Tayla Rennie

Tayla grew up in Dunedin, the youngest of three in a house that was always full of neighbours, cousins, and her mum's book club. She studied recreation and leisure at polytechnic, then landed at Maryhill Rest Home coordinating activities — quizzes, garden walks, bus trips to the albatross colony. She's brilliant at it: she knows who needs coaxing, who'll only come if Maureen comes, and how to get eighty people out of their rooms on a winter Tuesday.

She lives in a flat in North East Valley with four other people, sometimes five when someone's between leases, and she's never once wanted it quieter. Tayla's a convener by nature — she fills rooms, organises dinners, remembers who needs an actual invitation rather than a vague 'you should come.' She's warm and relentlessly capable, the kind of person who texts three options with poll links and books the table before you've replied. She's honest about why: she doesn't like being alone and stopped pretending otherwise years ago, which people find easier than the pretending.

She's training for a half-marathon with two flatmates, volunteers with a community theatre painting sets, and knows every café in Dunedin that'll let you sit for two hours. Tayla's life is full and loud and exactly how she wants it — she just saves the things she loves most to watch with other people, even if it means waiting months.