Episode 129

Living A Purpose-Filled Life with Penelope Thompson

This week on the podcast I talk to one of my very best friends Penelope Thompson. I have known Penny since 1998 when we met at university and lived together for 2 years. It’s my great pleasure to share this special person with the listeners of Transformations with Jayne. As well as being my friend, Penny is also an amazing mother of three very special boys, and Director Group Communications at Māia Studios. Penny has faced some sizable challenges in her life and has lots of wisdom to share with you all about resilience, determination and taking control of your own story.

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of yourself listening to the episode on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me and Penelope, @transformationswithjayne and @thompson_penelope 

or send us a message here.


In this episode you’ll hear:

  • How Penelope and I met and became friends many moons ago
  • The big life change that happened four years ago that forced Penelope to completely reimagine and restructure her life
  • About Penelope’s experiences parenting neurodiverse children and children with serious medical challenges
  • What ‘independent parenting’ is and why Penelope prefers it to other terms like single parent or solo parent
  • About Penelope’s current work with Māia Studios, a communications company focused on purpose and making a difference in the world


About Penelope:

Penelope is Director Group Communications at Māia, which is building a home for kaupapa driven communications in Aotearoa. Penelope leads the workflow of the team and helps to oversee the Māia Cause and Māia Startup pou.

Penelope brings more than a decade of experience spanning the full range of communications specialties. Adept at working closely with businesses to link communications with business strategy and impact, she has a track record of calm, skilful delivery of results, every time.

Based in Onehunga where she is raising her three boys, Penelope has qualifications in Politics, French, Italian, PR and Communications. It is a love of language and diversity that brought Penelope into the industry. It’s her passion for delivering outstanding communications that shift perceptions and make a measurable difference in the world that keeps her here.


Connect with Penelope:

Māia Studios Website: https://maiastudio.co/

Māia Studios Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maiastudionz

Māia Studios IG: https://www.instagram.com/maiastudionz/

Personal IG: https://www.instagram.com/thompson_penelope

LinkedIn: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/penelope-thompson-a843ab1b4


Connect with Jayne:

PodLaunch with Jayne: https://www.jaynenakata.com/podcastconsulting


About the Podcast

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Transformations with Jayne
Creating community through the power of podcasting

About your hosts

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Jayne Nakata

Jayne is on a mission to help more women enter the podcasting world with her PodLaunch with Jayne system and Transformations with Jayne Podcast. She is also the Co-Host of the Jandals in Japan Podcast.
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Joanna Tindling

Jo is the amazing support behind Transformations with Jayne,
Assistant producer
Guest manager
Social media assistant