ABOUT US
The Mangrove Collective is a women-founded and women-led entity. The Collective is led by a Core Team of women leaders who believe in the diversified, non-conventional expression of women's leadership in the social impact ecosystem. We therefore practise co-leadership, non-hierarchy and self-leadership.
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We believe that the value and significance of leadership and influence in the sector should be dissociated from organisational titles, salary figures, full-time employment status and where, how often and how much one chooses to work. We believe in making 'work' work for us; not the other way around. We acknowledge the varying levels of time and effort women desire to contribute to the sector depending on their life-stages and circumstances, and are committed to creating a culture that focuses on the well-being of our Core Team.
Rather than making the organisation define us, we choose to evolve the purpose, focus and functions of The Mangrove Collective based on the passion and unique contributions each Core Team member brings to Mangrove, in each season.
OUR JOURNEY
Click on the links to hear and read about the stories based on our Collective journey, so far!
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E-book: First Steps to International Development Consulting (2024)
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Women in Consulting Podcast Episode: Collegiate Thinking and Supportive Working
- with The Mangrove Collective (2022)
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The Productive Woman Podcast: Lessons from a Multi-faceted Life, with Eunchim Choi (2019)
OUR VALUES
INTEGRITY
COURAGE
INCLUSIVITY
EXCELLENCE
COLLABORATION
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
OUR PEOPLE
JESSICA SMITH
Jessica is the Director of The Mangrove Collective and a Principal Consultant. She joined the Collective in 2021, with over 20 years' experience leading and coordinating community and international development progammes and initiatives with the New Zealand government, and for local and international NGOs. She is community-minded with a demonstrated track record of cultivating strong, professional relationships with stakeholders at all levels. She has a wide range of programme and stakeholder management expertise, as well as experience in participatory design, workshop facilitation and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). She is fluent in English and French.
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Jessica is based in Queenstown, New Zealand with her family. She is a lover of the outdoors and is the happiest when she can get lost in the scenic native bushes of the South Island.
CHARLOTTE TE RIET SCHOLTEN-PHILLIPS
Charlotte is Principal Advisor at The Mangrove Collective. She joined the Collective in 2022, having previously worked as an Associate Consultant. Charlotte has almost 20 years of experience in international development and humanitarian assistance, and has worked with INGOs, national NGOs and as a Consultant in the private sector. Much of her experience is from Africa - in particular West Africa, and Rwanda where she lived for almost seven years. Charlotte is keen to explore expansion for the Mangrove Collective into working more in Africa. She's especially interested in gender equity, child rights and the central place of indigenous ways of working in human development. She is fluent in English and proficient in Dutch.
Charlotte is originally from the UK and the Netherlands and made Aotearoa New Zealand her home in 2019, with her husband and daughter Ellie. She loves living close to the beach just north of Te Whanganui A Tara (Wellington).
EUNCHIM CHOI
Eunchim is Co-Founder and Strategy and Development Lead of The Mangrove Collective (TMC). Ever since starting up TMC in New Zealand in 2018, she has been leading business development, client and consultant engagement, organisational strategy/development and operations oversight. In 2022, she led the launch of TMC’s Asia Pacific office in Singapore and is accelerating its growth in the Asia region. In addition, Eunchim’s love of small and medium-sized local civil society actors culminated in the pioneering of TMC’s Pro Bono Partnerships initiative.
Eunchim brings over seventeen years of experience in the international humanitarian, development and social impact sector, and brings a valuable cross-sectoral perspective stemming from her experience with the United Nations system, International NGOs, local NGOs and consulting. Through TMC she has been conducting consultancies in the areas of strategy development, change management, organisational development, business development, cross-sectoral partnerships, resource mobilisation and grants acquisition, programme/project design and qualitative research and evaluation. She is fluent in Korean, English and has working level proficiency in Tetum (national language of Timor-Leste).
Eunchim is originally from South Korea and has lived and worked in the USA, Canada, Timor-Leste, New Zealand and Singapore. She is currently based in Singapore with her husband and three children who call Aotearoa New Zealand their family home.
