OUR LEADERSHIP
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Rachel founded Away We Go ~ Matike Mai in late 2022 and continues to lead its direction and growth. She provides strategic and creative oversight across all clients and works directly with boards, CEOs, and senior leaders to design income diversification strategies, deliver commercial frameworks, and provide governance solutions that drive long-term sustainability. She also leads new business development and serves as Director of the Pacific affiliate for Local Action Marketing (LAM), creating pathways into FIFA 2026, LA28, and other global events.
Rachel brings over 25 years of international commercial and marketing experience, including 17 years abroad in Formula 1 and other motorsports, golf, rugby, cricket, and football. She has worked with corporates such as Allianz, Shell, Ford, and NTT DoCoMo, and with rights-holders including Mercedes, Ferrari, and Renault F1 Teams, FC Bayern Munich, FC Barcelona, the International Paralympic Committee, and World Rugby. Alongside this, she has worked extensively in the not-for-profit sector with organisations including the Australian Red Cross, Asthma New Zealand, and the Leukaemia Foundation, contributing to fundraising, brand, and marketing initiatives that strengthened income and community outcomes.
Inspired by her involvement in the London 2012 Paralympics, she returned to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2014 as Commercial & Marketing Director for Paralympics New Zealand, where she secured $3.5m in funding and national broadcast partnerships around Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018. She later served as Secretary General of the International Working Group (IWG) on Women & Sport and CEO of Women in Sport Aotearoa, leading the record-breaking 8th IWG World Conference in Auckland, attended by 1,850+ leaders from 300 organisations across 90 countries.
CEO & Strategic Consultant
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Melissa provides operational leadership across Away We Go, coordinating delivery teams and the contractor network to ensure smooth execution and consistently high standards, while also contributing directly to client delivery where her expertise adds the most value.
She manages the planning, delivery, and reporting of client programmes, overseeing timelines, deliverables, and communications across multiple accounts. Acting as the primary point of contact for most clients, Melissa builds trusted relationships with CEOs and project leads, while also mentoring junior staff and contractors, strengthening systems and processes, and embedding consistent delivery practices across the consultancy.
Melissa brings more than 25 years of expertise in project development, stakeholder management, communications, PR, and brand development. Most recently, she was Head of Engagement and Impact at Paralympics New Zealand, where during a 12-year tenure she developed and delivered nationally recognised programmes advancing inclusion for disabled people, including a flagship school education initiative. She also led international and local media for the New Zealand Paralympic Team at Tokyo 2020, PyeongChang 2018, and Rio 2016, managing press operations and communications at the Games.
She was instrumental in creating and launching the award-winning Spirit of Gold Initiative, a long-term commercial, fundraising, and communications programme that built sustainable profile and income for the Paralympic movement in New Zealand. Earlier in her career, Melissa held senior marketing and programme roles at EY UK and worked across New Zealand’s Regional Sports Trust network on community sport development, programme design, and delivery.
CLIENT SERVICES DIRECTOR
OUR TEAM
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Hayley has been part of Away We Go for over two years, contributing to projects spanning commercial partnerships, grants, research, and analysis.
With more than 15 years of experience in community sport across Aotearoa New Zealand, she combines big-picture thinking with strong organisational skills and is known for turning strategy into effective delivery.
She began her career in 2008 as a Sports Coordinator at Albany Senior High School, before moving into similar roles at Diocesan School for Girls and St Cuthbert’s College. In 2016, she joined Netball New Zealand as Community Netball Coordinator, supporting programmes nationwide to grow participation and strengthen delivery. She was later promoted to Membership Project Manager (2018–2019) and then Volunteer Advocate (2019–2021), developing initiatives to support, retain, and celebrate the thousands of volunteers who power sport.
PROJECT SPECIALIST
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Janine is an expert in identifying corporates with strong values alignment to the social impact goals of our clients, and vice versa. She works alongside organisations to design partnership proposals that deliver against the strategic objectives of both parties.
Janine completed her doctorate at Ulster University in 2007, with a thesis exploring women’s experiences of setting up businesses, including the idea generation, decision-making, and challenges inherent in the start-up process. She went on to become a leading academic at the University of Auckland, serving as Deputy Director of the Aotearoa Centre for Enterprising Women at the Business School.
She has recently taken up a new academic post at Queen’s University Belfast, where she continues to focus on enterprise, leadership, and equity. Alongside her academic career, Janine also works as a specialist researcher for Away We Go.
RESEARCH SPECIALIST
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Sarah has worked on a wide range of projects for Away We Go, contributing across the full commercial spectrum from sponsorship to grants and trust funding.
She brings more than 12 years of experience in sports business management, with expertise in commercial strategy, revenue generation, and event operations. She also has a detailed understanding of New Zealand’s sporting landscape from community through to high performance, and a track record working with not-for-profits and charities.
Most recently, Sarah was Marketing Rights Delivery Manager for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, responsible for planning and delivering rights for partners across the New Zealand programme. Prior to that, she spent four years as Commercial Manager at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, where she managed, grew, and negotiated all commercial revenue in the lead-up to the America’s Cup 2021.
COMMERCIAL SPECIALIST
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Coming soon