Our people

All Told is a trading name of Chris Wilson & Associates Ltd. The associates have expertise in key message skills training, social media and video, visual communication and design, and branding and marketing.

Chris Wilson established bright magazine for New Zealand exporters in 2003 and produced 26 issues as editor until 2009 for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE). In 2003, he spent three weeks interviewing the overseas partners of some of New Zealand’s leading companies in Los Angeles, New York, London and Paris.

For most of 2010, Chris handled media enquiries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). In 2011, he worked on several projects for NZTE and Intergen. He was also engaged by CommStrat (NZ) Ltd as managing editor of the New Zealand China Trade Guide, launched on November 15.

During 2012 and 2013 Chris worked mainly for the Ministry of Transport, helping communicate the link between transport and economic growth. In 2013 he also drafted three economic discussion documents for the Porirua City Council - a digital strategy, a global business strategy and a services strategy.

From 2014 to 2016 he helped promote the value of an arts education at Victoria University of Wellington. He was also engaged as a report writer and editor by MFAT, Victoria Business School and GNS Science.

During 2017 and early 2018 Chris was engaged on short-term contracts to provide communications advice to the Ministry of Culture & Heritage, the Ministry of Health and Hutt Valley District Health Board.

From July 2018 to November 2019 he was Communications Manager at the Institute of Directors.

For most of 2020 he did communications planning for Stats NZ on environmental reporting.

Between 2021 and 2013 he worked at the Ministry for Primary Industries, mainly providing comms advice and writing on forestry and woodprocessing.

With All Told, he engages associates experienced in working with exporters and those best suited to an assignment. As the associates work from home-based offices, overheads are minimised and this is reflected in the fees for clients.

Here are some of the associates that may work on your story:

• Diana Burns of Savvy Communications Ltd
• Donna Cross of Three Eyes Ltd
• Shelley Huang
• Christine Parry 
• Dr Jeff Simmonds and
• Jayn Verkerk.

Diana Burns runs her own communications consultancy in Wellington, and specialises in providing media and key message skills training. A former Radio New Zealand journalist, Diana has lived in Spain and has worked as a Spanish interpreter for trade delegations to New Zealand. She also organises tours to Cuba.
For the New Zealand Film Commission, Diana trains actors, directors and producers in preparation for representing their films overseas – the same discipline that exporters need. Her clients include Vincent Ward and Keisha Castle-Hughes.

Donna Cross is a visual communicator living in Wellington. Her clients include NZ Film. She illustrated the packaging labels for Caffe L’Affare and was a long-standing illustrator for bright magazine. Donna both designs and illustrates. Her design work includes the Tora Coastal Walk website. Her late partner Scott Kennedy's illustrations can be seen on the walls of Wellington Airport and on All Told’s website. Scott's work was also selected for the 2008 international edition of The Big Book of Illustration Ideas. 

Shelley Huang has worked in China, Singapore and New Zealand in marketing, media and cross-cultural education. In 2007, working for Shanghai Advertising Ltd, she managed a US$600,000 advertising campaign for Volkswagen. In 2010 she was New Zealand Trade and Enterprise's VIP relationship manager at the New Zealand Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo. In 2011 she worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade liaising with Chinese families after the Christchurch earthquake. She is a part-time tutor in cross-cultural communication at the University of Auckland.
Shelley is able to manage exporters’ public relations or marketing campaigns in China from Auckland. She is also able to give exporters cross-cultural understanding, before venturing to China, and help explore business opportunities and arrange meetings. She has worked as a Mandarin-English interpreter and also has a good knowledge of Cantonese.

Christine Parry has worked with a number of public and commercial organisations managing the entire brand lifecycle. Christine led the New Zealand stage of ANZ Banking Group’s trans-Tasman corporate rebrand. She moved to Melbourne to develop ANZ’s trans-Tasman Wealth Management sub-brand.
More recently Christine managed the revision and update of New Zealand’s trade brand New Zealand New Thinking and re-launched the associated Brand Partner Programme, which enables exporting companies to use the New Zealand Fern trademark overseas. She also headed New Zealand Trade and Enterprise’s six-country research programme to discover the offshore perceptions and realities of doing business with New Zealand exporters.

Dr Jeff Simmonds is a writer, web designer and filmmaker based on the Kapiti Coast. He develops new concepts to help businesses promote themselves through the internet and social media, including video for websites. He has developed many websites over the last 10 years for businesses and corporate clients including Bartley and Company Art.
Jeff’s latest film A Very Nice Honeymoon was screened in film festivals in China, Japan, Germany and the US. He won the New Zealand New Filmmaker of the Year award in 1996.

Jayn Verkerk runs Wonder Design in Petone. Her clients include Learning Media and Te Papa Press. She holds a visual communications degree from Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam, where she began her career designing for the arts and cultural sector. She has also worked in Melbourne.
Jayn takes a creative, analytical approach to design. She is inspired by the Dutch design tradition and great typography. She designed a catalogue of exporters for Aviation New Zealand’s trade mission to India in 2009, and also designed this website.

Having lived overseas, we understand how New Zealand is perceived and the challenges of making an impact outside home. We are experienced in sifting through information and creating compelling story lines that are tailored for an audience and make a visual impact. We are trained in good presentation skills. We know that people only get excited about what touches them emotionally and will involve them in the future. Anecdotes are vital detail.

We understand from industry observers that many company leaders don’t appreciate that their stories need to be much stronger and can be. If our clients are open to changing the way they present themselves, our services will give them more confidence and improve their persuasiveness.