The Shepherdess Muster is a not-for-profit event led by Shepherdess, a social enterprise with the mission of making rural folk feel connected through community building, storytelling, and events.

The event is being planned by a core project team, with a volunteer Committee providing guidance and advice, and comprising women from Te Tairāwhiti, across the community, agriculture and Māori agribusiness sectors, and representatives from outside the region.

Sandra Matthews

Tell us about where you live.
I live at Rere, 50 kilometres northwest of Gisborne, on Te Kopae Station, where my husband Ian and I farm together. Rere is world famous for the Rere Falls and Rere Rockslide. The Rockslide is on the AA’s 101 must-dos in New Zealand list. The Rere valley is beautiful hill-country farmland with a wonderful close-knit community focused around the Rere School and Tahunga Golf club.

Tell us about your whānau.
Ian and I will have been married for thirty years in November 2022. We met at ANZAC Cove in Gallipoli while travelling, and this was the start of our wonderful partnership. We have two adult children, our daughter Emma and son Jamie, who both live in Canberra, Australia. We are very proud of them both.

What do you do for ‘me time’?
To be really honest, I haven’t had a lot of ‘me time’ the past couple of years. I am working to correct this, and when I travel for work I take my walking shoes to ensure I get out for some exercise. I enjoy reading Aussie outback romance novels, listening to music, and watching those lame romantic comedy movies and the occasional sci-fi movie on streaming services.

How would your friends or family describe you?
Caring. I think friends would also say I am a good listener and a passionate rural advocate.

What about The Muster are you most looking forward to, and why?
Wow, where do I start?! What’s not to be excited about? Firstly, bringing wāhine together in a remote area of our stunning Tairāwhiti region to laugh, dance, live and enjoy the company of other amazing wāhine. Add in bountiful locally sourced kai, some local vino . . . and did I say FUN?! Women having fun with other women while growing themselves – a positive recipe for success.

What makes you excited or proud to be involved in The Muster? Why did you want to volunteer your time to support the event?
I have always been keen to volunteer my time to support bringing an event like The Muster to New Zealand, and especially to Te Tairāwhiti. I believe this inaugural event can change the lives of those who attend; build additional connection and strength not only in our own Tairāwhiti community but also New Zealand-wide.

What is something our readers would be surprised to know about you?
When I was younger, my wonderful dad used to call me ‘Gunna’ . . . ‘gunna do that’. Anyone who knows me now understands if I say I am going to do something, then it gets done!

The Muster Committee Members are all volunteers. Tell us a bit about your day-to-day life outside of the event.
Farming is where my heart is, and supporting rural communities makes my heart sing. I wear a few hats besides being a food producer. I run my own consultancy business working in facilitation, leadership and business coaching, I am Board Chair of Rural Women New Zealand, and sit on a couple of other governance boards.

What's the hardest thing about living rurally?
For many years it was the isolation and distance from people that I found hard.

What have you learnt about yourself from living rurally?
That I can become a hermit and close myself away from others more easily than I would like. Since I have grown my network, and supported others and am supported by so many, I have found the isolation factor has been broken down for me. I am lucky as we have good internet when so many in rural areas don’t. It makes it easier to be able to connect through video calling and social media when you start to feel that isolation creeping in. I love sharing what we do on farm and watching what others do in their lives; this connection floats my boat and gets me motivated again.

Lesley Coppell

Tell us about where you live.
I live in Hinemoa Valley, just northeast of Eketāhuna . . . and five hours from Tairāwhiti! My husband and I have a 350-hectare sheep and beef property that is part of a wider family operation.  My parents, my sister and her hubby are on the dairy operation about half an hour away. I love our home, our farm and our community. We’ve been here fifteen years now and my gosh, it’s been hard . . . but I look back at all the hard work we’ve put in, especially my husband Nick, and feel like at last we’re making headway. I also feel like now it’s our turn to give back, to take a leadership role in our community and nurture those that are following in our footsteps.

Tell us about your whānau.
Nick and I both come from a long line of farmers. We have a love for the people, the land and our livestock, and taking pride in what we create. Respecting all those who have come before us and creating legacies for our own children – this is something that is inherently us, and something that has flowed through to Gracie, our eldest child. She is fourteen and her biggest dream right now is to be a shepherd. Lachie, our twelve-year-old, is still happy to be building rockets, blowing things up, converting the old quad bike into a tank, digging trenches, hunting goats and whatever else takes his fancy – all the while giving his old mum grey hairs and heart failure. These three humans, Nick, Gracie and Lachie, give me purpose and accountability and remind me of what’s actually important in life.

What do you do for ‘me time’?
I was asked this recently and it made me realise that the bulk of my time is spent mumming, farming and working. Luckily I love doing all three of those things! The things that make my heart sing all involve connecting with people – whether it’s just hanging out and yarning with my favourite people, or meeting someone new and discovering a connection, or connecting them with someone else. While I love ‘connecting’, just as important to my ability to keep buzzing my way through life is my need for emptiness and space, which I get from just being out on the farm. I also spend about two hours a day in the car, where I just drive in silence. It can be noisy in my head – sometimes I just need the external silence to hear it all!

