Misty Sansom

Business, Community and Economic Development | Board Chair | PhD Candidate | Purpose Coach

I have always been fascinated by what it means to live well. What matters to people? What creates a thriving society? What does it mean to live the 'good life' (philosophically and otherwise), and how do we create that?

These questions have shaped my path into business, community and economic development, governance, coaching and academia. What this looks like in practice: I own Kindred Coworking in Mangawhai, which is expanding to support business growth and investment in the regions. I work with individuals, businesses, and teams to articulate purpose and translate it into meaningful action - soon to be the With Purpose Institute.

For the past three years, I have been working with local government in our district on community and economic development. I have the privilege of chairing two Boards: Volunteering New Zealand (the national peak body for volunteering) and Te Whai Community Trust in Mangawhai (a community social services organisation), and I'm pursuing a PhD focusing on meaning and purpose: defining concepts and developing a framework that bridges philosophy and real-world application.

Having grown up in a rural area and now living in a small coastal town, I'm interested in how small regions can punch well above their weight, how purpose drives both people and places, and how the right infrastructure - physical, economic, and social - can transform a community.

The common thread across everything I do is a genuine interest in how people, places, and organisations find and live their purpose - and the practical, sometimes messy, work of making that happen.