SARAH BADJU TOLLESTRUP
Sarah is Principal Consultant at The Mangrove Collective. She has over 12 years of experience in the INGO and impact sector and brings a deep understanding of both the theory and practice that underpin efforts to address complex emergencies, inequality, and exclusion through sustainable interventions. She has recognised skills in business development, programme management, change management and developing strategic partnerships with key development and humanitarian actors, donors and governments. She also has a strong background in leading policy dialogue and providing thought leadership in a range of high-level, inter-agency forums and on partnership and coordination. Sarah is fluent in English and Swedish and has some proficiency in French.
Sarah is normally based in Wellington, New Zealand with her family. She is passionate about social justice and being outdoors, ideally hiking in the bush or swimming in the ocean.
GORETTI MAGUIRE-NGUYEN
Goretti is the Business Manager, joining The Mangrove Collective in 2024. She is a purpose-driven individual who’s volunteered or worked in the non-profit sector for almost 30 years. She’s had 14+ years of experience with World Vision, internationally and in Australia and The Pacific, holding varied roles including executive support, project management and in human resources and recruitment. As a highly effective office administration professional, her background and interest remain in international development. An enthusiastic and adaptable team member, she now brings her organisational skills to operations, business enhancement and to deliver excellent customer service.
Goretti is Vietnamese-Australian and lives in Melbourne. She loves the Aussie landscape and lifestyle and enjoys keeping active outdoors and time with family and friends around food.
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ELIZABETH FITTON-HIGGINS
Elizabeth is a Non Executive Director, who provides strategic advisory support to The Mangrove Collective. She previously served as The Mangrove Collective's Co-Director during 2018 - 2022 until she joined Habitat for Humanity New Zealand as their International Programmes Director.
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Elizabeth is an experienced international development professional with proven ability to manage and build cross-cultural, local and international teams. She has an extensive background in high-level policy analysis and development, and has worked in international fora such as the G7 and the EU. Elizabeth also has outstanding research and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) skills. She has a wide range of public and community engagement experience, including co-design methodologies, facilitating workshops and survey design. She has International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) accreditation. She is fluent in English, Dutch and German.
TILLY REDSTONE
Tilly is Co-Founder of The Mangrove Collective. She is a community services and humanitarian operations professional who enjoys working with people to tackle complex problems. With extensive experience in the international and New Zealand social sector, she brings particular expertise in programme management; intervention logic, research and design; social service and humanitarian operations; training and management. Tilly is skilled at leading multidisciplinary teams, and also enjoys supporting staff through training and mentoring. Her strengths lie in communication, collaboration and adaptive management.
Tilly is currently taking time off from The Mangrove Collective to serve full time at Reconnect Family Services (New Zealand) - but remains closely connected to the Mangrove family.
OUR ASSOCIATES
Our breadth, width and depth of expertise are sourced from the rich network of Associates (network consultants) that we collaborate with. We are continuously growing our networks with individual experts as well as consulting groups to identify and contribute skills and experience that our partners seek. Our Associates are based across multiple countries in the Pacific and Asia regions, and some beyond.
WHERE WE'VE WORKED
COUNTRIES OF EXPERIENCE
PAPUA NEW GUINEA︱SOLOMON ISLANDS︱VANUATU︱FIJI︱TONGA︱SAMOA︱TIMOR-LESTE︱CAMBODIA︱MYANMAR︱VIETNAM︱THAILAND ︱ PHILIPPINES︱MALAYSIA︱SINGAPORE︱INDIA︱NEPAL︱SRI LANKA︱ BANGLADESH︱AFGHANISTAN ︱SOUTH KOREA︱NEW ZEALAND︱AUSTRALIA︱THE GAMBIA︱GHANA︱RWANDA︱MALAWI︱ZIMBABWE︱NIGERIA︱SOUTH SUDAN
SINGAPORE:
160 Robinson Road, #14-04
Singapore Business
Federation Centre
Singapore (068914)
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+6598645149
NEW ZEALAND:
370 Riddell Road,
Glendowie
Auckland, 1071
New Zealand
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+6421875090