Introducing Brie – our very first social media lead

We’re delighted that multi-talented storyteller Brie Harding-Hill has come onboard to awhi our online communities – and she’s already making a difference (more faces and voices on insta so you know we’re Real!).

You may have already seen Brie without actually knowing it – on screen in an ad as a dancing baker. As well as managing social media for several organisations, Brie is a creative director, actor and theatre maker, leading large scale productions, creating original work and directing casts of hundreds. Most recently she directed 270 tamariki and rangatahi in National Youth Theatre’s production of “The Little Mermaid”.

“The kids had a ball falling in love with theatre – and I now have a sense of achievement” laughs Brie, whose own first role was as a rat in a Dick Whittington pantomime when she was three.

Since arriving in May, her work at Auckland Women’s Centre fulfills and satisfies her in complementary ways. “It’s so meaningful – the urgency of it for me came from having two small little tiny feminists at home.” Those are Brie’s daughters, aged, four and two… so a part of Brie’s drive for systems change is to make a world that is better for them. “And I also want them to witness me making a change and working for my values,” she adds.

Questioning the status quo such as sexism comes naturally to her. “I’ve got wonderful parents that were very open minded and accepting. And they taught me to question and think for myself from a really young age.”

What she has observed at the Centre so far is “a real care for such a diverse group of people. I love that the people who work at the Centre care about making our activities more accessible and I love that people are coming together and advocating for things that feel like they matter – that there’s that wider, intersectional view, in all the variety of things the Centre does.”

Talking with people directly wherever they can be found is becoming more important in our fragmented world – and people are often found in online spaces such as Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky and LinkedIn – which a driver for the Centre’s social media lead role. Brie is keen to highlight more Centre staff on the socials – to show that we’re lovely and also passionate humans. Where the Centre talks about wanting to contribute “nationwide voice” metaphorically, Brie – as a voice actor and acting coach – also points out the importance of encouraging women to use their literal voice with confidence, given how girls are often conditioned to (again literally) take up less space and time, and to sound more hesitant (less direct or assured), than boys.

Her multiple jobs and her little ones at home keep Brie happily busy, but she’s a keen cook when she gets the chance.