Presenter:

Rachel is a TEDx presenter, speaker, trainer, award-winning artist and the author of two books- Super Power Baby Project and Super Power Kids. These exceptional books celebrate the lives and abilities of children with a range of disabilities and conditions and have been inspired by Rachel’s late daughter Evie, who was born with a very rare chromosomal condition. In the two and a half years of Evie’s life, Rachel learnt a lot about the use of language in the health system and has spent the subsequent years continuing to explore the impact and implications of how it is used – to positive and negative effects. Our language shapes our landscape. The words we speak influence the behaviour, attitudes, and beliefs of ourselves and others. Within high-stakes contexts, such as the sharing of difficult information, our words carry enormous emotional weight. They can alienate and add trauma, or they can honour and empower. Rachel holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (BFA) from the Dunedin School of Art in New Zealand, is a Master Photographer in the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (NZIPP) and is an international award-winning photographer and author.