About
Based in Aotearoa New Zealand, Daylight has worked nationally and internationally with partners at home and abroad, and built and retained trusted relationships every step of the way.
With this mix of great relationships and expert partners, Daylight can bring together a fit-for-purpose team to meet your needs. With varied perspectives, Daylight is able to get to the core of an issue, develop the strategy to resolve it, and offer practical advice for implementation.
Daylight can help with regional and national strategy development and implementation, individual funding approaches, business case development, growth strategies, bids and feasibilities. Daylight has delivered workshops, conducted extensive stakeholder engagement and analysis, facilitated panels, presented to elected members, and led public consultation, internal reviews and public reports.
Why the name “Daylight”? Natural daylight helps you to see what’s around you: it’s open, honest and transparent. Through its work, Daylight uncovers or enhances existing assets, finding solutions for identified gaps, and delivering outcomes that last by building on inherent, natural strengths with a clear path forward.
To illustrate the point, to “daylight” a stream that has been built over is to return it to its natural condition. Doing so improves the local environment, has well-being benefits to the people who live around it, and given time can provide economic benefits too. That sums up what Daylight helps you to do: uncover those gems which will achieve the best for a place and its people.
Susan Sawbridge
Susan Sawbridge (Sooz) is Daylight’s Director. She has 25 years of experience working in and around the visitor economy, sport and the arts, starting in international education, moving into tourism, then business events and finally a focus on major events, holding national and international leadership roles.
Sooz brings together a wide range of experts through her connections at home and offshore, tailored to suit the needs of each project.
Sooz led the New Zealand government’s major events arm for five years. Her team managed all aspects of government involvement for events including the FIFA Women's World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, Women's Cricket World Cup, World Choir Games and the America's Cup. Underpinning it all was a substantial refresh of New Zealand’s event strategy and its implementation. She was also the link with the events industry during the tumultuous COVID-19 years.
Prior to this, Sooz held Stakeholder Relationship and Event Prospecting roles for Auckland.
Sooz is currently the Chair of Women in Sport Aotearoa, a not-for-profit champion for gender equity in sport and physical activity. She is a Director on the Super Rugby Pacific Governance Board, a competition that extends across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific. She is also on the Board of adaptMTB, a charity with a vision of achieving equity for people with adaptive needs to access and enjoy mountain biking.
Sooz was a founding member of the International Association of Event Hosts, building long lasting connections and friendships with event hosts around the world. During her time as Chair (2019-2022) the association developed its long-term strategic plan to advance international advocacy, knowledge sharing and networking to connect the world’s leading major event hosts.
These collective experiences have seen Sooz develop a deep understanding and global view of motivations and systems of local authorities, governments, suppliers, sporting federations and rights holders.
Contact: susan@daylightnz.com
LinkedIn: (99+) Susan Sawbridge | LinkedIn
Mobile: +64 (0)21 227 7032