Emelie Verseput

Emelie has been immersed in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Aotearoa since 2018 and has worked in social enterprise, innovation festivals, event management, startups, VC, incubators, entrepreneurship support and youth entrepreneurship. She has organised and mentored 10+ Techstars Startup Weekends nationwide. She was the Community Manager for Phase One Ventures and set up their founder community + incubator + fund alongside Mahesh Muralidhar.

Her focus is on creating an impact in the NZ startup ecosystem by building community and creating connections between regional, national and global ecosystem players. In 2023 she was the Community and Events Manager at GD1 (Global from Day 1) supporting a community of bold and innovative startups to succeed on the global stage.

She recently joined the founding team of early-stage Ed-tech startup NextWork as Community Manager, where she is building a global community for NextWork students who are going through a personalised learning journey to help them switch careers and land a job they love.

Her background is in Marketing, Social Media and Strategic Management with a Bachelor of Business degree from the University of Waikato.

In 2021 she co-founded Sharing the Kai alongside Cherish Wilkinson, a food-sharing social enterprise in Gisborne, based out of Tāiki E Impact House.

In 2023 she founded āDEM Breathwork, as a certified breathwork and meditation practitioner she helps people find stillness and improve their physical and mental health by breathing consciously. She facilitates 1:1 sessions, breathwork and meditation sessions for events, cold exposure therapy and holds space for founders and corporate teams.