Equal measures

Living behind her parents' dairy taught Vanisa Dhiru all about being helpful. Now, she puts that into practice in her advocacy roles.

- ELISABETH EASTHER

Vanisa Dhiru MNZM is an equity champion who has worked in various advocacy and leadership roles, from CEO of Volunteering New Zealand to president of the National Council of Women. Dhiru also finds time to sit on advisory panels and boards for NGOs and government departments.

A lot of your work revolves around helping people from differing backgrounds and ethnicities live together peacefully. It sounds admirable - but how do we achieve that?

First, we need to understand that Aotearoa stands on bicultural foundations, then we need to ensure we are a welcoming, multicultural society. Which means everyone has to work to understand one another to have meaningful dialogue. We also need to be at peace with ourselves to work productively with others, which can be hard work, as that requires conversation and reflection, thinking and listening.

You managed to get two tertiary qualifications in just 4 1/2 years: an honours degree in design from Massey and a graduate diploma in marketing and commerce from Victoria. Why the hurry? 

Neither of my parents had the opportunity to pursue higher education, so they placed enormous emphasis on formal and informal education and they always dreamed that my brother and I would go to university. So, to please my parents, I needed to get a degree because their drive for higher education was so strong. But I wanted to get university over and done with as quickly as possible, so to achieve that, I did summer schools and extra courses. I wasn't much of a formal learner, either, and I knew I'd learn more from working than sitting in a classroom.

What was your first job after graduation?