Jade Tang-Taylor

Jade is a sense maker. She’s able to grasp threads of ideas and tie them together into a bouquet of beautiful potential. 

Like many in the academyEX whānau, Jade’s path here has been squiggly. Over the past 15 years she’s moved across the design, tech and education sectors (to name a few), yet has always anchored her purpose and passion to design for social innovation and social change. 

Now, as an Industry Advisor, Jade mentors and facilitates our students' learning with her extensive knowledge and skills, ensuring they are set up for success. When she’s not working, you can find her spending time with her family and friends, mentoring other social entrepreneurs and practising yoga.

By no surprise, Jade is a lifelong learner, qualifying from Stanford D.School with a Designing for Social Systems masterclass, alongside a Masters of Arts Management (Distinction) and a Bachelor of Design, both from AUT.

Jade is an Edmund Hillary Fellow (2020), a member of the Institute of Directors, member of NACEW (National Advisory Council of Employment for Women) at Manatū Wāhine Ministry for Women, and is the chair and founding member of the Iti Rearea Collective. Jade’s clearly leveraging her superpower ability to connect and convene people and stakeholders across various sectors for positive systems-level change. 

Despite all the incredible work Jade has instigated and is involved with, she remains humble and curious. In particular, she’s keen to explore how we might use emerging technologies like Web3 and the Metaverse as tools for positive social impact on our planet and for our people, versus the status quo where big tech is only for profit.