Nicola Toki has been a ‘nature nerd’ for as long as she can remember, and is deeply passionate about Aotearoa New Zealand’s endemic wildlife, and especially telling stories about it to anyone who will listen! Studying Zoology and Natural History Filmmaking at Otago University, (which led her to spending a summer on an island on the Antarctic Peninsula researching Adelie penguins), Nic feels very lucky to have built a career as a champion for nature – and believes that telling people stories of hope drives action to protect the species we love. Nic lives in North Canterbury with her husband Chris, son Hunter, and a collection of ‘wildlife’ including Bess the dog, Topaz the tiny horse, a handful of sinister chickens and a born-to-be-wild cat called Pango (don’t ask!) who slinks in most evenings for a meal he doesn’t appreciate.

Nicola has had a varied career working in conservation in a number of roles for organisations such as the Department of Conservation (DOC), OSPRI NZ (TB Free), Fonterra (Living Water) and Forest & Bird. Nicola has also been a writer, researcher and presenter of more than 200 episodes of Meet the Locals for TVNZ and DOC, and most recently is a presenter for Endangered Species Aotearoa (which you can watch on TVNZ+). Nicola has been running a weekly segment on RNZ afternoons since 2015 called Critter of the Week with Jesse Mulligan, where they discuss the most unknown, unloved or ugly wildlife in New Zealand which deserves more limelight and love.