Staff & Governance
Meet the Key Staff at the Victory Community Centre
Email: laura@victorycommunity.org.nz
Phone: 03 546 8389
Tēnā koutou e te whānau o Hapori Wikitoria
Ko wai au
Nō Ingarangi, Aerana me Kōtirana ōku tūpuna
I heke ōku tūpuna ki Aotearoa ko whenua tenei I whanau ai ahau
He waimarie ki te kiia tenei whenua ko tōku kāinga
Ko Maunga Kakaramea te maunga
Ko Ohakuri te awa
Ko Halcione tōku waka
Ko Ngāti Pākehā tōku iwi
Ko Laura Fear tōku ingoa
Nō reira tēnā koutou katoa
Kia ora, my name is Laura Fear and I am the new manager here at Victory Community Centre.
I am originally from Rotorua and lived in Auckland for many years before moving to Nelson in September 2022. I worked in health and not-for-profit organisations for the past five years, most recently as the CEO of Continence NZ. Prior to moving over to the not-for-profit sector, I spent 12 years working in Banking and Technology, and have been active in my local community for more than 20 years. I look forward to getting to know our community better, so please pop in and say hi when you’re in at the centre.
Email: ara@victorycommunity.org.nz
Phone: 03 546 8389
Ko wai au?
Ko Te Motutapu- a - Tinirau te maunga
Ko te Rotorua nui a Kahumatamomoe te moana
Ko Te Arawa te waka
Ko Ngāti Whakaue te Iwi
Ko Te Roro o te rangi hapu
Ko Ōwhata te marae
Ko Arawhita Wiringi ahau.
Ara has been a part of the team here at the Victory Community Centre, since December 2018. Having grown up within the Victory Community she comes with a wealth of knowledge and some great connections with the community. Ara enjoys meeting and greeting and helping others with information sharing. Ara coordinates what's happening within the Centre and can assist you if you are wanting to use one of our spaces for an event, meeting or similar. Nau mai haere mai e te iwi
Email: juanita@victorycommunity.org.nz
Phone: 03 546 8385
Kia ora koutou e te whānau o Hapori Wikitoria
Ko wai au?
Ko Maungatapu te maunga
Ko Maitahi te awa
Ko Aorere te moana
Ko Tainui te waka
Ko Ngati Koata, Ngati Kuia raua ko Ngati Toa Rangatira te ngā iwi
Ko Whakatū te marae
Ko Juanita taku ingoa
No reira tēnā koutou katoa
Tēnā koe my name is Juanita Akauola, I am the new community nurse here at Victory community centre following on from Val.
I previously have lived in the Victory community for many years before moving to Stoke and am very happy to be back.
I previously worked for Te Piki Oranga firstly as a community nurse, then as a tamariki Ora Nurse and more recently in the CAMHS service before joining the fabulous Victory team. I look forward to meeting everyone and hope you will pop down for a free and confidential chat if you have any health concerns you would like support with or would just like to find out more about what we can offer, nau mai haere mai.
Nāku noa, nā
Juanita
Email: sabien@victorycommunity.org.nz
Phone: 03 546 8389
Email: norma@victorycommunity.org.nz
Norma comes from Venezuela and has now settled in the sunny Nelson with her husband and four children.
Community Navigator is a community support worker who bases their practice on strong, positive relationships and effective advocacy. The primary purpose of the Community Navigator position is to:
- Support newcomers, former refugees and New, New Zealanders living in Nelson and Richmond areas in their post-settlement process
- Connect people with local activities and services
- Facilitate easier access for individuals and their families to a range of health and social support services.
Email: steve@victorycommunity.org.nz
Steve McLuckie is our Community Coordinator at the Victory Community Centre. He & his whānau moved to Whakatū Nelson from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland in 2020. Steve loves his role at the Community Centre & being part of this amazing, thriving and diverse community. Steve was based in Tāmaki Makaurau for 12 years, spending the last four of those years coordinating a community development project on Auckland’s North Shore. He also spent time working for Auckland Council and organising support services for homeless people in Auckland. Steve organises and facilitates the various VCC activities & events as well as supporting our numerous volunteers. Steve is always keen to hear from local people about how we can make the Victory Centre even more of a thriving hub at the Centre of our community.
You can catch up with Steve at the Centre, through email: steve@victorycommunity.org.nz or by ringing him on 027 328 9922”.
