When I was 12 years old I made a decision to stop eating meat. A big commitment for a youngster, though was helped by my direct whānau around me making the same change. At the time the decision was really simple because I loved animals and didn't want to eat them. In the 23 years since then I've committed strongly to my original beliefs and have added to my reasons for sticking to it – environmental, health.
In hindsight I am really proud of sticking to a choice for so long that has actually been really difficult at times. In a society of growing awareness and inclusion of all people (that's the dream anyway), it is still ok to be quite scathing of vegetarians/vegans. I feel that it's not a choice anymore but a big part of who I am, which also shapes me in many other ways.
I grew up in a small and kind whānau. We have always supported each other through some tough times and have become closer through all of it. Sometimes I wonder whether going through some big things as a kid made a bit too independent, a bit too soon. After I left school I made some amazing friends who helped to make me a stronger and more-interesting person, and still continue to as much as ever.
A pivotal time of my life was living in a town called Marahau in Tasman Bay, where I spent a lot of time with a true melting pot of wildly different characters. This is where I truly learned how different people – cultures, ages, backgrounds, experiences – can be relatable in so many different ways, and bring so much to one-another's lives.
According to the strengths quiz, my top 5 are honesty, appreciation of beauty and excellence, humour, judgement, bravery. Honestly (hmm) not necessarily what I would have picked for myself, but it can be hard to take an outward perspective on yourself. I suppose to be dishonest never crosses my mind, I love epic mountainous places and pleasant surroundings, definitely like to make most situations funny, exercise fairly considered judgement but love to barrel down steep rocky situations on my bike. I think that's a handy mixture to get me through bootcamp. To be honest about my understanding and struggles, refresh my mind by going somewhere nice, diffuse the situation with a dad joke, make judgements on my progress and learning, and not be afraid to make brave decisions.
I try to cross-reference knowledge and techniques from my graphic design career and implement where I can, though that has only gone so far. I imagine it will be much more helpful when it comes to typography, layout, colour spaces etc, but I can also see that it is a very different approach. Graphic design is all about curating a finished, polished piece; whereas I am picking up that web development can feel like a much more extensive and open-ended workflow. A design piece can also be a result of organically-evolving ideas, yet I may need to adjust my approach to be much more planned and deliberate.
In my last design team I was tasked with developing a set of templates for all to use, which I sensed could be a potential problem with the team's senior in particular. I had the initial idea but came to realise that creatives sometimes don't like to be directed too much by peers. I figured to print and lay out all the bits and pieces, gathering the team to openly critique, pull apart and discuss what's good and what's not. This resulted in inclusive input from everyone, and in the end did produce the best result. A lesson from this was to include and work together as a team sooner rather than later, not only to have people included, but gather the valuable mixture of thoughts and ideas that come with teamwork.