Panel Discussion – 1.40pm to 2.40pm
Kristyl Neho is a Māori community leader, General Manager of Maia Dreams Charitable Trust, Founder and Director of Wahanui Productions, facilitator, writer, actor, director, producer and playwright of Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāpuhi descent.
With more than 20 years in community development and over 25 years in the performing arts, Kristyl has built a career spanning prevention, wellbeing, personal development, leadership, education, social impact and the arts. What began largely as grassroots mahi in Hawke’s Bay has grown to have regional, national and international reach, with Kristyl increasingly taking both her community-development and creative work beyond Aotearoa.
As General Manager of Maia Dreams Charitable Trust, Kristyl has developed and led programmes for tamariki, rangatahi, women, whānau and the adults who support young people, including teachers, youth workers and youth coordinators. This includes the long-running ConfidentMe programme, Rangatahi Leadership Wānanga, women’s workshops, Whakaruruhau Rangatahi Workshops, and performing arts and personal-development initiatives. Maia Dreams is now developing opportunities to extend its work nationally and internationally, with Kristyl presenting ConfidentMe within international Indigenous wellbeing spaces.
Kristyl is also the Founder and Director of Wahanui Productions and has an extensive career as a writer, actor, director and producer. Her original theatre has toured throughout Aotearoa and uses humour, storytelling and lived experience to explore mental health, suicide prevention, dementia, grief, trauma, whānau, identity, resilience and healing. Her creative practice is also expanding internationally as she builds relationships and opportunities for her work outside New Zealand.
Across both her community leadership and creative practice, Kristyl is driven by prevention and early intervention — strengthening confidence, identity, connection and wellbeing before people reach crisis. Her work brings together community development, lived experience, leadership and the arts to create conversations that matter and practical opportunities for lasting change.
