Morning Person: Meet Kaan

We have an amazing team of volunteers and partners who help us make CreativeMornings happen every month. We think they’re super cool and you should totally meet them.

This week: Meet Kaan Hiini!

Who are you?
I’m a creative generalist, a visualiser, a crafter, a doer.  I’m a nerd, a board gamer, a weirdly enthusiastic, if uncoordinated, dance partner.

I’m Kaan. And I’m still figuring out what that means.

How do you help out at CreativeMornings/Akl?
I’ve been part of the team since the start, taking photographs. But that has since changed and now I help Jade with all the things. Emails, newsletters, social media content, event prep, community management, Tech guy, video capture and editing. It’s kinda my baby now.

What gets you up in the morning?
My third alarm. The promise of coffee. My work with Curative. He tangata! He tangata! He tangata! 

What’s a surprising fact about you?
I’m an award winning dancer.

What is your favourite thing about Auckland?
The West Coast beaches. But more and more it’s the people I meet, and the growing buzz of the place, as it matures into an exciting little city at the bottom of the world. Auckland’s cool, guys. And that’s Ok. 

Best breakfast you’ve ever had?
I have many fond memories of summer holidays up in the Far North, waking up to leftover Fried Bread and Papa’s Raw Fish. 

Favourite CreativeMornings/Akl so far?
The guys at Assembly did a fantastic one back in June 2012, on the V Motion Project. But Richie Hardcore's talk on Rebel was pretty fantastic, as was Jamie’s McLellan's exploration of Minimal. I have man crushes on all of these people.

Favourite CreativeMornings talks from around the world? 

• Talking Backwards by Seth Godin
• Love your work by Simon Sinek
• The Leap Year Project by Victor Saad

Favourite CreativeMornings Quote?

If I was a colour I would be…
Leaf Green. Vibrant, energetic, fresh and friendly. I hope that’s an accurate description of me. It’s what I aspire to be, at least.

Kaan is currently over in America representing CreativeMornings/ Auckland at the CreativeMornings Summit. You can follow his adventures on Twitter and Instagram, #AmeriKaan.

He’s also attempting to complete his 100 Days Project. If you notice he’s lagging behind give him a hard time about it.

On the very last Friday that August blessed us with, we were lucky enough to have Sarah Longbottom take over our CreativeMornings/Auckland to discuss the sometimes very-frightening concept of “failure.” Rejecting the word “failure,” Sarah encouraged everyone to view their past and present mishaps as grounds for transformation and growth. She walked and talked the audience through her inspirational mentoring initiative Nga Rangatahi Toa, which seeks to embrace and empower the marginalised youth who have not had their needs and potential realised in the mainstream education system in New Zealand.

Since Sarah was a recipient of The Vodafone World of Difference programme, we got to be hosted by the cool characters at Vodafone! The event was proudly delivered to you by Curative, Coffee Supreme, Antipodes Water Company, Little Lot, AUT and our awesome troupe of volunteers.

If you were there or not, take a virtual wander through our morning and get enthused for this month’s speaker (more on her soon…) Big thanks to Kaan Hiini and Jemma Field for manning the cameras!

Check out the full lot of photos here: CreativeMornings/AKL with Sarah Longbottom 

Now in 88 creative cities (with a unique colour for each one!), CreativeMornings is excited to kick off a full month on the theme of “Colour” (or color as our American friends spell it). Brought to you by Squarespace, the theme was chosen by our Paris team, and we were thrilled to have the very talented and crafty Erin Jang illustrate it in her signature, cheerful style.

Squarespace is CM’s Official Partner for Online Publishing, and it’s a pleasure to have them present this month’s global theme. Through their support, CM can continue to launch free events in cities around the world.

Squarespace’s mission is to provide creative tools that help anyone give a voice to their ideas. Their platform provides us with an opportunity to express our colors, making it easier than ever to build an exceptional looking website.

To celebrate this month, Squarespace is giving away free one-year accounts to five lucky people! To enter:

• Follow @Squarespace on Twitter.
• Tell us in 140 characters about the most colourful project you’ve worked on–feel free to include a photo, too! Remember to mention @Squarespace and @creativemorning as well as the hashtag #cmcolor. Only one entry per person, please.
• We’ll randomly pick five entries and announce the winner on Twitter.
• You have until 12:00pm EST on Friday, September 5 to enter. Winners will be announced at 5:00pm EST the same day. Check the Q&A for more details.

Good luck! To find an upcoming “Colour” event near you, check out the upcoming schedule. We’ll see you at the other end of the rainbow.

P.S. If you’re not one of the lucky five winners, you can still use the code CREATIVE2014 for 10% off your first purchase with Squarespace!

Morning Person: Meet Sum

We have an amazing team of volunteers and partners who help us make CreativeMornings happen every month. We think they’re super cool and you should totally meet them.

This week: Meet Sum Green from The Vodafone Foundation, our host for the August CreativeMornings and a major supporter of our speaker, Sarah Longbottom! 

Who are you? 
I’m Sum Green, Vodafone’s Foundation and Sustainability Manager.

