Q&A with volunteer Nina
With so many new members joining our club, we are continuing our series where we chat to each of our volunteer board members. Next up is volunteer Nina McHardy.
Introduce yourself
I’m Nina, a Board member of Premmie Knitting Club (PKC). I’m based in Melbourne with my husband and toddler, and I support PKC on a volunteer basis alongside Courtney, Britt and Michelle.
Outside of PKC, I work full-time leading communications and marketing for a large construction company in Australia. Like the rest of the team, I fit PKC in around a busy job and family life—but I’m incredibly proud to contribute to something with such meaningful impact.
What inspired you to get involved with PKC?
I got involved through my friendship with Courtney. Before PKC became a registered charity, we were both living in Sydney and would often co‑work during the day, then spend time after hours supporting PKC.
At the time, the operation was much smaller—Courtney was coordinating from Sydney while Michelle managed fulfilment in Auckland. I naturally leaned into the process side, helping set up simple tracking systems to bring more structure as things grew.
That early involvement, combined with a focus on building practical, scalable ways of working, led to Courtney asking me to step into a Board role when PKC became a registered charity.
What does a typical day in your life look like?
My day-to-day is a balance between my full-time role, family life, and PKC.
I work in a national communications and marketing role, so my professional days are full and I travel a fair bit too. Around that, I pick up PKC work wherever I can—early mornings, evenings, on planes and in between everything else.
Given I’m based in Melbourne, most of my contribution is behind the scenes. I focus on the operational and administrative side, answering questions, coordinating logistics, and keeping things moving.
Over the past six weeks, I’ve individually generated and distributed close to 2,000 NZ Post labels to support campaign fulfilment—making it possible for our community to send their knitting to us and for PKC to ensure donations reach our tiniest pēpi.
It’s a constant juggle—but the flexibility of volunteering allows me to contribute meaningfully alongside a busy job and young family.
What is the most rewarding part of being involved with PKC?
There are two parts to it.
First, working alongside Courtney, Britt and Michelle to bring Stitching Together Aotearoa to life. We started with a blank canvas for our 10-year anniversary, but we were clear we wanted to do something meaningful. None of us expected the level of reach we’ve seen.
To see it come to life, from schools and community groups getting involved, to people picking up knitting again after 20–25 years, has been incredibly rewarding. It’s unified people in a way that’s given real purpose to our community.
Second, the scale of what’s been achieved by such a small, volunteer team. This is the most successful campaign I’ve ever been involved in (and that includes my professional work) which is remarkable given it’s been delivered with almost no spend.
It’s been driven through unpaid media, grant funding, owned channels, and the commitment of four volunteers fitting it around full-time jobs and busy lives.
Seeing the reach extend to almost every postcode across New Zealand—and even into Australia and around the world—is a powerful reminder of what’s possible when you combine community, purpose and a well-executed idea.
From my perspective, a lot of what I do is behind the scenes, but knowing that this work enables that level of impact is what makes it so worthwhile.
