AUCKLAND, Today: A hard-bitten, gimlet-eyed PR person feeling “isolated and depressed”? A contradiction in terms, surely? But it was reality to NSPR founder Niki Schuck when she moved from her hometown Dunedin to Waiheke Island in 2014.
One day, about three years in, Schuck realised she wasn’t meeting new people in her adopted home. “It’s an island, so it was a bit odd I wasn’t bumping into new faces,” she told Canvas writer Sharon Stephenson, who was interviewing people about “making friends after 40”.
She mentioned her thoughts to a friend, who felt the same, and they set up a not-for-profit group, W3 (Wonder Waiheke Women).
“Schuck believes women are hard-wired differently to men, seeking a greater connection via friendships.”
“It’s about helping women meet, socialise and network, create a community and be inspired and educated,” Schuck told Stephenson. “We both agreed there was a need to get women together and provide a platform for new associations and friendships to be formed.”
At their first meeting in 2015, 25 women turned up. At monthly events over the past year, they’ve regularly had around 80-120 members attend dinners with speakers, walks, movie nights, even a fashion show with members moonlighting as models.
“We’ve got over 400 women on the database from their early 20s to women in their 80s, who often tell us the group has helped them make friends, get jobs and accommodation, even find babysitters,” she said.
Schuck believes women are hard-wired differently to men, seeking a greater connection via friendships.
- Read the full Canvas story here
- www.nsprltd.com
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