Jennifer Ward-Lealand Te Atamira pauses and thinks hard when I ask her what gives her the confidence she radiates; the sense of being completely comfortable and sure in her own skin that emanates so strongly from her. “Maybe I just sound confident because I’m excited and inspired by the work that I do and see around me,” she finally says.
“I can stand up for things, because I fundamentally believe in them. I guess it’s finding that voice and finding what drives you. I think there is a confidence that comes with that, because you know you’re meant to do something and you can a hundred percent stand behind it.”
The 2020 New Zealander of the Year loves her work in all its many forms – as an actor, intimacy coordinator, teacher, speaker and director.
And though she works in an industry that’s famously unkind to women as they age, Jennifer says she’s loved getting older. “I really have. I mean, of course the body kind of craps out a bit more, but in my thirties and forties, I thought to myself, ‘Oh man, I’m really in my prime.’ But actually, now in my late fifties – I’ll be 59 in my prime.
