Carol Morgan is the newest addition to the Volunteer South team, focusing on bringing together the diverse Queenstown Lakes communities through volunteerism.
Originally from Argentina, Ms Morgan moved to Queenstown eight years ago, which sparked her passion for working with migrants in the region.
Having worked as lawyer in her home country, she combined her professional knowledge with her own experiences as an immigrant and got to work helping other immigrants navigate a new system.
In the process of helping others, she did her fair share of volunteering, which helped her realise the importance of giving back to the community.
"This is not my first rodeo," she said.
"I’ve been in the volunteer sphere for a long time now."
Ms Morgan had helped form Latinos for New Zealand, a charitable trust to help Latinos in the region with their resettlement process.
This was only the beginning of her journey as she continued to work with immigrants, helping them with legal issues and even starting a women’s circle.
It was through working and volunteering with this community that she saw both the beauty and struggle of such a unique experience.
One of the observations she made was the loss of self-esteem that can happen when immigrants resettle in a new home.
She had seen many families and individuals who led successful careers in their home countries having to work outside of their specialty as they tried to build a better life in a foreign place.
Ms Morgan had also seen cases of racial discrimination in workplaces which made some feel even more isolated.
Having seen some people in the migrant community lose their sense of self, she saw the benefit of bringing people together and encouraging them to volunteer.
"It’s also this sense of purpose, this sense of giving back, which is going to make your spirit feel better," she said.
Although resettling can present challenges, it can also be an advantage.
Whether it is speaking multiple languages or bringing new perspectives to a community, Ms Morgan had seen the value of diversity
"It is not something to be ashamed of or to be afraid of.
"I really work hard on integration and collaboration."
As the district became more culturally diverse, Ms Morgan was also looking at ways to improve integration in the Queenstown Lakes district.
Although the community had taken significant strides in becoming more inclusive, there was always room to grow, Ms Morgan said.
The next step for her was to have more collaboration within the broader migrant communities.
This meant not only bringing people of the same background together but creating more spaces where people from any background could share their experiences and learn from each other.
Her new role as a community connector with Volunteer South reflected her desire to bring people of all backgrounds together in both Queenstown and Wānaka.
"I’m very happy to support the Wānaka community because it’s a place that I really cherish... I really think there are incredible people in Wānaka, and they are doing really good things," she said.