What gets you up in the morning? 
Having a job that I love, wonderful people that I get to work and engage with and all the goodness/inspiration I see in this world.

Explain what you do in Five words or less. 
Help make the world a better place [We’ll pretend ‘the’ and ‘a’ don’t count as words].

What’s a surprising fact about you? 
I really enjoy public speaking.

What is your favourite thing about Auckland? 
Being a metropolitan city with the beautiful outdoors at our doorstep.

Best piece of advice you’ve received?  Lots!  But one I heard this week that resonated with me was about a little kid throwing stranded starfishes back into the sea and when their parent questioned whether this was really making a difference, the kid responded that it made a difference for each of those starfish!  While I believe it’s important to address systemic issues, we can’t underestimate the difference (no matter how big or small) each one of us can make in the present.

Who would you love to hear speak? 
I love hearing from everyone - everyone always has an amazing story to share.

What’s your Secret Superpower? 
Well it’s not so secret but I am pretty good at baking (and more recently unbaking).

When at first you don’t succeed… Reflect, share and learn from it.

You can find out more about The Vodafone Foundation and their World of Difference Programme here. And you totally should. They’re pretty awesome.

For the month of August, CreativeMornings/ Auckland is hosted by the amazing team at The Vodafone Foundation, the charitable arm of Vodafone.

The Vodafone Foundation is passionate about enabling healthy development and positive outcomes for young New Zealanders.  Through its flagship World of Difference programme, it pays the salary and expenses of inspiring leaders who want to make a difference in the lives of young Kiwis, in particular to engage more young people in meaningful learning. 

The Foundation has been stoked to provide support for Sarah Longbottom and Nga Rangatahi Toa through World of Difference in 2013 and continues to support their amazing mahi.

We think The Vodafone Foundation and their World of Difference Programme is fantastic. For more info check out their website and discover more of their inspiring recipients, including past CreativeMornings/Auckland speaker Guy Ryan.

"I do believe less is more, but to a point."

- Jamie McLellan at CreativeMornings/Akl. Watch the talk

Get to know a bit more about our speaker, Sarah Longbottom, and her work on the creative arts initiative, Nga Rangitahi Toa.

Let this mini-doco from Like Knows Like, on photographer and past CreativeMorning speaker Helena Price carry you into your weekend.

And check out her San Francisco talk at http://creativemornings.com/talks/helena-price/1

Don’t Forget! Registrations for CreativeMornings with Sarah Longbottom open at 11am on Monday!

Want a reminder closer to the time? Why don’t you sign up for our newsie?

Morning Person: Meet Sarah

The August CreativeMornings shindig is just over a week away from happening, so lets take a moment to learn more about our speaker: Meet Sarah!

Who are you?
I know myself as love

What gets you up in the morning?
The potential in every amazing day to give, love and learn

Explain what you do in Five words or less.
I unify and synthesise

What’s a surprising fact about you?
I have had my thin, straight hair permed twice in an obsessive afro quest (as yet unsuccessful)

What is your favourite thing about Auckland?
Without doubt it is the phenomenal humans who live here. There is so much energy in this city, so much positivity and growth. On a personal level I know that it is my amazing community of excellent humans, innovating at all levels with a visceral commitment to the greater good, who will be journeying Auckland into an extremely bright future. I get very very excited when I think about what it means to be part of this, and this is why I am wholeheartedly committed to this city.

Best breakfast you’ve ever had?
Sam Chapman, one of the genius creative minds behind The Matterhorn and Golden Dawn, is an old and dear friend and is renowned for his outta sight, restorative breakfasts. The one that springs to mind was a decade ago on the morning after Sam’s legendary 30^th birthday, at a friend’s batch in the Wairarapa bush. We were all still pretty bung as the night morphed into the morning but in true Chapman style he rejuvenated us all with a long table laden with kai made from scratch, with love. I loved that breakfast, good food with dear friends in nature. Ka pai.

Best piece of advice you’ve received?
My Dad once told me, one day as I traumatized myself that I wasn’t making enough ‘Real Difference’ in the world, that ‘All you can do is all you can do’. I love this idea cos while it speaks of a real, ego-less commitment that can only come from reflection and self-knowledge, to me it is also an important message that all people can contribute to the greater good in whatever capacity is right for them and their lives at a certain time.

Who would you love to hear speak?
Ram Dass

What’s your Secret Superpower?
I actually take superpowers pretty seriously. I once attended a professional development session in NYC, run by Noam Chomsky. He said his superpower was ‘the organising of popular opinion’. So freakin cool. I am no Noam Chomsky, but my superpower has a similar role of unifying and synthesising humans, albeit at a more micro level…..My superpower is that I am a love projector. I take particular joy in projecting a loving energy into weird and fascinating spaces, such as subway cars in NYC, and connecting with other humans. If you want deets, check out my blog for my different practices.

When at first you don’t succeed…
…be interested in what is coming next for you, cos not ‘succeeding’ simply means that another path has opened up.

Sarah Longbottom will be speaking speaking at CreativeMornings on Friday 29 August, hosted by Vodafone. Full details here.

Tickets go live Monday 25 August at 11am. Sign up to our newsletter to get a reminder email on Monday morning.