Philippa Holmes

Philippa Holmes is a community development practitioner who has been working in the Tāmaki community since 2008. Through her company Aspargove and her study in Leadership for Change she is focussed on social impact and innovation infrastructure, strategy and design, and how we can do better for our people and planet. Her career journey has been nurtured in part by the HEART Movement through relationships, spaces and conversations.

Philippa was present at the first gathering of Change Agents in 2014 and has remained a valued Change Agent since then. HEART has provided resources and a safe space for Philippa and others to “grow and contribute and learn as a collective”. Cultural identity, patriarchy and authenticity are some of the topics and issues that HEART has allowed her to navigate and discuss over the years. Philippa says the simple act of talking about issues normalises the value of healthy conversations and to bring to light critical issues that are not usually discussed. She says “HEART allows me to have conversations that I think are important.”

In 2018 Philippa undertook the HEART Movement Leadership Course. It was “a really pivotal part of my leadership journey and just the journey of growing and developing has been taking part in the HEART leadership programme and being guided, prompted, inspired and having seeds planted by Lousie Marra and Lucia Die Gil around doing the work from the inside out. Taking that journey alongside peers in the community was the toughest and yet most amazing and rewarding learning and growing space for me.”

Being a Change Agent means “being able to share our own journeys about relationships, our needs, our aspirations and to be able to connect with others in the community”. Philippa articulates and role models this in HEART spaces such as the Women’s Koru Group and within the HEART Leadership network. For Philippa relationships come in all forms - friends, partner, family, study and work. She says sustaining healthy relationships is constant, and therefore, there will always be a need for the HEART Movement.

Being “kind and good” means a lot to Philippa and her aspirations for herself, community and environment are a testament to this. Philippa is currently enjoying fulfilling a long life dream of studying, doing a Bachelor of Leadership for Change through Otago Polytechnic whilst homeschooling her two boys with a life learning approach.