Good Bitches Baking is all about spreading a bit of sweetness in our communities. We aim to give a moment of happiness to people going through a tough time.
Anyone can be a Good Bitch – it’s a very admiring and gender-inclusive term. Good Bitches are people who want to help those in their community who are having a tough time. You don’t have to be a master baker, because it’s the kindness in your intentions that matters more than the final product.
Good Bitches Baking is all about spreading a bit of sweetness in our communities. We aim to give a moment of happiness to people going through a tough time.
Anyone can be a Good Bitch – it’s a very admiring and gender-inclusive term. Good Bitches are people who want to help those in their community who are having a tough time. You don’t have to be a master baker, because it’s the kindness in your intentions that matters more than the final product.
Meet the
TEAM
Behind the scenes, the Good Bitches Trust is governed by another team of Good Bitches, who volunteer their time to make up The Board. Our HQ team coordinate our national fundraising, communications, partnerships and work with our Chapter leaders to deliver kindness across the country.
THE BOARD
JUSTIN LESTER
Chair
Justin Lester is the Chair of Good Bitches Trust. Justin previously served as Mayor of Wellington. Prior to entering local government Justin’s background was in business and law. He was the Co-founder of food business Kapai and holds a Masters in Law from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Justin has served on Boards at Weltec Whitireia, Otago Polytechnic, Wellington Waterfront Ltd, Wellington SPCA, Capital Football, New Zealand Festival and Zealandia.
Justin was drawn to Good Bitches Baking because he wants to help make Aotearoa the kindest place on Earth. New Zealand is a special country and we need to make sure we all help those who need it most.
SIMON THOMAS
Trustee
By day, Simon is the Building System Assurance National Manager at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. He brings his legal background to his role as GBB Board Trustee, where he advises the charity on legal and regulatory matters.
Simon took on the role with GBB because he knows every little bit makes a difference – and for him, it’s in the family. Simon has been connected to GBB since the very beginning – his wife Loren has been with the Wellington chapter since it first began baking. Simon and Loren live in Wellington with their two adorable daughters.
MARGARET DELANY
Trustee
Margaret is the Group Financial Controller at Eroad. The only Auckland-based Board member, she brings a fiscal perspective to GBB, helping the Board keep the numbers in line.
Margaret was formerly Head of Finance at Summerset Holdings, and Chief Financial Officer at Statistics New Zealand prior to that, and has also worked at Housing New Zealand and Inland Revenue in finance roles.
NICK LEWIS
Trustee
Nick was in the audience when GBB's co-founders, Marie and Nic walked on stage to receive their Mitre 10 Community of the Year award at the 2020 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year ceremonies. He was immediately struck by how GBB's were growing local kindness into a national movement. So simple yet so profound.
Nick is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), has briefly been a ski instructor and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Yemen. Nick has 15+ years of governance experience across multiple sectors. He is an investor in early-stage companies, and previously had a Wall Street finance career. Nick is currently the Chair of PaySauce, Kiwi Insurance and a director of renewable electricity generator Pioneer Energy and electricity retailer Ecotricity. He was formerly the Chair of Mojo Coffee and the crowdfunding site PledgeMe.
Sophie Richardson
Trustee
Ko Te Ahuahu tōna maunga, ko Omapere tōna roto, ko Te Uri Taniwha tōna hapū, ko Ngapuhi tōna iwi. Sophie joined GBB in 2016 as a baker, and in 2019 became the sustainable funding lead (Money Bitch), and is now a Trustee for the GBB Board.
Sophie has spent over a decade in the public service and brings with her both operational and strategic policy experience. Sophie loves the mahi that good bitches do and is committed to supporting them and the charity achieve their best
Sam feder
Trustee
When a workmate introduced Sam to GBB six years ago, it was a perfect match of a passionate baker meeting a good cause – spreading kindness through baking.
Sam has been Roster Bitch for the Wellington Chapter for the past six years, organising a database of 600 bakers and drivers to bake and deliver nearly 100 boxes of baking a week. It’s her dedication to GBB that led her to joining the board.
Sam is a marketing communications contractor in her daily life, primarily working on projects in the public sector. She’s currently Senior Communications Change Advisor at the Ministry of Education.
Sam brings her experience in communications and marketing as well as her knowledge of day to day GBB chapter operations to her role as Trustee.
sarah meikle
Trustee
Sarah is Chief Executive of the Wellington Culinary Events Trust (WCET) which owns and delivers some of New Zealand’s largest food and beverage events including Visa Wellington On a Plate, Beervana, the Road to Beervana and Highball. Sarah is also a Director of Food + Drink New Zealand which was established to provide assistance, advice and guidance to destinations, events, food operators and the wider food sector on how they can better leverage food tourism opportunities.
Sarah was a founding baker for the GBB chapter here in Wellington and is a strong supporter of the mandate and vision for the Trust.
founders
MARIE FITZPATRICK
Co-Founder, former Trustee
Marie is a problem-solver who comes up with creative solutions – so who better to dream up a charity to solve some of the world’s problems with cake? She is currently working as a Principal Adviser at the Ministry for Primary Industries, and has previously worked at MSD, MBIE, and ACC.
Marie was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2019. She is partial to a glass of pink bubbles, warning: too may result in starting a charity.
NICole MURRAY
Co-Founder, former Trustee
For the last 10 years, Nic has worked as an independent contractor on things that matter – that’s seen her deliver projects right across the public sector from justice to environment. Nic gets things done – including setting up GBB back in 2014 in her spare time with Marie, after they had the idea over a few glasses of wine. Nic’s real passion in GBB work is recipients and hearing the impact that the kindness of strangers has had on them. She knows what that feels like firsthand – it was receiving a warm scone from a mystery colleague on a rough day that sparked the idea of baking bringing more than just sweetness to someone’s day. Nic was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2019.
HQ
Katy Rowden
General Manager
Originally hailing from England, Katy spent many years in Sydney before relocating to Wānaka with her husband and two children in 2019. Some of her earliest childhood memories were volunteering with her Granny, shaking collection boxes for charity and helping her mum out with the 'village teas' working alongside ladies from the open prison in the village where she grew up.
These early experiences taught her that small acts of kindness make a huge difference. Katy brings several years of small business experience, having owned her own businesses and more recently has worked for a range of social and community-based Not for Profits.
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HANNAH MOLLOY
Marketing & Communications Manager
Hannah likes to know the back story and all the inside info so she can share the best bits with everyone else. She works with the marketing and communications team to make sure that all of Aotearoa knows just how far a little bit of kindness goes. Her background is in arts marketing and audience and relationship development, and telling stories about the enormous effect creative communities have on communal social wellbeing is her favourite job – what’s more creative than baking? She spends a lot of time in the kitchen and thrives on feeding large groups of people.
Charlotte te Riet Scholten-Phillips
Programme Coordinator
Kindness and fairness are really important to Charlotte - it's why she spent a long time working in international development. Charlotte's really keen to use her strategic planning and project design skills in a new way with GBB, and in a way which speaks to her love of all things creative. She is a better cook than a baker, and so hopes to learn something new from all the awesome bakers who work with GBB. When she's not working, she likes hanging out on the deck at home with her tall Dutch husband, 5-year-old daughter, and rescue greyhound Kikorangi.