My name is Rachael but my friends call me Pixie, and I do word things.

I love the way language can express ideas and build connections, whether through poetry, prose, theatre, column writing or strategic corporate communications.

I’m all about authenticity, joy, manaakitanga, finding the magic in the every day and animals. My partner and I live on a small bit of land out in the country which we are lucky to call home, and our family consists of five rescue dogs, three horses, a sheep named Victoria and a bunch of freeloading hens.

For several years I’ve been curating social media content for various brands, including for my disabled rescue dog Tinkerbelle, so if you want to get a feel for who I am you can check out her page. I’m proud to have over 30 thousand people invested in her story, to the point where if I miss a #TinkerbelleTriesThingsTuesday I get a flurry of DMs making sure we’re ok! Her followers are the most amazing team, and thanks to their support I’ve been able to rescue other animals in need. Tinks has featured on several media brand accounts including the Dodo, so she’s far more famous and successful than I will ever be. It brings me so much joy to brighten people’s days.

Other skills and experience

In 2014 I was appointed editor of Nexus magazine while studying full time, and was awarded a Master of Arts (creative writing) with First Class Honours. My thesis, Write the Body Bloody: Violence, gender and identity in the poetry of Sylvia Plath and Ai, was 30% analysis and 70% my own poetry. My Nexus was described by the Aotearoa Student Press Association judges (who presented us with three awards including Best Small Publication and Best Social Media) as “just fantastic,” said we had our “market nailed” and described my editorials as “superb”.

Following this I was employed in the corporate engagement and relationship management space for six years; writing media releases, web content, eDM campaigns and copy for print, as well as creating content for and managing numerous social media presences. I have developed and driven a range of corporate engagement strategies, and I have extensive experience building relationships across diverse and sometimes challenging stakeholder groups. I also have excellent social media management skills, as I have built a wide variety of brands from the ground up, across a range of platforms.

In 2019 I came off my horse, and wound up with a head injury as well as a couple of unhappy discs in my neck. As a person who didn’t know how to rest the recovery has been extremely challenging, but it did have an unexpected silver lining. I have had the opportunity to refocus on the things that move my soul: helping others, telling stories and building strong, authentic relationships. I had been freelancing for almost a year before my accident, so it was the push I needed to make things official, and The Word Pixie was born.

Over the last few years I have had the privilege of working with some of the most creative, innovative and downright revolutionary women across New Zealand and the world. I have ghost written blogs for psychologists, created EDM campaigns for family Seed businesses, overhauled websites for fertility coaches and energy healing facilitators, created quizzes and presentations and ad campaigns (and stories, and insta posts, and reels and social media campaigns) for the foremost equestrian nervous system support coach in the world.

I love the variety in my work – this week alone I’ve worked on a Health and Safety strategy, a website for a burlesque artist and social media content for five other businesses, in five different fields. I love that I can be flexible to my client’s needs, to make their lives easier. I also enjoy teaching, both in person and online – for more info on that check out my upcoming courses page.

I’m an excellent communicator, an innovative thinker and I thrive on forging connections through creative storytelling. I have extensive experience with content writing and audience engagement. I’m a highly skilled social media manager, a creative problem solver and I enjoy working with passionate, innovative and energetic people. I look forward to collaborating with you.