Tēnā koutou e te whānau o hapori o Wikitoria,
Ko Hikaroroa te mauka
Ko Waikouaiti te awa
Ko Huruhurumanu, ko Uruao, ko Takitimu me te Āraiteuru kā waka
Ko Kāi Tahu te iwi
Ko Kāi Te Ruahikihiki, Kāti Hawea, Kāti Huiraa ki Puketeraki kā hapū
Ko tāku tūrakawaewae ko Puketeraki Marae
No Murihiku ahau
Ko Nadia Dysart ahau
No reira, tēnā koutou katoa
Kia ora, my name is Nadia Dysart. Before I began the Kai Coordinator role in September 2022, I volunteered with VCC for many years, from helping with events such as Lark in the Park and Matariki to facilitating children’s activities such as creative dance, skipping, wellbeing courses and badminton. I have also been a Parent Representative on the Victory Primary School Board of Trustees since 2019. As Kai Coordinator at Victory Community Centre, I manage our community garden and compost system, host our monthly Women’s Multicultural Lunch, help coordinate Hapori, (a social enterprise which provides fruit and vege boxes at a discounted rate) and help out with seasonal events like Lark in the Park and our Winter Community Meals. The Kai Coordinator role is about building community and resilience around food. There are great opportunities to get involved, from our weekly working bees in the garden/māra kai to coming along for one of our community events. I generally work on Mondays and Thursdays…feel free to pop in to chat about opportunities for connection at the centre or call us on 546 8389.
Learn more about our Board of Trustees
Tanya brings 20 years of experience as an active and governing member of the Whakatū community, across education, music, not for-profits, and social enterprise, most recently as Co-Founder/Creative Director of Cultural Conversations, a community arts hub that celebrates and respects diversity.
She received Nelsonian of the Year for the Arts 2016, and was a finalist for the Eelco Boswijk Civic Award in 2021
Her governance experience includes:
Nelson School of Music (now NCMA), Teacher Representative 2005 – 2006
Founder of the Nelson Samba Collective Trust 2010 - 2017
Executive Board Member for Arts Council Nelson Dec 2019 – 2022
Tanya passion is with community building, and making sure all voices are heard in partnership, honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Luz is Tangata Tiriti, from a family with roots in the lands of the Nahuelbuta ranges and Bio-Bio river, in Chile, who made Aotearoa New Zealand and Whakatu Nelson home more than twenty years ago.
She brings with her more than fifteen years working within the Nelson community in volunteer roles such as community broadcaster at Fresh FM, where she is part of the team who produces the show is Spanish, Viva Latinoamerica! She has been involved in governance roles, with the Women Angel’s Fund and the former Nelson Multicultural Council, now Multicultural Nelson Tasman, where she was the chairperson from 2018 to 2019.
Victory Community was one of the first places Luz came to know in Nelson Tasman and where she started to be part of the local community network, joining a multicultural pot luck that was held periodically to share kai between people from different local cultures.
As many other migrants, Luz has worked in diverse occupations, from fruit picking and factory work to currently being a Law Worker at Nelson Bays Community Law. Being a Journalist, she was a partner in a video production business and part of the Visual Journalists’ team at The Nelson Mail for a couple of years.
Luz is an active member of the Toitū Te Tiriti movement and a passionate social justice and indigenous rights activist since her school days in Chile.
Ko Cara Rangi toku ingoa,
No hauraki ahau,
No tainui te waka.
Kia ora I am a mother to my beautiful son that is my first job. I have lived in the victory community on and off since I was 15 years old.
I have a passion to help and volunteer where I can in our beautiful community I have the privilege to live.
I have been involved with the victory community center for many years.
My son goes to victory primary school.
My main drive to join the board is to be a community voice in that space and to learn alongside others with experience and knowledge around governance.
My professional experience is working with and protect vulnerable children.
I am also a committee member for caring families Aotearoa that support caregivers in and around top of the South Island.
Stephen is a Chartered Accountant with 30 year’s experience in the commercial sector, including listed companies in NZ and UK.
Stephen moved to Nelson in 2014 with his family and has been committed to community service through various sporting codes including becoming a technical official for Swim Nelson Marlborough and recently joined as a Board member in 2023.
I’ve been a doctor since 1988 when Duncan and I moved to Nelson. He joined Halifax Vet Clinic, and I was a house surgeon at Nelson Hospital. Pretty soon we had our first daughter Evangeline and then her two sisters Iris and Oonagh. All three went to Nelson Central School and both Duncan and I served on the Board of Trustees there. I’ve also served on the Clinical Governance Board of the PHO and for MIC. I’ve had a broad range of medical jobs and my hope is I can bring this experience to the service of the Victory Community Centre. Nga mihi nui, Anna
Kia ora, Ko Putauaki tōku māunga, Ko Ohinemataroa tōku awa, Ko Mātaatua tōku waka, Ko Ngāti Awa tōku Iwi. Ko Joshua Smith tōku ingoa. My name is Joshua Smith and on my fathers side I whakapapa to the bay of plenty, its mountain Putauaki, its river Ohinemataroa and the people of Ngāti Awa who first landed in Aotearoa on the waka – Mātaatua. On my mother’s side I acknowledge the Goodall’s who arrived here in Whakatū/Nelson from Scotland in 1855 on the vessel Sir Allan McNab. I came to Whakatū/nelson in 2002 to complete a degree in Visual Arts at NMIT and have called the region home ever since. I have worked in our Creative, Fishing and Construction industries and now work for the Ministry of Education as an Attendance Kaiāwhina/advisor supporting whānau and their rangitahi engage with education. The reason I wish to join the board of the Victory Community Centre is I believe it will develop my knowledge of governance and as a resident of Victory it will provide another layer with which I can serve my community.