Getting to know Victoria Smith –the new CEO (and dishwasher) of UpsideDowns

Where were you born/raised?

I was born in North Yorkshire in England. I was there till I was 26.

What first brought you to NZ?

A friend of a friend back from Australia told us “if you don’t absolutely love Australia, New Zealand is a really good place.” We were only in NZ for two days when we were looking into ways to stay. Not once did we try and think of ways to stay when we were in Australia!

What was your job before UpsideDowns?

I was a customer experience lead for Digital Boost working with small businesses across NZ to go digital.

What are you most excited about in the role?

Being able to share the amazing work of UpsideDowns with more people (and get more money for speech therapy so more children and young people with Down syndrome can get a voice!)

How much did you know about Down syndrome before this?

Not very much, especially about the speech therapy side of things so it’s an amazing learning curve coming up for me.

I have worked with families with children with different disabilities in the past.

What is awesome about UpsideDowns?

Everyone involved from the Board, the team, the members, the therapistseverybody contributing to the work that gets done. It’s so important because I now know that making sure children and young people with Down syndrome can communicate has knock-on effects into so many futures.

Where do you live?

In North-West Auckland.

Who is in your household?

My wonderful husband, my darling daughter who is nine years old, and my furry best friend Sam (a spoodle).

What’s your favourite breakfast?

Very, very creamy mushrooms on toast!

What book would you take to a desert island?

Matilda by Roald Dahl

First album you owned?

Whitney Houston’s self-titled album.

If you could get any celebrity to be an ambassador for UpsideDowns, who would it be?

The King of communication both verbal and non-verbal – Rowan Atkinson.