We believe everyone deserves a fair shot at life.
We're a small but mighty team who believe education — especially life and financial skills — is one of the greatest levellers of inequality.
Meet the people that bring the magic
It’s not what we teach — it’s how we teach it that creates change.
Phil
Phil co-founded Life101 and has facilitated its programmes since the beginning. He’s passionate about helping people build confidence, independence, and financial security — for themselves and their kids — and is never far from an inspirational speech.
Robyn
With over 30 years in leadership consulting in the business world, Robyn has built her career around making personal growth practical, relatable, and engaging. Life101’s work is a genuine love of hers, and her warmth and passion are felt in every programme.
Papa
Genuine and people-first, Papa prioritises meaningful connections over transactional relationships. His facilitation experience gives him a diverse and practical toolkit, and he considers it both an honour and a privilege to work with Life101’s participants.
Nik
Nik brings energy and passion to her facilitation. With a background in conscious leadership and personal development, she loves working at a grassroots level — meeting people where they are and helping them see opportunities they didn’t realise they had.
Founders Nick and Phil met in 2004 while studying together at university.
Humble beginnings
Nick and Phil decided to create a school holiday programme for teens. Life101 Ltd was formed, a website was built, and countless hours were spent writing the first manual — all while they were both working full-time jobs.
First School Holiday Programme
Life101 ran its first three-day School Holiday Programme. It was small, hands-on, slightly scrappy, and deeply encouraging — the story making it into the NZ Herald, where it was read by two lovely ladies (Jackie and Jayne) from Paremoremo Prison...
NZ Herald Article
First prison pilot
Life101 delivered a pilot with 12 men in the pre-release unit at Paremoremo Prison. The experience was challenging, humbling, and deeply impactful for the men involved, and it led to early Department of Corrections work across several Northern Region sites. Shortly after, Robyn read about Life101 in the Herald and was soon facilitating programmes with us in prisons too.
NZ Herald Article
Word spreads to schools
Word began to spread, and soon Life101 was delivering programmes in Services Academy schools, Alternative Education Centres, and other schools that wanted something real, practical, and useful for their young people.
A tough lesson to learn
Decisions made in Wellington meant our Department of Corrections funding was redirected toward accommodation for people leaving prison. It was a kick in the guts, but it showed us we needed a more sustainable funding model for our mission — we either had to close Life101 down or get creative.
Building Momentum
After a lot of help and some trial and error, Momentum Charitable Trust was established to sit alongside Life101 to support people in prison and on probation. With the support of community and philanthropic funders, we continued delivering life skills programmes to those who needed them most.
More about Momentum
Scaling the impact: Launchpad
Work began on creating Launchpad — an online version of the Life101 programmes for schools and teenagers. What began as a small online course soon grew into a three-year project that required investment and dedicated staff.
More about Launchpad
COVID hits, and hits hard
COVID arrives and overnight, all programmes in prisons and probation centres stop — along with all revenue — in a shutdown that lasted 18 months. The team was moved onto developing Launchpad and a mentor pilot under Momentum; it was a painful period for Life101 given the extended closures of prisons and probation centres.
Reopening and rebuilding
Prisons and probation centres finally reopened, and Life101 worked flat out to restart delivery. COVID came very close to ending Life101, but the team dug in and kept it alive.
Launchpad goes live
Secondary schools began trialling Launchpad, reaching over 600 teens in its first year. Teachers and students shared their feedback, which Life101 used to refine and improve the course. As demand for programmes in prisons grew, Life101 hired its second full-time facilitator (Papa!), while Momentum began a pilot of its mentor programme for people being released from prison.
Inviting the community in
Life101 committed to two new initiatives: ‘Second Shot Coffee’ and ‘Turning the Page’ in 2026. For the first time, these initiatives will enable everyday New Zealanders to directly support Life101’s work — and, in doing so, support people rebuilding their lives after prison. A third full-time facilitator also started with us, based in the South Island (Nik).
More about 'Turning the Page'