Meet HLC's new Tourism tutor
Now based in Kapiti, Kim Tasker comes to us after spending the last 10 years working overseas in the tourism industry. We sat down with Kim to have a chat.
Kim was born in Whangarei and her Iwi is Tainui, her Hapu is Ngati Tipa. Kim and her family – husband Zac Rikihana Hyland and young son – have had a fascinating life so far. Kim and Zac went on their OE to Indonesia, Thailand, India and London. While based in London over winter, they applied for positions at a Wellness Surf retreat company based out of Morocco. Zac and Kim started at the lower end of the tier, and soon worked their way up to become bespoke hosts for high end clients. Their roles meant organising everything for their clients, from travel to yoga. After Morocco they entered the Super Yacht industry, which took them to Rhode Island, USA. While in the US, they spent a summer on Martha’s Vineyard - working privately for prominent US families.
Kim is a qualified Yoga Instructor and Therapeutic Massage Therapist. Zac has a hospitality and surfing background. He grew up in the hospitality industry through his parents and also became an advanced surf lifesaver, trained in dive rescue, and is an avid surfer and ocean man. Their individual expertise blended well with a newly evolving tourism industry, and set them up for what would become 8 years of working in high end Surf and Wellness resorts in Nicaragua, Central America.
Through these roles, Kim has hosted many famous actors, pro-surfers and pro golfers. In addition, Kim and Zac ran the Oakley surf shop challenge – a week long surf competition.
Due to the Impact on tourism the Nicaraguan political crisis of April 2018 took, they felt it was best to leave Nicaragua. Relocating to Indonesia, they took a resort management position, but this was short lived, as they felt the remote Island, of Morotai, was not the right fit for them. This led them home to NZ.
Over the last 4 months Kim has been settling back in to Kiwi Life. Kim believes in empowering and encouraging others to find their way in life. She also does this as a teacher of yoga and is also very excited about getting into the classroom and sharing her knowledge as the tourism tutor at HLC.
Kim sees New Zealand’s beautiful landscape, our rich culture and friendly people as the perfect combination that puts NZ tourism at the forefront, both locally and globally.
To her tourism is more than sightseeing, but an opportunity to connect to ourselves and our relationship to the world around us, knowing we are all interconnected, and our country is one to be proud of, protected and shared.
There is still time to join Kim and HLC for the NZ Certificate in Tourism (Tourism and Travel) Level 3 programme. Contact us now to book your interview phone 0800 368 1095