Moira Clunie
Project Lead
Moira Clunie (Te Rarawa) has held a range of leadership roles in rainbow, mental health and disability non-government organisations, focusing on evidence-based programme design, systemic advocacy and collaborative practice.
Moira has specialist knowledge of population approaches to LGBTI+ mental health promotion and suicide prevention, and has a Master of Social and Community Leadership focusing on rainbow community leadership, public health and suicide prevention.
Moira currently serves as an Associate Investigator for Counting Ourselves, and Co-Chair of Te Whatu Ora’s Gender Affirming Primary Care Advisory Group. In 2022 they were appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to LGBTQI+ communities.
Joey Macdonald
Education Lead
Joey Macdonald brings significant experience facilitating conversations with both front-line staff and upper management/governance boards about challenging heteronormative white supremacist paradigms and depathologising gender and sexuality. They have worked as a trainer and advocate in mental health and addiction services and delivered education to students of nursing, medicine, public health, occupational therapy, youth work, community support work, and postgraduate mental health qualifications.
As a Pākehā who is queer and non-binary, Joey is particularly invested in valuing the knowledge and experiences of trans, queer, and intersex people as part of creating wider systems change. They believe that as tangata tiriti, Pākehā have particular obligations to challenge people in positions of power (especially other Pākehā) to take responsibility for improving services.
Joey has an MA in Gender Studies, Sociology and Social Work. They are a nerd about systems and organisational development with a strong interest in ethical ways of working together that are non-hierarchical and relationally robust.
Jono Selu
Practice Lead
Mālō le soifua maua mai le lagi e mamā!
Jono Selu is of Samoan/Palagi heritage and was born and raised on the whenua of Te Kawerau Ā Maki in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. They have a passion for working with young people and Pasifika peoples and advocates for social justice and human rights. They are particularly interested in incorporating indigenous knowledge and practice into contemporary worlds and believes that intersectionality is the future.
Professionally, Jono has a Masters of Applied Social Work and experience working in youth development, community development, comprehensive sexuality education, health promotion, sexual violence prevention, anti-racist and decolonial practice, and mental health & wellbeing.
In their spare time, they love doing creative work and thrive in environments where collaboration and co-creation abound.
Jelly O’Shea
Communications Lead
Jelly O’Shea is the most recent member of the team, joining Te Ngākau Kahukura in late 2023. A long-time collaborator with Rainbow community-led advocacy, Tauiwi and Pākehā anti-racism movements, and creative community development, Jelly has spent the past five years working for the de-medicalization of intersex bodies with the NGO Intersex Aotearoa in various roles.
Jelly is a queer and intersex Pākeha person, who grew up in Ōtepoti, Dunedin. Jelly spent time working in the arts and community sector in Te Wai Pounamu as a young person, Naarm (AUS), and Te Whanganui a Tara, and engaged in activism through solidarity with creative movements working for and with diverse communities. Jelly is interested in amplifying communities who are not always included in Rainbow spaces and seeks to be part of a decolonial future for Aotearoa.