done by women) is systematically excluded from how we measure economic value.

Almost 40 years later, we're building the next generation of financial infrastructure — AI-powered advice, automated financial products, algorithmic decision-making — on top of the same blind spot.

I've written a paper called Counting In: What AI could be fixing about women's financial lives — and why it isn't.

The short version: AI in finance had a real chance to correct decades of data gaps and design failures that have shortchanged women. Instead, it's mostly automating the status quo, faster. I lay out what I'm calling Counted In: for what it would actually look like to build financial AI that counts women's economic lives properly.

Shortchanged: the Pay Equity Investigation— a podcast by Project Gender investigation into New Zealand's cancelled pay equity claims, told through a fictional detective hunting the missing billions. Because a government report doesn't travel. A case file does.

Rachel Davies and I wrote the bestselling book, Money Money Money: How to reset your money mindset and find financial freedom, every women’s guide. It explores the relationship women have with money and how our upbringing, experiences and social conditioning shape the way we earn, spend, save and invest. Drawing on research, real-life stories and practical tools, it challenges conventional thinking about money and makes the case for more money, more confidence and more financial freedom in the hands of women. Purchase copies here.

Project Gender— a feminist social change agency I co-founded. We work across many sectors including the research and advocacy engine behind a National Women's Health Strategy in New Zealand law, the Mako Mama Mangopare single parents report, and the Gender Equity Snapshot Survey.

Closing the retirement gap, one member at a time.

Guild Super found that 80% of its members were at risk of retiring with very little in their super. We built the programme that met women where they were, and helped lift their balances.

The problem. Guild Super realised that 80% of its membership were at risk of retiring with very little in their super. Conventional communications weren't reaching women.

What we did. Guild Super brought us in to build a new membership-based loyalty programme. We led the campaign, brand, naming, video, communications and PR.

• Investigate: understanding where women were and what was stopping them acting on their super [research approach].

• Translate: a programme designed around women's real lives, not around what the fund wanted to say.

• Make it mainstream: the name, brand, video, communications and PR that made super something women wanted to talk about and join.

The result.

• A new loyalty programme that met women where they were and contributed to higher balances for women.

Engaging women in their retirement savings.

After a speaking on a panel with Mercer's then CEO, I was asked to scope what Mercer could do for women. The result was a programme to close the retirement savings gap and build greater engagement with KiwiSaver members.

The problem. Women retire with less. For a KiwiSaver provider, that's both a member outcome problem and an engagement problem.

What I did. Mercer asked me to scope the opportunity, and I then led the build.

• Investigate: research into what women wanted and what stopped them engaging with their savings.

• Translate: co-design sessions that shaped the programme around women's real lives, then an educational site that turned the findings into something members could use.

• Make it mainstream: events, a podcast and a new brand look and feel that made retirement savings something women wanted to talk about.

The result. A full programme, from research to brand, events and podcast, that gave Mercer a new way to engage women members.

Double Denim 2015-2021 — the agency I co-founded with Anna Dean and built to prove creativity could carry causes as far as it carries brands. Clients included UN Women, the Human Rights Commission, and Guild Super and political campaigns.