Welcoming our MarComms Coordinator

We are pleased to welcome our new Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Sophie, to the Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand team.

Based in Ōtepoti/Dunedin, Sophie studied Zoology and Wildlife Management at the University of Otago. Learning about the intricacies of how we manage our unique natural environment led Sophie to think about how we communicate this specialist knowledge to diverse audiences. After graduating, Sophie began working at Tūhura Otago Museum, helping visitors engage with the stories surrounding collection items. In the following years, Sophie’s work focused on science communication and engagement, including some amazing experiences such as visiting remote areas in Fiji to provide education on climate change, and joining a flight to the Antarctic Circle to view the Southern Lights.

More recently, Sophie worked on the communications for a couple of the National Science Challenges – firstly the Biological Heritage NSC, followed by the Sustainable Seas NSC. These roles involved collaborating with researchers and stakeholders to deliver audience-focused communications on topics across multiple disciplines. This included writing and designing research summaries and guidance documents, delivering informative newsletters, creating engaging social media content, and ensuring website content is kept relevant and up to date for users.

A keen Wikipedia reader, Sophie is looking forward to learning all about the world of Wikipedia editing and the interesting work we have going on, and helping these stories be heard. 

You can reach Sophie at sophie@wikimedia.nz

Sophie helping capture juvenile kakī (Himantopus novaezelandiae) for a health check by DOC during her studies.