Team Members

Tanya comes from an Arts and refugee background. In October 2019, she co created Cultural Conversations with Padma Naidu as part of Nelson Arts festival.

She believes that to address antiracism we need to commit to real action by stepping back and empowering our marginalised communities.

Harleen orginally from India, studied at NMIT, Nelson. I am a part of a Global Stitch Up team also looks after the GSU page of Cultural Conversations. I love supporting and helping women leading workshops at CC.

My name is Lucia, and I am a Peruvian artist, currently settling in to my new life in Nelson, New Zealand. I come from a beautiful city called Cusco in the Peruvian Andes.
As a child I sought many ways to entertain myself, and thanks to the guidance of several people I was introduced to the world of art.

Hola, I'm Claudia from Colombia.
I have been living in NZ for 4 years and love my life in Nelson. Making gifts in general and toys for Christmas is something I enjoy a lot. I'm so glad to be part of the opportunities Cultural Conversations provides, particularly to join in the many craft activities.

Nilusha is originally from Sri Lanka and came to NZ to study accounting. She also teaches children traditional Sri Lankan dance. We are so lucky to have her doing our book keeping each week.

Pauline migrated to Aotearoa 6 years ago and moved to Whakatū in March 2022. She is originally from Belgium where she studied Communication, Media/Social and Cultural Development and lifelong learning.

Chandra, originally from Nepal, came to study the IT programme at NMIT, Nelson. He has stepped up as a freelancer in Web Development and Digital Marketing. He is passionate about helping the community through technology and believes that digital technology can preserve and promote the culture and recreate community connections.