Creating healthy emotional human connections

The genesis

A Few Quiet Yarns started 16 years ago with a simple observation: the tech industry is full of brilliant people who only ever meet each other through sales pitches. So we made a room with one rule, no selling, and invited people to turn up as themselves. Meet the person, not the suit.

It worked. The people everyone said were impossible to reach kept coming back, because it was the one room where nobody wanted anything from them except a decent yarn. Trust, once earned, compounds: attendees became friends, friends made introductions, and a network became a community.

The evolution

What began as networking events has grown into an ecosystem that looks after its own: events across Auckland and Wellington, team building that brings the AFQY craft inside organisations, the Kiwiana programme helping New Kiwis crack the local workplace, careers support with mentoring from retired CIOs, and now this platform, the yarn continuing between events.

The ethos hasn't moved an inch: we may not have grown up together, but we'll look after you like we're old school mates.

The purpose

Our ambition is to be New Zealand's human connection leader, using what we know about how people actually work (neuroscience included) to enable connection, support wellbeing, and prove every single day that win-win-win collaboration works.