Our Team
Holly Gooch
Founder, CEO & Pilot Director
Holly has first hand experience of being a brilliant, neurodivergent teen and of parenting them. She gets it. Her mission in life is to create the opportunities for these kinds of learners that she wishes she and her family had had.
As a teacher, she has taught English, Humanities, Drama, Psychology and Theory of Knowledge, been a dean, a learning support coordinator, gifted education programme coordinator, careers advisor and health school teacher. She has qualifications in English and Psychology and a Masters in Educational Psychology. She has also completed a Certificate in Twice-exceptional Education from Bridges Graduate School in Los Angeles. She is working on a PhD about strengths of adults with ADHD.
Holly has become one of New Zealand’s foremost experts on twice-exceptionality. Prior to this, Holly was a playwright, a storyteller, a children’s writer, and a stand-up comedian.
Holly fundamentally believes young people are awesome.
Barney Groom
Navigator in pilot talent incubator
Barney is passionate about First Principles Thinking in education and has a knack for focusing on the person in front of him and identifying their needs. He has taught in several alternative education contexts and has had transformative effects in his positions there. Barney has talents that include music production, wood work, fishing, bushcraft, diving, entrepreneurship and personal training. He is especially keen on supporting young people to write and produce their own music. Barney values highly the use of practical hands-on work to help support academic and emotional learning.
Pauline Herbst
Navigator in pilot talent incubator
Pauline brings her skills and experience as an academic and a prolific creative to The Hyphen Project. She has a PhD in medical anthropology and as a science communicator loves to find entertaining and interesting ways to share science with people. Pauline is an experienced photographer, podcaster, lecturer, editor, researcher and freelance journalist. She has a particular interest in the creative arts and in ethics. Pauline has genuine excitement for young people’s ideas and values the importance of them being able to grow their professional network.
Rena Day
Chair of The Hyphen Project Trust Board
Rena joined the Trust Board towards the end of 2024. She brings a wealth of experience as an educational leader, most notably as the Head of Middle School and Wellbeing at Queen Margaret College in Wellington. She has also served as a School Board of Trustee. Rena has experience in the business sector as well, having been the Programmes and Capability Manager at Business Central NZ. She is keen on innovation and equity and has a strong interest in history. Rena’s favourite role has been parenting her three sons, now adults.
William Jeffrey
Board trustee
William became involved in The Hyphen Project when he was assigned as a mentor to Holly during her participation in the Kiwinet Emerging Innovator Programme. His passion for the project grew during this period and he agreed to continue working with Holly after the programme ended.
William has had a significant influence on legal, financial and governance aspects of the project and is committed to ensure it is sustainable and viable so that its benefits can be realised for as many young Kiwis that need it as possible. He is also excited about the opportunity of being involved in an initiative which is the first of its kind for New Zealand and has international connections.
He draws from his extensive international corporate experience relating to accounting, finance and management. A British ex-pat, William settled in New Zealand in 2003 and now focuses his efforts on being a business advisor for start-ups and serving on Boards.
William is also the parent of two teens.
Isobel Bremner
Trustee, Youth Mentor, Guest Speaker, Workshop Presenter
Isobel Bremner and Holly met through New Zealand’s gifted children’s network. When Isobel heard about The Hyphen Project she saw the need for a talented, neurodivergent youth voice on the project. She also knew it was a great opportunity for her to turn her challenging experiences in navigating the mainstream education system into something positive for other young people in the situation she had been in. Isobel joined as a Trustee and member of the Founding Team along with Holly and William.
Isobel exemplifies the brilliance of twice-exceptional people. As a teen she represented New Zealand in the International Young Physicist’s Tournament. Since then she has mentored many young and talented physicists and been a judge for the tournament. Isobel recently completed an honours degree in Economics and now works as an analyst at an economics consultancy. The Hyphen Project benefits considerably from her insights with regards to both Governance, and practical aspects of the programme. Isobel also serves as a youth mentor, a guest speaker and workshop presenter in the talent incubator.