OUR TEAM
PAUL THOMPSON
Paul and his wife, Karen, have been invested in the community for over 18 years, and continue to build strong relationships to be able to make a real difference in people's lives.
As director, Paul oversees the overall work of the trust, stakeholders and staff.
SHONTEL OLOAPU
Shontel is one of our OG youthworkers @ Kickstart. She provides supervision for some of our staff and oversees all our programme delivery
Shontel loves connecting with young people and manages our Friday Hangs space. Shontel is currently on Maternity leave with her beautiful baby boy. She is due to return to kickstart late 2022!
Lexie Whiteman
Lexie is back at Kickstart! After a small hiatus she has rejoined our team.
She loves music and her dog, Kevin.
JORDAN SULUI
Jordan joined our team in 2021 and works with Kickstart in our youth centre, delivers a new programme Tumanawa, and you will hear him before you see him!
Jordan is passionate about fitness and sport as well as music.
BRI
KING
Bri joined our team in 2021 as a youthworker. She loves music, art, and people!
You will see Bri around in our youth centre Friday Hangs space and on a number of our other programmes. She also heads up Just Shift It groups for kickstart.
FILI
TAUTI
Talofa my name is Fili. I'm super passionate about music love sports such as basketball and rugby. I Love to game in my spare time. If you see me come say hello.
KAITLIN
KIRK
Kaitlin is joining us as a youth worker for 2022. She has experience in leading youthgroups and was one of our OG spearhead leaders.
Kaitlin is the biggest Taylor Swift fan you will ever meet and loves playing golf.
Jess Hedge
Jess has joined the Kickstart team for 2022! She has experience doing youth work in many different spaces and we are excited to see her impact on the young people of our community.
CHARLOTTE REMPALA
Charlotte (Charlie) is one of our youth workers and also one of our key barista's. You'll see her hanging out in the coffee cart at Netball, Speedway, and other events as well as doing barista training with young people.
Charlie came up through some of our kickstart programmes as a young person.
kickstartcoffee@kickstart.org.nz
KERRY HARRISON
Kerry is interning with Kickstart while completing her Diploma in Youthwork with praxis.
You will see Kerry around on our Manawaroa programmes, mentoring and on our Belle programme.
WESLEY
FINAU
Malo e lelei, I'm currently working as a youth worker at Kickstart while studying for my certificate at Praxis.
I'm passionate about music, sports and food.
BELINDA LORD
Belinda joined our team in mid 2018 as administrator with primary responsibility for overseeing our transport social enterprises.
She is the go to person if you want to hire a van.