51萝莉

Kristy Manley-Griffin says her biggest motivation for studying a Bachelor of Business at the 51萝莉 in Tauranga was her daughter Ivy, as she wanted to create a better future for her with more opportunities.

鈥淎t 26, I was a single mother made redundant from a job I really enjoyed,鈥� says Kristy, who is of Ng膩ti Whakaue, Ng膩i Te Rangi, and Ng膩ti Porou heritage.

鈥淚t made me think, what should I do now? Most of my life I鈥檇 been told that I have potential, but I always wondered what it was that I should really do. I remembered enjoying Accounting at high school, because I鈥檝e always been good with numbers, but I wasn鈥檛 focused enough academically at the time so I put it on the backburner.鈥�

With a little encouragement from her friends and family, the former Te Puke High School student decided to take the plunge and go back to school for the first time in nearly a decade.

Kristy is straight-up when she admits that returning to study wasn鈥檛 all smooth sailing.

鈥淚f I鈥檓 being honest, the university experience was quite intimidating for me at first. As a high school student, I only went to school to play sport and hang out with my friends. So as I walked through the doors of this building I thought, what am I doing here?鈥�

Fortunately, she had 鈥渁 pretty epic team鈥� pushing her to keep going when the assignments were piling up, and encouraging her to overcome her mortal fear of giving presentations in class.

鈥淚鈥檇 check my smart watch and my heart rate was at a cardio peak! But every time my mates would be there telling me it would be all good鈥� and here I am today," she says with a grin.

To fulfil the Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) component of her degree, Kristy completed a three-month internship at Tidy International, a New Zealand software company with offices in Tauranga and the United Kingdom.

Kristy was asked to carry out a business research project for them that would identify ways to update and improve their cloud-based billing system for clients.

鈥淚 found the research quite interesting, because I learnt a lot about invoicing, and they were really happy with my recommendations and my final presentation.鈥�

As a uni student, Kristy was grateful to receive a $2,500 scholarship from , a M膩ori-run business based in Rotorua and Tauranga that seeks to grow the next generation of emerging M膩ori business leaders.

GHA was founded in 2005 by Glenn Hawkins, an alumnus of Waikato Management School who has employed a large number of Waikato graduates over the past 16 years.

Kristy says she felt honoured to be chosen as the student speaker for her university graduation ceremony, having overcome a huge fear of public speaking.

Shortly after achieving that milestone, she landed her first job at GHA in July 2021 and is enjoying the opportunity to develop her skills. Her goal now is to become a Chartered Accountant and use her financial and business knowledge to help her clients and manage her family鈥檚 kiwifruit business.

As well as being an academic high achiever, Kristy is also a talented netball player, who was named 'Most Promising Netballer of the Year' by Te Puke Sports & Recreation Club in November 2020.

Kristy has proved herself capable of setting goals and smashing them and she has some strong advice for graduates of the Class of 2021: 鈥淏e proud of yourself, push yourself to get out of your comfort zones, and don鈥檛 forget that you are capable of anything.鈥