Miss Clark, the head of the United Nations Development Programme, was at Auckland's Langham Hotel to speak at the 125th anniversary of the YWCA Auckland gala dinner, a celebration of women's leadership.
One teenager she spoke to, 17-year-old Shukria Safdari, enjoyed the opportunity to meet the former prime minister.
"She's a great role model and quite an inspiration. So to speak to her is pretty great."
Miss Safdari's brother was one of the Tampa asylum seekers Miss Clark famously brought to New Zealand.
Miss Clark said being involved in an organisation such as the YWCA, encouraging leadership among women, had always been important to her.
"I've always supported the YWCA's leading women programme - I went to all their dinners while I was PM - because I could see that getting mentors to support young woman like Shukria was really going to make a huge difference to their lives."
Told she was an inspiration to many women around New Zealand, she smiled.
"Well, I think those of us who've climbed to the top of the tree have a duty to be a role model to others," she said.
Asked how the country's new leader was doing in his role, she said: "Oh, I never answer such questions."
And the Labour Party's issues?
"I don't get into those either," she said, laughing.
Asked about her ambitions, she said her dreams had already "absolutely" come true.
"I went up there [to New York] to do the UNDP job and I personally think it's the best job in the union. It's a huge development programme, connecting to good work with the sort of things I believe in, in virtually every developed country in the world.
"And I'm very happy with that. It's the right position for me. So that's my four years mapped out."
- The New Zealand Herald
