What's your story?

Kia ora, ko Zalán tōku ingoa — but I’m better known as Zol, the one and only Hungarian-Māori Taurean BRAT from Petone. I’m a Hutt City boy at heart, but I fell in love with Te Whanganui-a-Tara while studying at Victoria University, where I graduated with a BA in Film and Theatre back in 2021.

Since then, I braved through a year of retail drudgery, continued to make performance art and to grow my theatre portfolio, and most importantly, found myself settled into the Hemisphere office where I now hold the role of Kaiwhakahare Kaupapa Mātāmua. In my role, I help to deliver inspirational campaigns and projects for clients, mostly government, council, and not-for-profits. I also lead the Hemisphere culture club, create awesome material within our content team, and hold the very important role of Hemisphere iced coffee maker.

What are you most passionate about outside the office?

Honestly, I’m passionate about being passionate. I'm an individual who gets bored extremely easy, so I will sign on to any activity that will give me some form of enrichment. Most recently I've started hip hop classes, and have also been feeding my love for rock climbing, which I've been doing since I was kid (it was the only sport I was ever any good at!).

I'm also an enthusiastic theatre practitioner, and have recently started establishing myself within the Wellington theatre scene. What draws me to theatre is the combination of storytelling and community — there's nothing like the collective energy of a production coming together. I wear several caps in the theatre space — stage and production manager, designer, publicist — but my greatest pride is getting on stage and performing. I recently played a cursed jack-in-the-box in the thrilling horror show, Verdict, in which I tormented souls (and audience members) in purgatory’s courtroom. This was perhaps my favourite theatre experience ever — muchly due to the fact that I was able to torment my co-workers who came and watched on opening night.

Describe yourself in three words.

Pretty, witty, and gritty.

What do you love most about working at Hemisphere?

It's cliché, but I love the culture and the people. I love rocking up to work on a Monday morning, catching up with Kokoro in the kitchen as I prepare my morning coffee, and then sitting down next to Ophelia as she gives me the juicy details of her weekend. I love hearing Steve's daily cannon of jokes, Katrina's cackle as it echoes across the office, and Sean's frequent rants about "Taylor Swift this" and "Taylor Swift that".

These relationships create a workspace where creativity flourishes and ideas flow freely. I love this bunch so much, and I'm honestly so lucky to have a whānau who looks out for me and puts up with my sassy mouth and random outbursts of song. The Hemisphere whānau are the best of friends inside and outside of the office. We’ve had many a karaoke night, we love a live show, and The Ballroom hates to see us coming on a Friday night. A bunch of us recently went to Homegrown together, where we saw our very own Awa rocking it up on stage with his group Nesian Mystik. It was epic!

What has been your favourite project at Hemisphere so far?

Look, I love all of my children the same, but there's something about the design work we did for the Wellington Pride Parade that fills me with pride ba dum tss. We worked with the lovely bunch at Rainbow Wellington to bring the Pride Parade back to Te Whanganui-a-Tara after years of hiatus. This involved us designing a new brand with a fabulous logo inspired by the Cuba Street bucket fountain (Cuba Street being a monumental street for the LGBTQI+ community). It was a huge honour creating a brand that celebrates the rich history of Te Whanganui-a-Tara and our inspiring rainbow and takatāpui community.

I’m also extremely proud of our work with Ministry for Primary Industry: Biosecurity. The protection of our eco-system and biodiversity is extremely important to me, especially in such a tapu country as Aotearoa. Contributing to campaigns such as the Wallaby and Caulerpa programmes, those that aim to prevent the ecological and environmental damage caused by pests, really fuels the kaitiaki within me. It reminds me that I’m doing something important in my role; that the work we do at Hemisphere is for the greater good of Aotearoa.

What's your office catchphrase?

“I’m a performer.” No need to elaborate.