About Us » Our Team
Li Ling is the one who started it all back in October 2006. She's meant to be The Boss, but other titles also include Cleaner, Administrator, and Salesperson. She's ever so busy with doing everything in the business. Tasks range from processing and packing orders, tagging t-shirts and courier driving...to doing GST, drafting press releases and account managing (...what hasn't she done is more like the question?). No two days are the same and somehow she thrives on that!
She comes a long way from from her dreams of being an architect (at age 9-10) , to a cartoonist or greeting card maker (at age 11), to a zoo-keeper then vet (from ages 13 to 17), to a graphic or fashion designer (fleeting thoughts at 17). She ended up leaving school at 17 (HATED exams & Bursury sounded foul) to get into university early (shock, horror, even more exams!). She landed herself into an accounting, commercial law and information systems degree (with the reasoning that accountants are always needed, whether business is booming or failing, to make the books up or clean them out).
Next thing she knew, she was a workforce newbie and thinking twice about being an accountant. It was far too boring and she was curious about other things. Much research and a few informational interviews later with people in different industries (with the coolest response coming from Kevin Roberts, Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide CEO!), convinced her that there were more exciting careers than accounting that she was keen on: advertising or investment banking. And as it happens, as it always does with Li Ling, they were two completely different things/directions!
But someone dear had a close call with death, so no time for niceties and career reflection, she went into crisis management mode and did what she could, got an accounting job where the coolest things about it were the people, reporting about milk products, and chatting to colleagues all over the world (part of Fonterra). But seriously, it was cool and she still misses the potential of travelling round to places like Dubai and Asia, and working with people all over the globe (from Russia to Florida USA!).
One redundancy and another job (bank number cruncher and spreadsheet pretty-upper) later, it was time to take the dive and start thehinitiative after her family dog Kate (RIP June 2006) passed on and a quarter-life "what have I done with my life?!" crisis kicked in. A passion for helping out and providing people with opportunities and support really motivated her. It was also cemented by reading articles and seeing things like Hotel Rwanda (film), which made her heart break and want to do whatever she could to lend a hand in other people's situations.
Li Ling will always try to be a number cruncher, but in the meantime (and we hope for the long term), working out her dream of thehinitiative and being a Mum are very satisfying jobs : )
And if you're wondering, in her spare time - which she officially has none & wishes she had much more - she loves catching up on artsyfartsy craft diy design treehugging fashion business websites/blogs/magazines/books/events (not necessarily all the same thing!), and actioning any neat ideas she spots. She also wishes she could shop more, do volunteer work, go to more exhibitions, gigs, and dance parties...but those are but a faint memory now with time being so limited. And then, there's also an interior decorating/design course which has been put on the backburner for a while and should really be completed....
At the tender age of nearly 2 years old, Eliza has already been involved in many aspects of thehinitiative. Her first real experiences were overhearing Mum make business calls while in hospital after birth. amd when she was just under 1 week old, having to attend a half day business meeting. Although she spent most of it having a milk meal and sleeping, it was her introduction to the crazy world of thehinitiative.
Other important tasks have included pen-holding, unpacking t-shirts that need to be unpacked, unpacking t-shirts that aren't meant to be unpacked, model/mannequin for baby/kids t-shirts and designs, "decision making", accompanying Li Ling to meetings/workshops/shoots, being entertainment or distraction to people Li Ling has meetings/workshops/shoots with, and forcing Li Ling to take breaks from work (probably a good thing!). We're sure Eliza will continue to be a part of thehinitiative one way or another. (Note: please don't report us for child labour.)
Pete, aka the Moral Support & Reluctant Volunteer, tries to stay away from the business, but somehow gets roped into being a back up courier driver, babysitter, stocktaker, swing tagger and idea bouncing board. The rest of the team is glad to have him around!