Chimene Del La Varis

Chimene del la Varis was born in Surrey, England in 1963. She lives in Hamilton and has two sons of Tainui descent (Ngati Mahuta/Ngati Whawhakia). In June 2004 she graduated from Wintec with a National Diploma of Journalism and has spent the past year working at the Waikato Times as Maori Affairs reporter, specializing in the coverage of Tainui tribal issues. Most recently, Chimene has written features for the Waikato Times retrospective on the 10th anniversary of the signing of the tribe’s $170 million raupatu settlement. Chimene holds a Bachelor of Arts in Italian and Spanish (Auckland, 1988) and a Diploma of Drama (Auckland, 1995). She has recently been invited to join Radio New Zealand’s Auckland newsroom as Maori Issues reporter.

 

Leigh Van Der Stoep

Leigh van der Stoep was born in Pretoria, South Africa where she lived and studied to the age of 20. In 2002 she enrolled in a Bachelor of Technology in Journalism at the Technikon of Pretoria but relocated to New Zealand at the end of 2003 before she could complete her degree.  Living in Auckland with her family, she completed a diploma in Travel Writing and Photography through the New Zealand Institute of Business Studies. Shortly after completing this diploma she enrolled in the National Diploma of Journalism at the Waikato Institute of Technology - a course which she completed in June 2005.  While completing her studies, she held a part-time position with Go Auto Magazine in Auckland as a writer and photographer. As part of her work experience, she worked on the Waikato Times, the NZ Herald and briefly on the Taupo Times.  Named top student in her 2004/2005 National Diploma class, she now holds a full-time position with the North Shore Times in Auckland as a reporter.

 

Rachael Lennard

Rachael Lennard, 24, is chief sub-editor at the Daily Post newspaper in Rotorua. After graduating from Wintec, doing a stint as a reporter with the South Waikato News in Tokoroa, and running a commercial website for the Outdoorsman Headquarters in Rotorua, Rachael moved to a subbing position with the Post. Singled out early on as a rising star with APN, she quickly took on extra responsibilities, and took charge of the subs bench after just 18 months in the job. As chief sub Rachael runs the subs bench, overseeing production of the news, sport and feature sections. With a keen interest in design matters, Rachael controls the layout of the pages while also managing the copy tasting and copy editing processes. Rachael is heavily involved in the ongoing development and improvements to the newspaper.