How would your friends or family describe you?
Enthusiastic, energetic, passionate. I am a born cheerleader! I get so excited about seeing those around me succeed.

What about The Muster are you most looking forward to, and why?
A bunch of woman meeting, connecting, growing in confidence, learning from each other, laughing till we have tears running down our faces, or crying because it’s the first time we’ve had a safe space to just be us for a moment in who knows how long. I’m looking forward to hearing some inspiring speakers, and exploring my creativity – which I generally consider to be non-existent, but who knows! Maybe I have some sort of hidden talent that I just haven’t discovered yet?

What makes you excited or proud to be involved in The Muster? Why did you want to volunteer your time to support the event?
The Muster is doing what I do every day in terms of creating connections, empowering and inspiring women to be vulnerable and authentic, and reminding them that they’re pretty freaking awesome exactly as they are . . . except at scale! Kristy and I talked about doing something like this fifteen years ago. She went out and worked out how to actually do it, then asked me to come and help her, and I couldn’t be more honoured that she thought that I was worthy of being on her team. I couldn’t be prouder to be part of a team that is creating an event that brings together women to celebrate all that we are and all that we do, to empower and inspire and to create connections that may last a lifetime.

What is something our readers would be surprised to know about you?
While I’m now confident and self-assured, for years I thought that I was nowhere near as good as my male colleagues. They were all confident and take-the-bulls-by-the-horns-ish, out there doing it, asking for pay rises, moving ahead in their careers and I was just busy stumbling my way through life, buried under mum guilt, feeling inferior and timid and like a complete imposter. I was one of ‘the boys’ but lacked the confidence and innate self-belief they all had. Then I worked out that those are all the things that make me good at my job. I’m not like the boys, I am completely different and that’s what sets me apart. It’s taken a long time, but I’m confident now to model being vulnerable and authentic. I love that I can show other women, early in their careers, that they don’t have to try to be someone else to be successful – just be the best you that you can be.

The Muster Committee Members are all volunteers. Tell us a bit about your day-to-day life outside of the event.
Day-to-day life outside of The Muster Committee is pretty busy! Outside of farming and mumming, I’m also an Agribusiness Relationship Manager for ANZ as part of our Wairarapa/Tararua team. I’ve been banking now for eighteen years and with ANZ since November last year. I have a personal mission ‘to inspire and empower our farming people to be resilient and sustainable in every sense of the word, to create strong business and communities that New Zealanders can be proud of, and furthermore, I aspire for NZ Ag to be beyond reproach.’ I have this written above my desk, together with my purpose: ‘to model a life lived fully, with passion, intention and authenticity. To support inspire and empower those whose lives I touch to be their best selves.’ These things are at the core of my being and I try hard to hold myself accountable to these things. For right now, banking and the team environment, working with my clients and team, together with coaching farmers, especially young females, and involvement in various discussion groups completely ticks my boxes. Having said all that, if the opportunity came up to somehow ‘retire to the farm’, I’d be pretty happy about that (for the first couple of months, anyway!).

What's the hardest thing about living rurally?
It’s hard for me to think of anything I find difficult about living rurally! We’re only twenty minutes from town so it’s hard to complain. The two things currently doing my head in – the state of our road (but that’s the same everywhere) and our telephone, which appears to work 20% of the time, and we have no cell reception. Oh, and the rural post surcharge on all my Trade Me purchases!

What have you learnt about yourself from living rurally?
Growing up, I never thought I was particularly good at anything. I thought that I would be a secretary or marry a farmer – both of which of course are perfectly good things! I went on to get my degree at Massey (university was not something anyone in my family had ever done before), did my OE, became a banker, and I also took up running in my thirties (turns out it’s exactly a half marathon from my front door to New World in Pahiatua!) – all stuff that I never thought I’d ever be brave enough to be or capable of doing. But still, the thing that I am most proud of is the capability and confidence that I have developed on the farm. There is a fence that runs across the paddock in front of the house, a few hundred meters long, seven wires with one electric, and I built that with my own two hands (apart from the posts that Nick helped me with, using the post rammer!). Oh, and I did get a bit too carried away and staple the electric wire to the posts too, so I had to fix that wee mistake. But still – I did it! I have learned that I am capable of being more than I ever dreamed. And not only am I capable of doing it, I actually really love it. Also that my passion, excitement and enthusiasm for the industry as a whole can lift and inspire others.

Lucy Bleakley
PR/Communications Manager

Lucy’s background is in marketing and PR strategy, including for premium food events, Good Food Month and the Night Noodle Markets, through to brand activation and digital strategy for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Lucy is based in Mount Maunganui. Lucy is looking after launch and event PR for The Shepherdess Muster.