Melanie Brewer

Melanie’s career began in law, where she specialised in commercial and employment law before making the shift into People & Culture. At New Zealand Post she gained deep experience across business partnering, organisational development, and project leadership, working within one of New Zealand’s largest HR teams. She later joined Humankind (then HR Shop), where for almost a decade she has worked as both a Senior Consultant and trusted Associate, balancing long-term client partnerships with project-based advisory. Today, she combines her legal grounding, HR depth, and executive coaching accreditation to help organisations navigate growth, change, and leadership development.

Melanie is recognised for her ability to quickly build trusted relationships, deliver results at pace, and act as a confidant and safe pair of hands for leaders. With strengths in deep analysis, coaching, communication and facilitation, she helps leaders step into confidence, teams connect and perform, and cultures take shape. Clients value her empathy, considered advice, and blend of commercial acumen with genuine care.

At Humankind, Melanie has partnered for a number of years with Accuro Health Insurance to strengthentheir HR function from the ground up, lifting leadership capability and culture to deliver strong engagement and performance. At New Zealand Post, she supported large-scale organisational change, coaching leaders and employees through transition with humanity and impact. She is equally proud of the one-to-one coaching moments where leaders unlock their best selves and ripple that growth through their teams.

Melanie believes that happy people drive successful businesses. She is motivated by helping leaders and organisations create great employee experiences, knowing that when leaders thrive, so do their teams — and performance follows.

Empathetic, straight-up, and deeply reliable. Melanie listens closely, delivers what’s needed with pace and quality, and brings humour and warmth to the journey. Clients know her as a trusted advisor who will think deeply, challenge respectfully, and always go the extra mile to add value.