Uplifting stories showcasing success, inspiration and possibilities. Video / NZME
Today, NZME has launched On The Up, an editorial campaign to tell stories of success and inspiration from across Aotearoa New Zealand. Our goal is to showcase the people, businesses and organisations out there every day making a difference in Kiwis’ lives and helping our country thrive – whether on the international stage or within their local community. We want to celebrate the Kiwis who have done great things and who are doing great things for the good of the country. Herald reporter Cherie Howie spoke to four tremendous New Zealanders about what keeps them inspired and how they stay focused even when the odds don’t feel in their favour.
Olympian Ellesse Andrews on being the best athlete she can
But round hunks of silver and gold don’t come without sacrifice.
Those steps on to the podium for two golds and two silvers over two consecutive Olympics are the last on a gruelling path to triumph, with much asked of the body and mind.
Ellesse Andrews celebrates at the Paris Olympics in 2024. Photo / Getty
Andrews knows that podium smile is the culmination of years of slog and a moment among many in the life of a champion sportswoman well aware that the rough runs alongside the smooth.
“It’s important to recognise that not every day is going to be a positive one for me – I am human and that’s okay,” Andrews told the Herald this month.
“Positivity, for me, is rooted in self belief, clear direction and life balance … it is more than turning up with a smile on my face – it is the behaviours, routines and strategies I practise every day to ensure I can get to the start line in the best mental state possible.”
The 24-year-old’s network of support, unconditional love from friends and family, and continual work to balance sport and “other loves” meant she could “reflect and hold on to little pieces of positivity – even after an off day”, Andrews said.
“Being an athlete is my job and passion. However, being happy, healthy and balanced is what really matters the most.
“The positivity I draw from that is the most powerful energy I could possibly bring to my goal of being the best athlete and version of myself I can be.”
Last year, Andrews’ silver in the team sprint, gold in the keirin and gold in the individual sprint made for a historic Olympics as she became the first woman to complete the sprint/keirin Olympic double.
In an interview after the feat, she said part of her success is because of New Zealand’s passion for cycling.
The four-time Olympic medallist told Newstalk ZB she believes New Zealand’s prowess in cycling comes from people across the country who are passionate about the sport, not just in its spiritual home of Cambridge.
“I think with cycling in New Zealand, it’s not just about Cambridge, it’s not about that hub, it’s about the whole country and what cycling means to the whole country.
“I have grown up in various different areas around New Zealand. Wānaka, being one of them, [is] amazing for mountain biking, you know? So I would get on my mountain bike as a kid and I’d sprint [against] my parents and that was so much fun and that’s what made me excited,” she said.
Ellesse Andrews in action at the World Championships in Glasgow. Photo / SWPix
“Moving down to Invercargill, where I tried track cycling, they have an absolute passion for cycling there. They love it and so the Southland programme really, really helped nurture me, Canterbury the same, there’s just so many local legends in Canterbury that are just so passionate about what they do.”
At 90, Les Mills knows when to just ‘get on with it’
A trailblazer across sport, business and politics, few have planted as big a stake in the arena of life as Les Mills.
A Commonwealth Games champion and four-time Olympian in shot put and discus, Mills later used his curiosity for new skills and the innovative training techniques he developed as a largely self-coached athlete to start, with his late wife Colleen, the namesake gym in 1968. That enterprise has turned into a global fitness movement and created an enduring legacy for their children and grandchildren.
The five-time Commonwealth Games medallist spotted the opportunity while on an athletic scholarship in the US, he said in an in-house story celebrating the group fitness provider’s 50th anniversary.
“There was a sunrise culture of gyms growing, so I decided to bring it back to Auckland. We found a gym in Auckland which had just gone bankrupt – the American chap behind it was a fly-by-nighter who sold life memberships and ran off with the money – and we bought it off the liquidator for about $3500.”
Customers ripped off by the previous operator were told their memberships would be honoured for a year if they would commit to the gym beyond that date, and a fitness empire was begun.
Not content with pouring his energy into only private enterprise, Mills also served as mayor of Auckland through much of the 1990s, with the introduction of green wheelie bins for waste collection, development of the America’s Cup village at the Viaduct and opening of the Sky Tower and Casino complex occurring on his watch.
Former Auckland mayor, Olympic athlete and gym founder Les Mills. Photo / File
Voted in through a byelection when Dame Catherine Tizard stood down to become Governor-General in 1990, Mills was the first full-term Auckland City mayor after 29 territorial councils were reduced to seven plus a regional council in 1989.
The city was a mess, with much finger-pointing, no one taking responsibility and “reckless spending” putting it into debt at $350,000 a day, Mills told The Aucklander on the eve of the new Auckland Council “Supercity” in 2010.
