Paula Yeoman

Paula Yeoman is the co-owner and co-director of NicNak Media alongside Nicole Thomas.

NicNak specialises in artist management and entertainment publicity, and recently launched a new media initiative, Lil Sister, for emerging acts. NicNak also runs a boutique record label for a small roster of Aotearoa artists.

Before establishing NicNak Media, Paula worked as a journalist, with more than 20+ years’ experience in NZ and the UK. She now fronts the management arm of NicNak and is across the day-to-day management of Theia (and Theia’s te reo Māori project TE KAAHU), Paige, Nganeko and TOI. She also works closely with many other NZ artists as a mentor with MMF.

Paula and Nicole are two-time recipients of MMF awards – in 2017, they won the award for ‘Emerging Manager of the Year’ and in 2021, they won ‘Manager of the Year’.

Paula is involved in the day-to-day management of the artists on the NicNak roster and is able to assist in all areas relating to management including pairing artists with writers, producers, engineers, photographers, videographers; helping with funding applications; budgeting; strategy and planning for new releases; touring; branding, developing assets (bios, press shots); social media and creating content.

Leanda Borrett

Leanda has worked in various content, broadcast and marketing roles over her 30 year career in the music industry.

Starting her career in music television, Leanda has programmed music and produced content for some of New Zealand's best loved music channels. There she discovered her drive to support and promote the growth of emerging and established artists. After 13 years of working in television, Leanda made the transition to marketing, working in publicity roles at EMI NZ, Roadshow Films NZ and Whakaata Māori. 

Starting in 2016, Leanda has provided freelance publicity, communications and marketing support under the banner of Eleventy12. Projects include release and tour campaigns for Ed Waaka, Georgia Lines, Lou’ana, Shapeshifter and The Upbeats. Leanda is currently the Marketing and Publicity Manager for AudioCulture and NZ On Screen.

Leanda can mentor you through project planning and strategy, publicity, traditional and digital marketing, social media content and advertising.

Nicky Harrop

Nicky’s career has spanned multiple facets of Aotearoa’s music community, and seen her work closely with a wide range of artists, labels, live events, industry bodies and culture change initiatives.

She is a Director and Owner of physical music distributor Collective Distribution, Co-founder and Trustee of SoundCheck Aotearoa, and currently holds the Independent Director position on the board of Recorded Music New Zealand.

Nicky’s background in music labels has seen her hold senior roles in marketing, label management, artist development and publicity.  She developed the music industry major for Massey University’s Bachelor Of Commercial Music, and has consulted as a researcher and developer for a number of local music-based screen projects.

Nicky can mentor on: Record Labels, Distribution, Release Strategy, Artist Development, Marketing  and Publicity.