Laura O'Connell Rapira

Experienced leader in community-led campaigns for change and movement building, passionate about equity and social justice.

Laura (they / them pronouns) was born in Taranaki, with whakaapap to Te Ātiawa, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa and Ngāti Whakaue. After high school in Auckland, Laura worked on big festivals in the United Kingdom including Glastonbury Festival and the Secret Garden Party. Laura went on to co-found RockEnrol in 2014 to encourage young people to enroll to vote in New Zealand's general election in exchange for tickets to music gigs, attracting support from a range of Kiwi artists.

Laura went on to become the Campaigns Director and then Director at Director of Action Station, building the movement made up of thousands of Kiwis to take action on the causes they cared about for a more inclusive and sustainable future. In 2020, Laura moved to Melbourne to take on the Executive Director for Movement Building at the Foundation for Young Australians, and recently stepped down late 2022.

Laura has been involved in Festival for the Future and the kaupapa of Inspiring Stories for many years, and recently joined the team lending support to develop a new national challenge around climate and community resilience that will launch at Festival 2023.