OUR STORIES

I still remember how intimidated I felt when I first set foot in GridAKL. It wasn't even officially open yet, finding the entrance (which was at that stage located in the KiwiFish loading dock) was like some kind of pre-interview personality test in itself, and quite frankly; I had no idea what a tech co-working space even was then. Somehow, despite all of that, I managed to secure myself a role as the Community Assistant and BizDojo’s first official employee at GridAKL...

So I heard on the grapevine that we had a bit of an undercover developer whiz kid working incognito here at GridAKL, and I thought I’d sit him down to pick his brain on how it feels to be a 17 year old genius and know that you are pretty much going to run the world when you grow up. Here is what I learnt about Sebastian Hallum Clarke, the 17 year old Software Developer for GridAKL residents Weirdly.

Because our residents are as interesting when working as they are at rest, this new series explores their lives, dreams, side projects and insights. Compiled by GridAKL community co-ordinator Casey. First up is the feel good edition, all about charity, support and community ... 

Last week here at GridAKL we were lucky enough to play host to David Butler, VP of Innovation at Coca-Cola and an all around awesome dude. David fronted a low-key discussion breakfast in the downstairs event space, with our own legendary James Hurman of Previously Unavailable acting as the topic dropping wingman.

Fitting perfectly into our GRIT series (which stands for Get Really Inspired Today), David dished out loads of insight in a value packed session for our community. The session was a great example of how much value residents can gain from the opportunity to engage in one on one conversation with inspiring players in the innovation game...

As a general rule, our team here at GridAKL are a little weird. I use the word ‘little’ lightly. We are a lot weird. Between us, we harbour penchants for anything from aerobatic silks to spoken word poetry to pet guinea pigs to getting lost in Bolivian mines. We are a crazy collection of awesome strangeness that somehow works magic mixed up into a team environment together. Basically, we are a great example of the benefits of looking beyond purely professional experience as the holy grail of job requirements, and factoring in the kinds of personal experience and traits that can gel a team together in a beautiful way....

GridAKL are proud to announce that we will providing space to host the monthly meet ups of the Women’s Collective - an organisation founded by Taryn and Sasha Kljakovic; that holds a discussion series to facilitate conversation around the needs and challenges that are specific to women across both their personal and professional lives. Each month sees different accomplished speakers, all incredibly inspiring and thought provoking in varying ways. The speakers are not always female, but each has a unique perspective on the struggles that females can face - and each allows an insight into a different viewpoint that challenges the often ingrained characteristics and stereotypes held by our societies, and also by ourselves....