Rachel Rose - ‘Rose’ing to the occasion

Rachel Rose is just one of those people who’s always putting her hand up to help. She may have studied politics in her homeland of England, and worked in IT, but she soon discovered it was people she loved most, and helping them.

Since then she’s helped everyone from migrants with housing and visa problems and those with mental health challenges to women facing fertility issues and others who just find it downright hard to stay living in Queenstown.

While the early IT world was “a bit geeky” when she first began, Rachel naturally gravitated into IT recruitment where she found her niche – Human Resources where she’s been happily ensconced locally for 12 years.

The Bachelor of Politics is also coming in handy, Rachel the current chairperson of the Labour Party’s Southland branch. “It’s a big year,” she says. 

Not bad for the little South Manchester girl who loved to party. “I was an only child and Mum drove hard for a good education. I passed the entry exam for a good school – Manchester High, but they were the rave days, and Manchester had loads of nightclubs, so we’d be out clubbing from 14 years old,” she says. “I almost didn’t pass my degree. Thankfully my daughters are better students,” she grins.

Born in 1967 Rachel had a happy upbringing in a suburban neighbourhood. “There were a lot less cars about back then, so we played for hours on the streets.” She was surrounded by loving adults, doting grandparents all to herself.

Straight out of uni Rachel worked as a computer programmer. “It was a very geeky world, sitting at a green screen writing in code.”

In the mid-90s she and her then boyfriend saw an ad in The Big Issue, a publication that the homeless sold on the streets to give them some income.

“They wanted people to travel around South America in a converted Volvo truck with old couch seats in it and be filmed for a video diary. They had a tiny film crew. It was very amateur.”

They travelled from the bottom of Argentina, all the way to Honduras over six months.

 “You’d never do it now with the way reality TV has gone, but back then it was much more innocent,” she says. “It did air on Cable TV but somehow we taped over it,” she laughs.

New Zealand was then the stopover option where Rachel waitressed at Auckland restaurant ‘Cheers’, part-owned by current Rees Hotel director and husband of 25 years Mark Rose. “I went home to my boyfriend and said I’d met the owner, and I wasn’t keen on him,” Rachel laughs. However, after six weeks he’d charmed her and it was all on. “The Kiwi thing got me,” she grins. The boyfriend thing was “awkward”, but he left on good terms back to the UK. Rachel stayed on, sponsored to work in IT recruitment which she did for nine years in Auckland, four for ASB, eventually moving into HR. Miraculously her residency was approved instantly over the counter.

She and Mark married in 2001. The following year a friend invited her to stand as Labour’s Northland candidate. “John Carter was the incumbent and I didn’t win, but I beat Winston Peters’ brother, Jim, and we won the party vote,” she says, proudly.

Fertility struggles saw Rachel opt for successful IVF with precious twin daughters arriving in 2005. It was an experience that prompted her to help others later on once they settled in Queenstown. “I saw an article about the Queenstown Fertility Support Group in 2021 so volunteered to help out,” she says. “I added acupuncture during the second round, and it made a huge difference.”

She studied psychology part-time as a mum while Mark ran a Far North lodge, before the family lived back to the UK when her dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. They enjoyed four months with him. “We then had romantic plans to pick grapes in France, but the GFC hit. It was a nightmare,” she says. While they had work nothing was secure. They were saved by a random phone call from New Zealand inviting Mark to manage the then half-built Rees Hotel. “We just ran away back to Queenstown, Mum immigrating with us.”

With three-year-old twins they weren’t sure if Mark would get paid week to week. Times were uncertain so Rachel enrolled the twins at Wakatipu Kindergarten and volunteered at Citizen’s Advice Bureau, beginning what would be an almost 15-year involvement, as volunteer trainer, office manager and chairperson.

She continued to study for her Master’s in Psychology remotely, working for PACT Community Health from 2010 until 2014. In 2012 the Roses also bought into Queenstown restaurant Sasso, Mark also travelling almost six months a year for The Rees. “It was too much so once I completed my Master’s I quit study and worked part time as HR manager at The Rees.”

She then met Tim Hunter at an overseas wedding and was subsequently  offered the HR manager’s role at Southern Discoveries. “Covid was just a brutal time for all HR managers in town. I saw some heartbreaking things happen with staff, but our owners were great.”

Rachel only stepped down as CAB chairperson in 2021, her way to “connect with the community” now belonging to Remarkables Theatre. She’s delivered star roles in Calendar Girls, as Miss Marple, and is soon to become treasurer. 

Rachel’s on the Queenstown Film Society Committee, Central Lakes Family Trust board, Shaping Our Future board, and when there’s a moment to spare she’s watching “my football team – Manchester City”. 

Don’t dare mistake that with Manchester United!