Our team
HQ
Holly Gooch
Founder & Chair
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.
Katie Posner
Board Secretariat
Katie joined The Hyphen Project during the pilot phase, soon after completing a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Education and Psychology with a minor in Sociology. With a strong personal interest in neurodiversity, she reached out proactively to be involved (even turning up on-site!) and quickly became a vital part of the team, initially supporting social media. Since then, she has contributed across many areas including marketing, enrolments, activity coordination, and fundraising. Her commitment to our kaupapa is personal, and she’s passionate about supporting The Hyphen Project continue to grow.
Kees Pita
Social Media Support
Kees first joined The Hyphen Project as a rangatahi in our pilot COHORT programme, where he built a creative portfolio and gained experience in business skills, project planning, and client liaison. Since graduating, he has become part of our team, providing social media support and creating promotional content. He has produced commercial hype reels for The Hyphen Project to use in funding and promotional activities, strengthening his skills in workflow management, filming, editing, and delivering professional-quality assets – all while bringing his own creativity to our mahi.
Navigators
Barney Groom
Navigator - Group Lead
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 - Individual Lead
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.
Alex Coaton
Navigator
Alex is dedicated to teaching programming and game development, combining his technical expertise with creativity and relational skills to support rangatahi. He has worked across the games, medical device, and aerospace industries, including working on multiple games at King (Candy Crush Saga) in London. Alex thrives in coaching, mentoring, and facilitating workshops that allow young people to explore technology and build confidence. Curious, adaptable, and hands-on, he values play and creativity as pathways for rangatahi to develop strength and purpose in the digital world.
Trustees
Isobel Bremner
When Izzy heard about The Hyphen Project, she recognised the need for a talented, neurodivergent youth voice. She also saw a chance to turn her own challenging experiences in navigating the mainstream education system into something positive for other young people in the situation she had been in. Izzy joined as a Trustee in 2024. Izzy 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. She holds an Honours degree in Economics and works as an Analyst at Concept Consulting. Izzy is also a media spokesperson for The Hyphen Project, workshop presenter, and youth mentor within the COHORT programme, bringing valuable practical insights to the team.
Trustee
Simon Gooch
Simon joined the board in 2025 as a temporary stop-gap, but his impact was so significant that it quickly became a permanent arrangement. As Holly’s husband, he’s played a key role since the organisation’s inception, offering both strategic insight and significant financial support. As a parent of a twice-exceptional teen, he brings lived experience and a deep understanding of the kaupapa. Professionally, Simon is a long-standing Director at EY, with decades of experience in business strategy, risk, stakeholder engagement and governance. His expertise has helped embed best-practice processes into the organisation. He’s also been instrumental in building our network, opening doors to fundraising and real-world learning opportunities. His creative thinking and sense of humour add value to the board and also reflect how he can relate to the minds of the young people we serve.
Trustee
Jay Tai
Jay connected with The Hyphen Project as a parent of a gifted child, frustrated by the lack of educational options and eager to support our mahi. She delivered a highly praised branding workshop to rangatahi during the pilot, giving her first-hand experience of our programme. Jay is a Senior Innovation Manager at an international firm, with specialist expertise in brand strategy, product development, marketing, and human-centred design. She thrives in complex problem-solving environments and was excited to contribute to The Hyphen Project, where her interests in innovation and purpose could intersect. Jay now guides our brand and marketing development and continues to contribute directly to the COHORT programme as a mentor and presenter.