“The most important thing for this [new] administration is to target those first few years and put in place a 20-year, costed annual plan”, said Mills, who was eventually defeated in a three-way mayoral contest in 1998 amid opposition to his Britomart Transport Centre plans.
Les Mills in 1964. Photo / Herald archive
He’d known challenges in life, some he had control over, and some he didn’t, Mills told the Herald.
After 90 years, his approach was to “just let nature take its course”.
“It’s no good [telling] yourself, ‘Well, I’ll feel positive tomorrow, or I’ll feel negative tomorrow’. You’ve just got to get on with it.”
Makaia Carr does not believe in sitting back and complaining
Makaia Carr has a new job.
Carr, one of New Zealand’s earliest online influencers, as well as being an entrepreneur, businesswoman, and charity founder, has added kaiāwhina (helper) at the Māmā Pepī Hub of a Māori health organisation to her list of endeavours.
“So, I get to work with and help māma and pepī on their life journey for the first five years of pepī’s life,” said Carr, herself a mum of two adult children.
“I absolutely love this mahi.”
Makaia Carr has built a large following on social media. Photo / Supplied
Carr built a large following on social media through her lifestyle content, related start-up business success, book Keeping It Real and courage to call out fellow influencers for posting about freebies during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
She later moved to Bay of Plenty, starting the Kura Kai charity to buy chest freezers for high schools and supporting volunteers to keep them filled with meals for families in need, and in 2023 launching Henlee – the country’s first canned Mimosa.
But this year, her focus is on her newest role, one that serves her community at a time when many are doing it tough.
Carr, who is Ngā Ruahine, was also returning to her te reo studies.
“I thought taking on a job like [kaiāwhina] and immersing myself in that [te reo] environment was another way to help with learning more and giving back to our people.”
Despite the challenges, it was important to hold on to hope and belief that we can make a difference, she said.
“As long as we’re contributing to conversations where we should be and trying to impact the things we can.”
Instead of wasting energy on things she couldn’t change, she was directing it to where it could help her family and community right now.
“That’s why I love my mahi and what I do with Kura Kai. Because it’s not just sitting back and moaning that things aren’t going right or things aren’t where they should be.”
Makaia Carr started the Kura Kai charity to buy chest freezers for high schools and support volunteers to keep them filled with meals for families in need.
She wanted to be “be the change we want” and encourages others to do the same.
“It may feel like a losing battle at times, but as long as we’re doing the best we can with what we have, then that’s really all we can expect from ourselves, and then just hope the country or the world kind of sorts itself out.”
Equestrian Catriona Williams says perspective is crucial
Top equestrian rider. Research trust founder. C6/C7 tetraplegic. And, always, lucky.
Actually, says Catriona Williams, who has used a wheelchair since a riding accident more than 20 years ago, that’s “incredibly lucky”.
“I feel very, very fortunate, which I think a lot of able-bodied people must laugh at. But I’m a pretty lucky person.”
In 2005, Catriona Williams founded the Catwalk Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust to support efforts to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.
Williams – who competed for New Zealand on the international stage at Badminton and the Open European Championships and had the goal of pulling on the silver fern at the Athens Olympics – received life-changing injuries after cart-wheeling off her horse at Hamilton’s Kihikihi Horse Trials in 2002.
She emerged unable to use her legs, no sensation or control of her hands, and thoughts of “Why me?”
But things changed after she saw a boy in a wheelchair at the gym, a Rastafarian hat on his head and a “cheeky grin” across his face.
“I thought, ‘You know what, I want to be more like him’ and that’s when I picked myself up.”
In 2005, Williams founded the CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust to support efforts to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.
More than $10 million has since been raised, including through Williams’ own efforts of hand-cycling 1000km from Lhasa in Tibet to Kathmandu in Nepal – with a stopover at Mt Everest Base Camp – and crossing the finish line in the New York Marathon.
Along the way she’s been a KiwiBank New Zealander of the Year finalist, received a Queen’s Birthday honour, been inducted into the NZ Horse of the Year Show Hall of Fame, and was a winner at the NZ Women of Influence Awards.
“I do spend a lot of time telling myself how lucky I am, because I know that I’m lucky,” the 53-year-old told the Herald.
Catriona Williams focuses on staying positive. Photo/ Nick Reed
Exercise, CatWalk and connecting with others, even through something as simple as carpooling to the city – Williams calls Masterton home – helped her stay positive.
“I had a swim this morning, got out of the pool and felt like the luckiest girl in the world. And I’ve got lovely people around me that are working with us.
“I’m a big one for telling people, if you’re not happy, surround yourself with people that are, so you become that way.”
She knew things were “tough” right now for many.
“We all have to work out where the dollar’s going – not where you want it to go, but where it needs to go.
“But also, we live in New Zealand, we don’t live in Afghanistan. We live in a beautiful country and I think sometimes we will forget how lucky we are that we can walk down and get an ice cream at the dairy.”
