Meet our story tellers
Jacky James – Managing Director
Jacky is the founder of The Shine Collective. She’s a senior communications practitioner with more than 20 years’ experience working for many of Aotearoa’s top organisations, both in an in-house and consultancy capacity. Her impressive resumé includes working with government agencies, as well as private and publicly listed organisations.
She has a broad view of the communications landscape with extensive experience in strategic planning, community engagement, internal communication, media liaison and issues management, as well as events management.
After internal roles within the NZ Police and Scion (a New Zealand Crown Research Institute), coupled with wide consultancy experience in the dairy, education and sports sectors, Jacky established Shine PR (re-branded to The Shine Collective in 2018) in Rotorua in 2012. She had a determination to grow a business that put people firmly at its core, creating a vibrant and healthy place to work and where clients are celebrated.
Under her leadership, Shine has gone from strength to strength, now employing eight staff and receiving awards at the 2016 and 2017 PRINZ Awards.
Passionate about the Bay of Plenty, Jacky has resided in Rotorua since 2005 and enjoys making the most of the forest trails and lakes, spending time with her family, yoga and weaving some magic in the kitchen.
Meg Jones – Communications Director
Meg has spent more than 20 years honing her skills as a communications and marketing practitioner with senior roles in tertiary education, health informatics and B2B.
Her most recent role was as head of marketing and communications at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology and she is passionate about the provision of education being a right for every New Zealander.
Her particular expertise lies in change management, strategic communications, brand positioning, reputation management and risk assessment. She is a bit of a data geek, loves a good spreadsheet and is well known for her ‘creative unicorn’ ways of delivering integrated campaigns.
Meg has a client portfolio embracing corporates, facilities management, iwi trusts, tourism and SMEs and works across New Zealand and Australia as well as locally.
As well as holding ‘ancient’ accounting qualifications, she has a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Dist.) and a Bachelor of Business Studies with a double major in marketing and communications.
A self-confessed workaholic, Meg also freely gives her time as a business mentor and coach, as well as being a board member / trustee on several boards locally and nationally. She also likes to head out to ‘regroup’ in nature, going tramping and taking too many photographs.
Rebecca Malcolm – Senior Communications Consultant
Rebecca began her communications career in journalism 15 years ago and has a wealth of media knowledge. With experience in both weekly and daily newspapers, and most recently on the news desk of a daily paper, Rebecca knows what will catch the eye of the media and the tools and techniques to make your news stand out.
A skilled interviewer and writer, Rebecca is used to writing across a wide variety of topics and making them easily understandable for various target audiences. Her real passion is telling stories and building relationships to make sure those stories are heard.
Her portfolio of clients includes local government, aviation, tourism and iwi trusts. She has a deep understanding of local politics and utilises her many media connections to ensure her messages resonate with those that need to hear them.
Rebecca’s journalism experience has taught her to be flexible, adaptable and shrewd when it comes to asking the hard questions – valuable skills in the fast-paced communications landscape.
It’s not all work and no play for this busy working mum of two though – she likes to get back to nature, nurturing her young son’s passion for all things environmental, supports her ultramarathon running husband, likes to dance up a storm with her young daughter (sans tutu) and is often seen helping out with various causes around the region.
Lisa Glass – Senior Communications Consultant
Lisa’s experience as a TV journalist and journalism coach means she’s a virtual powerhouse of knowledge of all things media.
During a long period with TVNZ, Lisa won awards for journalism in both news and current affairs and daily news producing, working on agenda-setting shows including One News and Sunday – which also helped hone her ‘nose’ for a good story.
More recently, she had a stint in science communications with Ballance Agri Nutrients where she set up a number of digital communications streams, including creating a comprehensive podcast library. Prior to that she was the National Journalism Coach for Fairfax NZ (now Stuff), charged with upskilling the company’s 500+ reporters to better-equip them for multimedia storytelling.
Lisa impressive resumé is rounded out by qualifications in journalism, business and communications and a postgraduate diploma in science.
Now living in Tauranga with her husband and two young daughters, Lisa is often found with her nose in a book (she has a regular slot with Jessie Mulligan on Radio New Zealand as a literary reviewer) or keeping up to date on national and international current affairs – ensuring she’s well prepped for working with Magic Talk’s Peter Williams as a social commentator.
Julie Fiddes – Communications Consultant – On Parental Leave
Julie began her career in communications with Tourism New Zealand as a public relations assistant – cutting her teeth on the 100% Pure New Zealand marketing campaign, helping to showcase New Zealand as the ultimate destination.
With a passion for stakeholder relationships, Julie has a wealth of knowledge in tourism and trade. Her areas of expertise have broadened to include digital communication (social media and website), internal and external communication, strategic communication, media relations and event management.
Her client portfolio includes tourism, not-for-profit, corporate and government.
Originally from a background in interior design, Julie completed her Bachelor of Communications (BCS) at the University of Waikato, majoring in public relations and management communications.
Julie is currently on maternity leave (returning June) and as well looking after gorgeous baby Henry still manages to spend her time enjoying the abundance of lakes and trails Rotorua has to offer, and spending quality time with extended family, friends and a good novel.
Stacey Main – Communications Co-Ordinator
Stacey has cemented herself as a creative go-getter, building on her savvy administrative skills and inquisitive nature. She’s a voracious learner and loves all things digital – building up a portfolio of social media, website and e-newsletter skills.
Working across the full Shine portfolio, Stacey brings a fresh, creative perspective and supports the team in the pitching and delivery of a wide range of campaigns. She has a flair for creative writing, a ‘nose’ for news and her exceptional organisation skills have helped Shine deliver many smoothly run events, projects, meetings and forums, both internally and externally.
Stacey likes nothing better than to deep dive into an issue and help find a solution; you’ll often find her buried deep in research and analysis for our varied client base.
Outside of work, Stacey enjoys getting stuck into a good non-fiction book or a Louis Theroux documentary, letting some steam out on the boxing bag or entertaining family and friends.
Ally Armstrong – Office Manager
Ally joined our Shine team at the end of February as our office manager bringing with her a wealth of knowledge in accounting, office and project management.
Originally from Gisborne, Ally and her family were tempted to Rotorua a decade ago and haven’t looked back after relishing in all that our region has to offer. Ally has a varied working portfolio which includes working for a PR firm, a timber processing plant, local council and a logging company. Her diverse background and excellent communication skills makes her the perfect person for the fast-paced, ever evolving role here at Shine.
Ally will be managing the offices including the day to day upkeep, payroll and supporting the Directors as well as looking after the financial side of things. Her particular passion is reviewing administration processes to improve efficiency and accuracy.
In keeping with the all the good stuff Rotorua has to offer, Ally also enjoys keeping active on the forest trails, being a taxi to her three children and getting lost in a good read!
