Our Board

Carla Moore

Flourish is a culmination of everything I have dreamed about combining for most of my big girl thinking life!  

I decided I’d become an educational psychologist while I was still at school because the idea of working with families - children and parents together, to best support families, made so much sense.  After travelling, nannying, and doing every parenting course I could find, I completed my MA in Educational Psychology and then quickly realised I needed to gather my own experience of whānau. Four children later, I’m still learning and loving what having strength through self-empowerment, having the courage to be authentic, being able to share in vulnerability and the push for connectedness, can ultimately bring to our community.  

With my constant desire for connection, a natural tendency towards positivity and a real curiosity and empathy for others, I have a strong sense of well-being and a desire to make a difference.  

When I’m not thinking big, I love to run with our Labrador and friends in our beautiful park, or along one of our beaches, or a riverside. I try to keep up with my family on a mountain bike and love it when we get packs on and find some tracks to go walking for a few hours. My family and friends are vital to my wellbeing, and a good card game, puzzle or book in front of the fire with a nice wine and some great chocolate works too! 

Look at where big dreams can take us! Let’s do this together and help our Taranaki community to truly flourish. Please come and meet me and share your story.  

Katy Quest

Flourish, as a collaborative space where parents, caregivers and families can come together really excites me! When I look back at my own family’s journey, with highs and lows, a place like Flourish would have been such a great help.  

My passion for supporting community and other people on this crazy parenting journey all started when I first became a Mum in 2006. My background up until then had been in banking and finance, with a stint in a more creative role as a Production Manager at a London Advertising Agency. I spent 9 years in the UK before stopping over in Australia on my way back to NZ, where I met my partner (of 18 years now) and he followed me home.

I found my flock of birthing women through Active Birth Taranaki and this group quickly became my ‘family’ and support network, lifelong friends, and revealed to me the power of belonging and support. I now have 2 teenage sons, and not only has becoming a Mum reshaped my view of the world, but it has ignited the fire in my belly around supporting other parents while on their own journeys. This road can be amazing and fulfilling, but it can also be lonely, frustrating, and just downright hard sometimes. 

Alongside years of Playcentre and school committees, I have been providing Parenting Education and support for the last 8 years via SPACE Taranaki, and through the “Incredible Years” Parent and Toddler programmes. I feel very privileged to have been asked to be part of this fabulous team of people, and to help get Flourish off the ground so that our community can be the best that it can. 

I fill my own cup by being in my garden planting, growing and nurturing kai for my family or building outdoor furniture and undertaking landscaping projects. I am a creative person so usually have something on the go. Sometimes you may find me onstage, dressed up and singing ‘80’s hits with a Ladies choir for fun too when I’m not hanging with my family.

Annalese Sharrock

I love a journey, and the fantastic people that you meet along the way! I’ve invested in the Flourish vision, and for me, getting involved was about assisting where I can and with my skills, to bring this journey to life!

After finishing school in Taranaki, I headed to Victoria University in Wellington and funded my studies in Law, HR, and Criminology by working in the hospitality sector, and then went on to spend 13 years with Inland Revenue as a Specialist Investigator where I added my accounting and forensic review skills. Always partial to having multiple jobs and roles on the go, I now lead the Macfarlane Hospitality Group and consulting firm, Strategy Collective with business interests across New Zealand.

I have a passion for people, leadership and transformational thought. Everything about business and community is fostered upon establishing and nurturing relationships. No one individual knows the answer to everything, and in working collaboratively, we can achieve more together, while always striving for a better outcome.

With 3 young children, and a shift-working husband, some would say a fairly crazy busy schedule. It’s all about organisation and being effective when you’re in something. When not at work, I try and manage a few games of squash each week, and love getting out and about on a hike be it in Taranaki, or further afield. Definitely partial to the odd gin, or espresso martini, you’ll definitely see me making the most of Taranaki’s festivities and great outdoors.

Tracy Abel

What a pleasure and privilege it is to have the opportunity to a part of Flourish. Each member of the board and the entire team brings their own brand of ‘clever’ with the shared goal of creating a space where every parent has the support they need to help every child FLOURISH.

Being involved with Flourish is a natural fit for me. Adding value where I can, promoting constructive outcomes for all and working hard to ensure that with collaboration, the results are bigger than the sum of all parts are the things that drive me. Knowing that together we can provide support, education and eventually a one stop shop for whanau, parents, children and caregivers is a vision worth working for.

My professional background has been in adult education, leadership development, communication and team building. I construct and facilitate workshops in this space as well as offer one on one coaching to encourage people to truly inhabit their lives. I have also always been involved in the health and well-being space and currently own a boutique pilates studio. I have previous as well as current board experience that I’m excited to add to the mix.

I survived growing my 4 children up with only one more to go so I am well aware of the challenges in the parenting space!

Let’s now get excited about creating an amazing opportunity for whanau in our community to truly FLOURISH.

Anne Bridges

Flourish is new to me, and I am new to Flourish.   
  
My day job for the last 30 years or so, has revolved around technical aspects of the Dairy Industry and more recently freelance Project Management. I also enjoy offering my time (and hopefully skills) in volunteer roles in various community groups and so when an opportunity to join the Flourish whānau came along, I thought why not? If I can help even just a little bit in making Flourish successful and see Taranaki whānau benefit from a collective sharing of ideas’, programmes, support and general wellbeing, then that will make me happy. 
  
Having a scientific and process driven brain may seem an odd fit with the rest of the Flourish team who are so beautifully creative, love sharing their feelings and can imagine big things, however, here I am co-opted onto the Flourish Board and loving the creative environment I find myself in. 
  
Tennis, walking at the beach with our crazy spoodle, donning my RedBands on our little farm block, planting native trees, chilling with my husband and teenage boys, and then sharing a gin & BBQ with friends also makes me very happy. 

Jenny Woo

We moved to New Plymouth 18 years ago to raise our family and as lovers of the outdoors Be close to the mountain and sea. New Plymouth has been an amazing place to raise a family. Moving here without a family or network was pretty tough. Making connections and building a community was really important to helping us feel a sense of belonging here. And this is what I see here at Flourish doing - building connections and a community to help raise our families. Lifting us up as parents and teaching us better ways of raising our families. Wish it had been around 18 years ago! With three teenagers now I feel like it was time to give back and felt coming on to the board here at Flourish was the right move for me. My professional life has seen me working in Early childhood and finance. it seemed like a great fit when asked to take on the treasurers role. I really look forward to the being a part of such a creative and forward thinking group.

Simon Cayley

I’m pleased to be able to support Flourish as interim Chair to achieve a vibrant strategy backed up by viable funding and a strong group of trustees and staff. I’m looking forward to seeing our organisation thrive over the coming years making parenting a little bit easier for many parents across our region.