The Wāhine Fuelled Tech community meets four times during the year, and the latest gathering at Creative HQ drew an energised crowd of people building the creative tech sector.
The room was buzzing with wāhine and industry allies championing each other’s work. It was a reminder of the power of community – so we thought this month we’d shine a spotlight on these wonderful people contributing to Wellington’s vibrant tech sector.
Meet the people behind Wāhine Fuelled Tech
Wāhine Fuelled Tech Team: Audrey, Hayley & Robyn
At the heart of Wāhine Fuelled Tech is a passionate team driven by a shared commitment to building an inclusive tech community in Wellington. Audrey, Hayley, and Robyn have grown the group into a thriving network of over 2,000 members, delivering high-quality events that inspire, connect, and empower women in tech.
Past speakers include:
- Amber Winton –Nextwork Founder
- Emma Proctor – Research Manager – PikPok
- Fiona Reid – CEO – Somar Digital
- Kate Blincoe – Software Engineer – Xero
- Milica Zivanovic – CIO – Public Service Commission
- Chantelle Cole – Programme Director –NZ Game Development Sector Rebate at NZ On Air
- Jessica Manins – Co-CEO of Beyond
- Jenn Sandercock – CEO – JennSand Consulting
- Diana Minnée – CEO / Co founder – Ask Astro
- Norie Ape – SolarZero
- Rebekah Campbell – Entrepreneur and author
- Samantha Gadd – Founder / CEO Excellent – Director Humankind
- Kristen Lunman – Co-Founder of Powrsuit
The Wāhine Fuelled Tech community provides a welcoming space where women can share experiences, see themselves reflected on stage, and explore diverse pathways in tech. By amplifying voices across industries and career stages, the organisation challenges stereotypes, strengthens retention, and fosters mentorship. While centred on wāhine, the events are open to all genders, recognising allyship as key to driving meaningful change.
This month, we had 70+ people in Creative HQ for the latest meetup. Here’s a spotlight on the latest speakers:
Wāhine Fuelled Tech speakers – February 2026
Raqi Syed
Raqi Syed, Director of Miramar Creative Centre at Victoria University of Wellington, shared insights from her career that spans global film studios and academia. An animator since the age of 12, Raqi began her journey in California before studying cinema and animation at university. Her early career included working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, followed by a decade in New Zealand at Weta FX, contributing to major productions including Avatar and the Hobbit films. In the next phase of her career, she chose to step back and focus on telling her own stories, undertaking further study in creative writing and moving into academia, where she now balances leadership with her filmmaking practice.
Raqi spoke passionately about the democratisation of creative tools. While high-end software was once accessible only to major studios, today’s technology allows independent creators to produce powerful work from almost anywhere. However, she emphasised that access to tools is no longer the main barrier, craft is. “You still need to know the craft. What makes a beautiful image, how to tell a story, and how to communicate your vision,” For the next generation of creative tech professionals, she believes the most valuable skills are writing, speaking, listening, and collaborating. Filmmaking, she says, “is ultimately a team sport, and the ability to work well with others is what enables ideas to scale.”
For Raqi, female representation in the creative industry is essential for storytelling, innovation, and audience connection. “Audiences want to see themselves reflected on screen, and diverse teams produce stronger, more innovative solutions. If your team is all the same type of person, your problem-solving is limited. Out-of-the-box solutions come from people with different perspectives,” she explains. Raqi advocates for more women in senior decision-making roles. Visible leadership, she says, inspires the next generation and signals what is possible.
Reflecting on the Wāhine Fuelled tech event, she praised the energy and engagement of the Wellington audience, highlighting the city’s uniquely non-hierarchical creative culture where students, emerging talent, and industry leaders can share space, challenge ideas, and build meaningful conversations together.
Heli Salomaa
Heli Salomaa is a digital costume designer specialising in game character costumes. She works on video games as a freelancer and has a position as Programme Lead in Fashion Design Technology at Victoria University of Wellington. Her journey into creative tech began in theatre, where she designed costumes for stage. As a gamer, she became fascinated by the characters she encountered on screen and started asking a simple question: who designs their costumes?
This curiosity led her to write her Master’s thesis at Aalto University in Finland on the integration of traditional costume knowledge into digital productions. Through that research, she landed her first role in the games industry working on Control (Remedy Entertainment, 2019). Since then, she has expanded her costume career into animation and other tech-driven productions involving digital bodies and virtual environments.
For Heli, representation of women in Creative Tech is essential. “From the game industry perspective, the gender ratio of players should ideally align with development teams.” She believes more balanced teams would better reflect and serve diverse audiences. “Women’s involvement can help avoid certain conventions in character design that may alienate female players,” Heli explains.
Looking ahead, she hopes to see stronger community and peer support, more opportunities for women to enter the creative tech industry, and mutual respect in traditionally male-dominated workspaces. She also emphasises the importance of communication skills to navigate collaborative projects, alongside curiosity, patience, and determination when learning ever-evolving software. For anyone working with realistic digital characters in film, animation, or video games, Heli recommends learning Marvelous Designer.
Stephanie Parker
Stephanie Parker, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer of Floating Rock, brought a wealth of experience from the world of animation, VFX, and gaming to the Wāhine Fuelled Tech 2026 event.
An animator at heart, Stephanie has worked on major films including Hotel Transylvania 2 & 3, Angry Birds 1 & 2, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Her journey into creative tech began with a childhood love of Disney classics and a fascination with bringing characters to life through movement, which led her from television projects like Monster High to feature films and eventually to co-founding Floating Rock.
Stephanie now oversees the studio’s marketing, team experience, and its unique IP incubator, Pitchfest, which helps creators develop market-ready ideas. She highlighted the importance of representation for women in creative tech, noting that seeing diverse perspectives “creates an opportunity for a deeper relatability”. “It gives me courage to be myself in this industry,” she explains.
Looking ahead, Stephanie encourages the next generation to hone both technical and soft skills, emphasizing visual storytelling, composition, world-building, and effective communication. She hopes to see more women stepping into leadership roles and hopes that her story would inspire others and help them on their personal growth journey in the creative tech industry.
Looking ahead: The future of Wāhine Fuelled Tech
With support from organisations like Creative HQ, FNZ and Somar Digital, Wāhine Fuelled Tech is shaping Wellington’s tech ecosystem, creating events that empower women in technology and amplify their voices across the community. The team adds, “We want to keep putting out events that inspire, connect, and empower, and we want to make sure every wāhine in tech knows this space exists for them.”
