Jessie Cross, the Trust’s first scholarship recipient

Kia ora, I’m Jessie Cross. I’m 28 years old, and for as long as I can remember I’ve had one goal simmering away at the back of my mind: make the greatest positive impact that I can with the time that I have.

Since finishing University in 2015, I’ve been on a winding path that has seen me work as a lawyer, travel the world with an international education social enterprise, lose my job due to COVID-19, build “The Not So Redundant Club” to support people who have lost their jobs or businesses due to COVID-19, complete a yoga teacher training course, start working for the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum, and finally, receive the first ever Kāmahi Trust coaching scholarship.

All of these experiences have shown me that it is possible to make a real, positive difference in the world around you if that’s what you set out to do.
Jessie Cross

I’ve also learned that I can’t do everything, and that it’s incredibly important to ask for help along the way.

After moving to Nelson in May 2020, I was introduced to Sacha MacDonald through a mutual friend. Sacha told me about the Kāmahi Trust, of which Sacha is a trustee. Soon after I met with Rebecca Mason, the founding trustee.

The vision of Kāmahi Trust is really exciting to me. As a (relatively) young person who has always known that I want to make a real positive impact, I’ve often struggled with not knowing how to do that effectively. Having passion, drive and energy are all wonderful traits, but channelling that can be really difficult without guidance. I came across Kāmahi at a time when my career was at a crossroads, and I really wasn’t sure what direction to take.

I’m incredibly grateful to be the first recipient of a Kāmahi Trust Scholarship and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into the coaching work with Rebecca.