Meet Our Team

Our team at Likeable Lab is made up of Likeable people.

We’re a diverse team of social media managers, social media content creators, graphic designers, ad wizards, blog enthusiasts, data crunchers and copywriters. Bringing all of these strengths together, we’re a strong team of industry experts making social media marketing magic.

In order to master social, we get social. Building strong relationships with our clients is vital to our process. We want to understand your business and your customers and develop a strategy to help you put your best foot forward with social media marketing.

We hope you have fun meeting us (below) and what makes us tick…

Nick McDonald Head of Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Icon image of Nick McDonald Head Honcho at Likeable Lab

Likeable Nick (aka Nick McDonald)

Head Honcho:
With a background in trading and financial markets, Nick has a keen eye for financials. Our ‘ROI’ man, Nick constantly challenges us to strive for excellence and get real returns for our customers. He’s also pretty good at setting the challenge on the foosball table!

Likes: Fishing, delivering excellence for customers, growing businesses, coffee, wine, rugby (the All Blacks and his kids’ teams)

Dislikes: Tomatoes, bad customer service, waiting in queues, letting anyone down.

Emojis: 🎣 ☕ 🍚

Location: Tauranga, New Zealand

Nicola Farrant Social Mastermind at Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Icon Image of Nicola Farrant Social Mastermind at Likeable Lab

Likeable Nicola (aka Nicola Farrant)

Social Mastermind:
Nicola is a renaissance woman who loves learning new things. So when social media platforms throw something new our way, Nicola gets right into it, and constantly adapts to the changes. She loves to learn about new businesses and clients and show how Likeable Lab can help them grow. She also has an eagle eye for detail.

Likes: Baking, op shopping, Friday drinks

Dislikes: Wasting time, not loading the dishwasher, injustice

Emojis: 😜 🥂 💃

Location: Tauranga, New Zealand

Phil Waylen Chief Commander at Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Icon image of Phil Waylen, Chief Commander at Likeable Lab

Likeable Phil (aka Phil Waylen)

Chief Commander:
Phil is the ringmaster of this circus. He multi-tasks across both our creative and ads teams and is our chief of quality control. He takes sport far too seriously and has a habit of using a sporting analogy to describe any situation. He also has the world’s longest to-do list.

Likes: Foosball, DIY, burgers, white chocolate

Dislikes: Tequila, reality TV and green bananas

Emojis: 🛠 🏏 🍔

Location: Tauranga, New Zealand

Susanne Irwin Admin Ninja at Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Likeable Susanne (aka Susanne Irwin)

Admin Ninja:
Susanne looks after the details so the rest of the team can focus on getting likes and leads for our clients. She’s a whiz on a spreadsheet, never one to leave things unfinished, and thrives on being busy (lucky for us). And, just so you know, her name is actually pronounced Susanna.

Likes: Hanging with her kids, Stewart Island, her cat and dog, hiking in the mountains

Dislikes: Bad coffee, wetas, unreliable people

Emojis: 🐑 ⛰ ☕

Location: Tauranga, New Zealand (from Germany)

Likeable Julia (aka Julia Proverbs)

Blogging Wizard:
Ex journo and cat-lover Julia is our resident blog writer and we’d say she’s pretty puuuurfect. With the ability to wear many different hats (metaphorically, of course) Julia swaps between voices and styles with ease, sprinkling her writing expertise wherever she goes. Plus, she pulls some pretty paw-some ideas out the bag too!

Likes: Family time, chilling with her 4 cats, long bush walks, anything with sugar in it.

Dislikes: Cooking, huhu bugs, insincerity.

Emojis: 🐱🌳🍬

Location: Tauranga, New Zealand

Carole Bettendroffer Project Superstar at Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Likeable Carole (aka Carole Bettendroffer)

Project Superstar:
Carole is a keen social media user who has an eagle eye for detail and a love for original content. Carole is super organised and heads up a lot of our special projects that require creativity and originality.

Likes: Cooking, travelling, a good glass of wine

Dislikes: Spiders, weak internet connection, traffic jams

Emojis: 🍓 🍷 ✈️

Location: Tauranga, New Zealand (from Luxembourg)

Polly Arnold Content Warrior at Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Likeable Polly (aka Polly Arnold)

Content Warrior:
With a background in fashion marketing, Polly dresses words to impress. She not only writes capturing, engaging content she knows what looks good too. Some would say that’s a double-whammy, or 2-4-1. Polly loves to create brand stories and emotive content that connects brands to their people.

Likes: To-do lists, gooey brownies, adventuring

Dislikes: Rain, bad attitudes, olives

Emojis: ✈️ 🏄‍♀️ 🥑

Location: Tauranga, New Zealand (from England)

Likeable Kate (aka Kate Sutherland)

Design Champion:
From graphic design to publishing, advertising and marketing, Kate really can (and has) done it all. Her exceptional communication skills and eye for design make her an important asset to the Likeable team. When she’s not got her head in Adobe Creative Cloud, she is spending time collecting Crown Lynn pottery and hanging out with her many animals and family.

