Kristy McGregor

2021 Women of Influence finalist: Celebrating rural voices

Kristy McGregor moved to New Zealand from Australia in 2014. She settled in the Manawatū and her rural background led to two of the steps she took once she arrived. She completed a Master of Agriculture through Massey in 2020 completely via distance study, whilst juggling a new baby and a full-time job. In the same year, she launched a new quarterly magazine, ‘Shepherdess’, which aims to “connect, empower and inspire”. It’s for this magazine that Kristy has been nominated in the category of Primary Industries. 

Noticing that social isolation among rural people was prevalent in New Zealand, Kristy wanted to create a magazine that would offer a voice and inspiration to rural women – she was familiar with the Australian magazine ‘Graziher’.

Kristy says that being disciplined to give the time to study with so many other things pulling her in different directions was “actually bloody hard. I am grateful for the care and interest of my research project supervisors, who really kept me on track (or steered me back on track when I needed it!) and helped me get to the finish line.” 

To new grads joining our Massey alumni community, Kristy says this: “The world is your oyster! Look for work in an area you are intrigued by or think you’ll enjoy, not the kind of role you think you should be applying for. You are likely to have many different roles in your career, and where you end up might be completely unrelated to your degree (on first glance). A career is about collecting all those experiences. And each one is likely to come in handy down the track, in ways you might not even know yet!”