Tarsh Poching-Ieremia
Club Advisor | New Zealand Rugby League

Tarsh hold many roles including;  MC, TV presenter, broadcaster, former breakfast radio host and ex radio executive. For 14-years, Tarsh worked in radio – eight of those as a host on Flava’s morning radio show, The Full Phat Breakfast, and had guest stints on TVNZ’s Whānau Living. She’s also dabbled in sports TV presenting; as a host, side-line reporter, interviewer and panellist. 
Earlier this year, the mum of four, from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, started her dream for New Zealand Rugby League - 'helping to grow the best game in the world'. Coming from a league-loving family, a game she also plays and coaches, Tarsh was - in pre Covid times – an MC on the field at Vodafone Warriors’ home games. 

Tarsh is passionate about health and fitness, a dedication she shares through her Facebook page, “Mum like a Boss.” 

Sam Johnson
Chief Executive | Student Volunteer Army (SVA)

In 2011, after the devastating Christchurch earthquakes, Sam mobilised 11-thousand students to help with the clean-up of the shattered city, and the nationwide volunteering movement, Student Volunteer Army (SVA)was born.
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Sam describes himself as a civic entrepreneur. He works as Chief Executive of SVA Foundation and is “focused on scaling the charity from good to great.”  He explains, “the foundation enables volunteers at primary, secondary and tertiary level across the education system and teaches project management, team work and cooperation. Most of all, it tries to mobilise people of all ages to better understand and embrace the value ‘takoha’- Māori for giving your time to others without an expectation of reward.” 

During New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdowns – including the current alert level restrictions – SVA runs a nationwide grocery delivery service for those in self isolation or who have no other way to access food. Sam is co-chair of the Emerging Leaders Community of the Australian New Zealand Leadership Forum, a member of the NZ Institute of Directors and Adjunct Fellow in the School of Leadership and Education at the University of Canterbury. 

He lives in Auckland with his husband, Tyler, and serves on the board of The Prince’s Trust New Zealand.  

YO! MAFIA

A renowned sneaker freak and hip hop junkie, YO! MAFIA has been killing them on the wheels of steel for a whopping 20 years. Having grown up at the fruition of Hip Hop in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s, YO! MAFIA became FLUORO BREAKER after falling in love with Boogaloo Shrimp in Breakin’.

After winning every B-Girl competition she entered, YO! MAFIA hung up her knee spin for the turntables after amassing a huge collection of original pressing 12-inch wax from every musical genre known to man. Relying on her acute party savvy ears, YO! MAFIA quickly began mashing up sounds from her beloved Hip Hop, mixing in RNB, electro, Commercial Bangers, Cock Rock and everything in between.

She has solidified her place as one of Australia’s premier Party/Open Format DJs, possessing an incredible ability to blend and mix a variety of genres into one big party set! Her signature genre-smashing sets have seen her named Official Hit FM/ Fox FM’s RNB Fridays Live Tour DJ while also supporting a wide range of A-List artists.

Tom Campbell

Tom has more than eight years’ experience as an AFL player for North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs and is a recent Victoria University graduate, having completed a Bachelor of Business (Management & Innovation).

Through these experiences he has developed a range of valuable and versatile skills, including:
• Teamwork: After more than eight years in an elite team sport environment he has developed teamwork and collaboration skills.
• Communication: He has develop communication skills in a variety of settings, including, under pressure on the football field, in front of large groups as an AFLPA delegate, and in a higher education environment.
• Resilience: In his AFL career, Tom has had to overcome injury, form, and selection setbacks in order to consistently maintain a high standard of performance.

In 2019, Tom enjoyed a brilliant first season at North, dominating in the VFL. Strong pre-season form saw him play Round 2 and 3 in the AFL, but the quality of Todd Goldstein saw his opportunities limited. The ruckman kept the pressure on the selectors and was named an emergency on multiple occasions. Campbell finished third in the JJ Liston Medal count, and won his first John Law Medal.

Mandy Dante

Mandy Dante is the CEO & Founder of Flourish Girl. Mandy is an ex-speech pathologist and an Australian Accredited Facilitator. Mandy is the first-senior female facilitator at The Rites of Passage Institute and is paving the way for their school programs for teenage girls across Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. She has also worked with alongside leading youth experts such as Hunter Johnson and Arne Rubinstein and within youth-led organisations such as The Man Cave, Game Changers Australia and Little Dreamers Australia. To date, Mandy has worked with over 3700 young people across Australia.

Mandy's passion originated from being a speech pathologist, where she empowered children with a range of communication disorders to find their voice. Towards the end of 2016, Mandy found that the rate of depression, anxiety and eating disorders amongst teenage girls were on a rise and it was in that moment that she found herself shifting her passion and focus towards giving teenage girls a voice.

Dr Ranjit Rao

Dr Ranjit Rao is a Surgeon with a difference. He blends western and eastern; modern and ancient; physical and spiritual in a way that is easy to understand and apply to daily life.

Graduating from Monash University as a Doctor in 1994, he then undertook residency training in General Surgery and Urological Surgery. He currently works as a Urologist at the Epworth Hospital Richmond and specialises in keyhole and robotic surgery.

Though he works as a surgeon, he remains open-minded to a holistic approach, and encourages patients to take control of their lives with proper diet, exercise, yoga, meditation, as well as establishing a sensible and practical way of living. He was first exposed to meditation as a medical student and found it a useful companion during his studies and training.

His deep personal experience as a meditator, culminated in him writing a book, “Meditation & Martini” where he outlines how it is possible to integrate both the material and spiritual lives seamlessly. “Meditation represents the spiritual and martini represents the material” he says, “and the key to a happy life is finding the right balance between the two”.

The theme of his writing is to encourage people to make conscious choices and live a life of balance, rather than being swept away by the collective sway of society.