Kim Manunui

Kim Manunui was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada.  She has lived in New Zealand for the last 11 years and now resides in beautiful Taupo, with her husband and daughter. Kim completed a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction at the University of Victoria, Canada in 2000.  She specialised in Tourism Marketing and has since spent her time honing her marketing skills in a variety of roles in New Zealand. 

The snow first attracted Kim to NZ in 1997 when she found work at Whakapapa Ski Area on a working holiday.  Realising that this was the ideal environment to compliment her education, Kim sought employement at the Ski Area with the Marketing Department.  She held the role of Marketing Coordinator until 2002 when she then took on the Marketing Manager job at Treble Cone Ski Area on the South Island.  In both these roles, Kim was responsible for coordinating press campaigns, public relations & media releases, website and e newsletters, events, sponsorship and customer surveys.  In addition, Kim took on a variety of special marketing projects for paticular services or products.  Developing strategic plans, reporting and making and meeting budgets and timeframes were also integral to the roles she held. 

Upon moving back to the North Island where her husband resumed working at Whakapapa Ski Area, Kim sought work in Taupo where she could develop her skills outside of the ski environment.  She took on a position at Bayleys Taupo and was quickly promoted to Office Manager where she coordinated the daily going ons of a busy real estate office.  Understanding her background and skills, the owners then moved her to their IT company, PortPlus, where Kim fulfilled the role of Operations Manager.  PortPlus provides software and website technology for real estate offices in New Zealand and Australia and Kim took on a number of responsibilites from developing and testing new products to sales to customer service. 

In 2007, Kim and her husband Steve had their first child, Stevie and upon the completion of her Maternity Leave, Kim made the decision not to return to her full time role at PortPlus.  Wanting to be with Stevie full time yet still wanting to use her education and skills and fulfill her down time (not much with a 1 year child underfoot!) Kim started sewing and selling portable baby seats called Toodoos.  She originally made the first Toodoo for Stevie but her friends and family encouraged her to start selling them at markets.  She built a website to sell her creations and it still keeps her busy and out of trouble.  But that of course just wasn't enough for Kim.  A friend from baby group was a graphic designer pre child and together they realised that there are plenty of other mums in business out there who could use a bit of help in the marketing and selling of their products or services.  Toghether Kim and Rachel launched the company and website CleverMums, a cooperative of CleverMums with Clever Businesses.  CleverMums is growing everyday and Kim is pleased to be supporting other mums in business.

But Mums aren't the only ones who operate small businesses and need affordable, cost effective help with marketing themselves and their products or services.  So Kim started KMMS, and provides marketing solutions like strategy, planning, branding, website development,  e-marketing, media relations, press & radio placements, graphic design and print solutions.