Kia ora

I’m Anissa Ljanta

I grew up in Samoa then Otara and Papatoetoe in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa NZ then went rogue in search of adventure and answers for a few decades.

An at-risk kid made good, I started my career in the not-for-profit sector at the tender age of twelve as the youngest person ever nominated for the YMCA leadership programme. I represented Aotearoa at the YMCA’s World Camp in the US in my teens. Home left me at about then too. I knew I could not live a 9-5 life so I made the most of the free international flight I had a year (thanks family who worked for Air NZ). I was the original digital nomad, minus the digital because this was before the internet. 

I went on to run an eco-peace project in wartime Croatia, trained in Sophrology in France, co-founded the Social-Cultural Centre in post velvet revolution Prague and was one of the first people arrested on climate change related charges at a direct action as co-organiser of a parallel conference to the 1995 COP1 in Berlin. There’s a doco floating around the internet somewhere.

I performed political street theatre throughout Europe, ran an organic permaculture retreat in the Pyrenees, designed and facilitated workshops and programmes worldwide, organised many conferences and festivals. I’ve been giving workshops about sustainability and carrying cloth shopping bags and sourcing second hand or making my own clothes for well over thirty years. Just call me an early adopter.

The first twenty years of my adult life were spent learning about humans and how we can live more lightly on the earth we call home - and live more comfortably together.

I had a go at self-sufficiency in the French Pyrenees (acorn bread and handmade undies anyone?), swam with dolphins at sunrise in Indonesia and was part of a beautiful polyamorous family. I came back to Aotearoa for my grandparent's last years of life and to work for Greenpeace NZ's campaigns team. I stayed, became a biological mama, ran a blog called Growmama for eight years (and got to have the surreal experience of blog posts going viral), founded the Sew Fun crafting retreat collective and now share life with offspring and rescue animals in a rural beach community. It’s been a wild life. 

I have a long and rich history in community leadership in Aotearoa and internationally. A coach for years, I turned my talents and abundant experience to supporting neurodivergent folks with a client-led, strength-based, whole-brained and trauma informed approach.

In the not-for-profit sector I specialise in relationship-based collaborative systems change approaches and am known for leading and developing innovative solutions working with start-ups and small-to-medium-sized community organisations and initiatives. I geek out on programme design, just don’t ask me to maintain any admin systems consistently - my brain doesn’t work like that lol.

I am an outspoken champion of equity lensed systems change, Te Tiriti focussed work and unpacking privilege. My networks are extensive, I bring with me twenty years experience working with governance and advisory boards, insights into organisational change and design, a love of content creation, an understanding of the philanthropic landscape and a deep passion for equity & working toward a world that works for everyone. 

Proudly Autistic and ADHDifferent, I live on Te Kawerau a Maki land in rural Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.