Passion for fashion – Meet Ange Leonard, Managing Morrison Square

Passion for fashion – Meet Ange Leonard, Managing Morrison Square

It’s a shopper’s dream, Morrison Square has great retail shops all in one convenient spot.

This style of retail cluster doesn’t just organise itself. Meet Ange, the person behind keeping it running smoothly. How does someone learn the skills to manage a diverse shopping centre like this?

The answer is it’s been a lifelong journey. Ange has had a very interesting and varied work life so we thought it would be interesting to share a bit about her journey.

Born and raised in Canterbury, she entered the workforce as a nanny/office junior for the owners of Scenic Hotel Group. It was clear that her passion for people and working with a team was what she was born to do.

Her next job was working for a freight forwarding company based at Christchurch Airport. Need 5 tonnes of fresh seafood shipped to Sydney? Ange made it happen. Not an easy task as you could imagine!

It was there where she met her husband Paul, who went into business running City Seafood Market in the Christchurch CBD. Ange needed to help work in the new company which won several awards and supplied local restaurants with top quality seafood.

Things were going extremely well until the big earthquake completely destroyed their building and business and after a very stressful time, they decided to move up to Nelson as Paul had an exciting job offer, he just couldn’t turn down.

“I fondly remember Christmas summer holidays at Kaiteriteri and Tahunanui Motor Camp, so Nelson was a very attractive option. It was a good time for a change and a fresh start, so I

completed my studies in Fashion design and this lead to working with Air New Zealand fitting the newly designed inflight uniforms which was an amazing process.”

With a passion for fashion, she worked for Postie Plus and looked after 18 retail stores in the South Island.

“I love people. I also love the buzz of the CBD. We have a huge passion for our community here in Nelson and have hosted some fun events like fashion shows, night markets, high teas and more.  We’ve run fundraisers for the Nelson Regional Breast Cancer & Gynaecological Trust which has raised close to $100,000. It’s really neat to be part of this community and be able to make a difference.”

Visit their website for more info www.morrisonsquare.co.nz