Carol Morgan - Latinos for New Zealand
Carol Morgan wears many different hats around Queenstown, but all have a strong focus on helping the local community. Hard working, inspirational and willing to do whatever it takes to help those around her, Morgan is both a community connector for Volunteer South, and the founder and chairman of Latinos for New Zealand Charitable Trust.
Born in Argentina, she moved to Queenstown eight years ago. A natural-born businesswoman, she was at the helm of her own fashion company at 17. In 1998 she founded another company that created an online education platform for use around the world. And somewhere in between she became a lawyer. She wasn’t feeling fulfilled, though, and started experiencing burnout, which is when her focus shifted to helping others, something she’s now hugely passionate about.
“Latinos for New Zealand started with me understanding that the migrant population struggles quite a lot when they get here – especially to blend and to belong. That’s a big part of the story, the belonging, so I think that a good way of belonging to a community is to participate,” Morgan says.
The importance of the use of the word ‘for’ as opposed to Latinos ‘in’ New Zealand is demonstrated by the group’s dedication to give back to the community. Morgan’s main goal is to help – her background in business and the legal world is a great asset in that goal. She’s often called on from people around New Zealand and beyond, asking for advice and to help advocate.
Her latest move has been to put another person on the board that is based in the North Island, so the organisation can offer more assistance up there. She’s also busy with Volunteer South preparing for National Volunteer Week, which runs 15 – 22 June. This is something she encourages everyone to get involved in.
When asked to define what it means to be a woman in business, Morgan says it’s “Having courage, no fear.” And she’s certainly delivered on that in her career.
“As I told an ex-business partner of mine a long time ago, ‘if you open that window and tell me to jump, I’ll jump’ – I think that’s the spirit. You’ve got to jump and have no fear, because what’s the worst that can happen? Someone would say no, there is someone else in the market (but there’s always room for competition), or it doesn’t work.”
Morgan also stresses that if the worst were to happen and it doesn’t work, you can always reinvent yourself.