Likes: Gardening, Typography, Potatoes (any way)

Dislikes: Lateness, Prawns, Being Cold

Emojis: 🦄🐶😘

Location: Tauranga, New Zealand

Likeable Maria (aka Maria Page)

Content Marvel:
Part-time Likeable content whizz and part-time mum of 3, Maria is the office superwoman. Whether it’s running multiple marathons a year or volunteering for local charities dear to her heart, she is one active woman. In her down time, she likes to stay busy, drink tea (and coffee!), read books, and try to interpret the inner workings of her kids’ minds with friends and food!.

Likes: Food, Running, Being active

Dislikes: Brushing kids teeth, Bullies, Toenails

Emojis:

Location: Tauranga, New Zealand

Likeable Alex (aka Alex Gillespie)

Insta Guru:
Having grown up in the little tourism hub of Lake Taupo surrounded by nature and adventure, Alex always had an urge to explore the world, which he did for the past 4 years. An ads whizz, video marketing genius and photography wonder, he is the definition of a triple threat. His pivotal role requires working between the ads and creative team to ensure that exceptional content is produced and seen by the right people. Oh and beating Nick at foosball..

Likes: Sunshine, photography, hanging out with the boys

Dislikes: Negativity

Emojis: 🙌😂🌴

Location: Tauranga, New Zealand

Paul Harrison Client Whisperer at Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Icon Picture of Paul Harrison, Client Whisperer at Likeable Lab

Likeable Paul (aka Paul Harrison)

Client Whisperer:
Paul loves to chat. He meets new (potential) clients, gets to know them and their businesses. He comes up with bespoke strategies to cater to our client’s needs and makes sure our clients are happy as Larry.

Likes: Rugby, coastal bike rides, Social Media.

Dislikes: Brussel sprouts and soap operas

Emojis: 😉 ✌ 🏝

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Ryan Schofield Education boss at Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Icon picture of Ryan Schofield at Likeable lab

Likeable Ryan (aka Ryan Schofield)

Education boss:
This chatty South African, who resides in the sunny Gold Coast, heads up the education division. He works for our clients producing educational material and sending it out on social media, making sure it’s being seen by the right people.

Likes: Craft beer, surfing, road trips (without the kids)

Dislikes: Buffering, tardiness, shaving, road trips (with the kids)

Emojis: 🏄 👨‍👩‍👧 😂

Location: Gold Coast, Australia

Stephen Haupt Wisdom Bearer at Likeable lab Social Media Agency

Icon Picture of Stephen Haupt, Wisdom Bearer at Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Likeable Stephen (aka Stephen Haupt)

Wisdom bearer:
Stephen is our voice of reason. Originally a mentor to our head honcho, Nick, he’s now Likeable Lab’s Non-executive Chairman. With a mountain of management experience, he works hard deciding future strategies and opportunities for Likeable Lab.

Likes: His family and 2 Cockapoo dogs, playing golf and skiing.

Dislikes: Quitters, guns and bureaucracy.

Location: Bournemouth, England

Emojis: 🥃 🥘 🏌

Swati Patani Money Magician at Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Icon Picture of Swati Patani Accountant at Likeable Lab

Likeable Swati (aka Swati Patani)

Money Magician:
Swati mostly has her head in our books. Making sure our accounts are looking in tip-top shape and we are operating a well-oiled machine. Swati is the almighty accountant who fixes the problems, we never knew we had.

Likes: Avocados, languages, wittiness, making lists.

Dislikes: cold weather, people who do not follow through on things, beetles and bugs (especially the flying ones!!)

Emojis: 📽 ☀️ 😉

Location: London, England

Rakesh Rakhra Content Composer at Likeable Lab Social Media Agency

Likeable Rakesh (aka Rakesh Rakhra)

Content Composer:
Just like a music composer, Rakesh brings together greatness. He creates content to educate, challenge and motivate our client’s audience to leave them feeling inspired.

Likes: Playing the piano, gourmet bacon cheeseburgers, watching Scotland Rugby win.

Dislikes: Onion on pizza, time wasting, Scottish weather, bad car parking.

Emojis: 📸 🕺🍕

Location: Glasgow, Scotland

Who we are, what we do:

Meet Our Team

Likeable Nick (aka Nick McDonald)

Likeable Nicola (aka Nicola Farrant)

Likeable Phil (aka Phil Waylen)

Likeable Susanne (aka Susanne Irwin)

Likeable Julia (aka Julia Proverbs)

Likeable Carole (aka Carole Bettendroffer)

Likeable Polly (aka Polly Arnold)

Likeable Kate (aka Kate Sutherland)

Likeable Maria (aka Maria Page)

Likeable Alex (aka Alex Gillespie)

Likeable Paul (aka Paul Harrison)

Likeable Ryan (aka Ryan Schofield)

Likeable Stephen (aka Stephen Haupt)

Likeable Swati (aka Swati Patani)

Likeable Rakesh (aka Rakesh Rakhra)

Who we are, what we do:

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