FEATURE
DELTA INSURANCE GETS BUSY WITH LAZY SNEAKERS
W
hen Delta Insurance decided to continue their support of the GirlBoss Awards by sponsoring the Emerging Leader Award again last year, they weren’t quite expecting the impact the winner would have on the company. GirlBoss New Zealand was founded by 15-year-old Alexia Hilbertidou in 2015 when she realised she was the only girl studying advanced physics in her year. The aim of the organisation is to close the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, maths, entrepreneurship and leadership, and Hilbertidou has certainly set the wheels in motion to achieve that goal. In 2020, GirlBoss has over 10,000 members, is represented in 55 schools and has an awards programme that attracts over 400 submissions, celebrating the determination and passion of young women defying stereotypes and leading change in their communities. Winner of the 2019 GirlBoss Emerging Leader Award Maia Mariner Russell Burt, principal of Point England School
Craig Kirk, CEO of Delta Insurance 26
March 2020
was only 12 when she set up Lazy Sneakers, a charitable organisation based on a beautifully simple, yet totally practical and socially in-tune idea: taking quality, used sneakers and sports shoes that were no longer in use – hence the name “lazy” sneakers – and passing them on to others who could not afford them. Maia’s motivations were straightforward. “When I was 12, I noticed some of my friends couldn’t participate because they didn’t have the proper footwear. I talked to my parents and realised it was a much bigger issue than I originally thought. After a lot of research and a lot of brainstorming we came up with the idea of lazy sneakers.” Chief executive Craig Kirk and the rest of the Delta team attending that awards night were impressed with Mariner and her vision for Lazy Sneakers. Says Kirk: “We were so blown away with what Maia was doing, we decided we had to find a way of supporting her.” The team got behind the worthwhile initiative and decided to reach
