Career

Toni Street interviews 2017 NEXT Woman Of The Year finalists

Find out how they became so successful.
Loading the player...

Last night NEXT magazine announced its winners at its 2017 NEXT Woman Of The Year Awards.

Seven Sharp was there to capture the excitement in the lead-up to the evening, with Seven Sharp presenter Toni Street, who was also one of the Awards judges, interviewing three of the finalists as they prepared for the excitement ahead – Dr Deborah Lambie, Ranjna Patel and Heather Te Au-Skipworth.

In their interviews with Street, seen here in the video above, they share their inspiring stories, including how they and their businesses became so successful and what inspires them.

Eight awards were given in total, in what can only be described as a dazzling evening held at the Auckland Art Gallery. Sponsored by Elizabeth Arden and attended by some of New Zealand’s most inspirational female leaders and role models, keynote speakers included Nikki Kaye, NEXT editor Rachael Russell and Elizabeth Arden spokesperson Valerie Riley.

The winners were…

Supreme winner and Community category winner:

Kristine Bartlett, who fought for and won pay equality for aged-care workers.

Arts and culture:

Carla van Zon, a driving force in the arts for more than 40 years, even when she was ill with chronic kidney disease.

Business and innovation:

Ranjna Patel, with no formal education she co-founded the largest independent primary healthcare group in New Zealand.

Health and science:

Melanie Cheung, leads a world-first research project ‘FightHD’ for people at risk of Huntington’s disease.

Sport:

Heather Te Au-Skipworth, co-founder and CEO of IronMaori, the world’s only annual indigenous half-Ironman event.

Education:

Dame Wendy Pye, the CEO of Wendy Pye Publishing has helped millions of children learn to read.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Theresa Gattung.

Related stories