Kristy is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Shepherdess magazine. She is also Executive Producer of the Shepherdess TV Series, and Festival Director of The Shepherdess Muster. She is passionate about community engagement and working with communities to bring out positive narratives; creating vibrant rural communities.

Kristy’s professional background is in public health, policy and community engagement in rural and remote areas, and she has led numerous community projects and events across both rural and remote Australia and Aotearoa. She is the founder of the acclaimed Channel Country Ladies Day, established in 2012, and held annually on the edge of the Australian desert, a food producer’s festival in the Horowhenua, and The Shepherdess Muster. The inaugural Muster was held at Motū, Te Tairāwhiti, in February 2024.

Kristy holds a Bachelor of Social Science in Asia Pacific Governance and Development from James Cook University, Far North Queensland, and a Master of Agriculture from Massey University, Manawatū. Kristy was an AGMARDT Leadership Scholarship recipient, studying Social Entrepreneurship at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a finalist in the 2021 Stuff Women of Influence Awards – Primary Industries category.

Kristy lives on her partner’s family dairy and beef farm in the Horowhenua, with her partner and their children, Hartley, five, and Tully, three.