Kiwi Business Story: Kim Herewini at Likeable Lab

Kim Herewini is the Marketing Manager at Likeable Lab and an Emerging Leaders Programme alumni.  

This Kiwi Business Story is based on a podcast from 2 November 2023, and all figures quoted are from that time. You can enjoy the complete podcast here. 

In the podcast Kim discusses juggling motherhood and a career, representing New Zealand at hockey and following a new career path into marketing. 



You’re very passionate about the business. 

Very! A really big part of my passion is the team and I've made that known for a really long time. But I just enjoy my work colleagues! They make it worth it when you walk in the door, and they've got smiles on their faces. It makes you motivated to work for them as well.... It’s like a hockey team. No one’s got the same skills, no one's got the same personality, but you just all make it work.

And you’re equally passionate about your clients.

Absolutely. Businesses want to see a return on investment (ROI), but we're not going to pitch every single service, because we probably know they're not going to get ROI there. We've built that kind of relationship to have those conversations to go: ‘actually, we really think you should try this’ or ‘let's move away from this platform and divert our time into this instead.’ And because of that relationship, our clients are usually very willing, and we see a really good result. 

The great thing with digital is that it's not going out anytime soon! It’s just going to keep growing. It's about keeping ahead of the game, but it's all about the client at the end of the day. 

How was your Emerging Leaders Programme experience? 

We did it at a really interesting time. We had a few lockdowns… but obviously we had to do what we had to do! It was also an interesting time with Likeable Lab, because we were still figuring out our structure within the company and where people sit. I moved through two different roles during the course… and I remember saying to Nick [McDonald, Head Honcho at Likeable Lab and an Owner Manager Programme alumni]: ‘This course is really good, I'm learning a really good baseline of things. I don't think [some of it] is for my role right now but, in time, I'm really going to be able to utilise this.’ 

What were your key takeaways?

It was interesting because you learn about your own personality and your own style and how that could complement someone else’s, or how can you talk to someone that's actually a completely opposite, and how to handle those situations.

The best thing is hearing stories from the other leaders that are involved. What they're going through is actually quite similar to what you're going through.

It was a really good course to take what you wanted from it and the facilitator, Kim Hill, she's awesome. I knew going into it with my role changing that there were different things I was grabbing, and taking what I could…

And I remember something coming up around budgets, understanding that better and saying to Nick, ‘I found that super-interesting. I know it's not part of my role, but maybe in the future that's something we could tap into later.’

What excites you about your role as Marketing Manager and the future of Likeable Lab?

We've got such an awesome management team at Likeable Lab and, as I said, in the team everyone's got so many cool skills. There's so much talent in there.

There's such an awesome opportunity to finally promote ourselves. We did an epic rebrand and we stand out like no tomorrow, making cool sh*t for the internet, making businesses thrive online, and that's exactly what we want to do at the end of the day!

We know that helps them – helps business owners – [so] actually really helping people within New Zealand and internationally. We’re in a brand new space of our own and that’s cool; ‘Where do we want to take this?, ‘Where are we going to best find the right people?’, ‘Who are we going to connect with?’

We’ve got an open door and I think that's the most exciting part. The team is growing, works so well together, and just keeps getting better and better.