PR for founders and businesses with a story worth telling properly.
Hi, I’m Wanda. PR came naturally before it was a career, and now I do it for people who are trying to fit it in around everything else.
“Wanda was my coach, my sounding board and my greatest champion.”
Kate Shanks, Founder, Oria Skin
My Story
I learned what good PR comes down to in my parents’ café, helping out when I could while I was studying, watching them do everything themselves through the early starts and the late finishes. I understood early that people come back for trusted quality, personal connection and the feeling that they matter. Those lessons stayed with me, and they’re why I listen first, build a strategy around what you actually want to achieve and stay by your side to make it happen.
I’m a Wellington-based PR strategist, communications specialist and filmmaker, working with clients wherever they are. For me the strategy and the story get made together. WHL is my initials, and whatever a project needs and whoever joins it, I’m the one you work with.
I’ve worked across local and central government, the arts, startups and community organisations, from shooting as an army photojournalist in the back hills of Waiouru to promoting my own independent films internationally.
At CraftInc. Films, the company I co-founded, I take a film project from idea to audience, doing the creative, the production, the funding, the media and the distribution, often with our own work and money on the line. It’s the same job I do for clients, and I know what works because I’ve had to make it work.
Through all of it, the way I work with people hasn’t changed. Clients tell me that after our conversations they feel heard, clearer about what they want and relieved that someone is finally in their corner. That’s what I’m here for.
Wanda Lepionka, Founder
This is what WHL PR in your corner looks like.
Strategic PR
The thinking behind everything.
Before anything else, I work out a clear picture of where you are, where you want to be, and the smartest path to get there.
The outcome is a deliberate and intentional strategy that puts your own story at the centre of it, in front of the right people.
You leave with total clarity on your story, your audience and your next move.
Campaign planning
When you have a specific moment to own.
A product launch, a rebrand, an event, a funding announcement. These are moments that deserve a focused strategy, not a rushed plan. Working together from your strategy foundation, I map out the full campaign from start to finish, across the right channels, to the right audiences, with the data to measure what’s working and prove the result.
You leave with a campaign built around your moment that is planned, focused and measurable.
How I work with you
I bring senior strategic leadership to every client relationship, and when a project needs more, the right specialists come with it. Designers, filmmakers or digital experts, whoever your story needs.
You get the right team, built specifically around you.
Content and communications
Where plans become reality.
Because I understand how visual storytelling works, I help you create content that connects with the people who matter. I build media relationships, develop content strategies and create the material that brings your story to life across all the places your audience pays attention. I track what’s working and report back, so we can adjust as we go.
You leave with an integrated system you can keep using after we’ve finished working together.
On standby and advisory
The person you call first.
Maybe you want someone in your corner month to month. Or maybe you have an interview to prepare for, a document to review, or an unexpected media call to navigate.
Every conversation counts.
Get in touch to find out what works best for you.
Oria Skin
“I cannot recommend Wanda enough, she’s absolutely incredible. From the moment I rebranded to Oria Skin, Wanda put together a concise, flawless media kit that included everything I could possibly need. Beyond her exceptional PR skills, Wanda’s mentorship and on-call support make her feel like a true part of my team. She’s personable, thoughtful, and endlessly generous with her expertise. I would recommend her 10,000 times over!
Wanda really gets to know your brand and understands the voice and target audience so well. She has sound ideas for campaigns and uses her connections to get things happening!
I love that I can call Wanda at any time and get her advice on something and has been really helpful in a crisis. Fairy godmother of PR!”
Kate Shanks, Founder & CEO
Oria Skin
How a sharper story and the right PR got Oria Skin in front of the people who mattered.
Opportunity
Oria Skin was born in Gisborne, New Zealand, out of founder Kate’s own experience of hormonal skin changes during pregnancy.
As a qualified aromatherapist, Kate turned to bioactive ingredients to formulate skincare that was both baby-friendly and made for hormonal skin. What started as something made for herself grew into a brand with a loyal word-of-mouth following.
To grow beyond that, Kate needed to reach a wider community of people looking for the same balance.
Solution
I built the strategy around Kate’s own story, from unexpected skin changes in pregnancy to formulating her own plant-powered range.
From there I pitched to beauty editors, wellness journalists and parent platforms, and profiled Kate herself in business media to build her credibility as a founder.
I built partnerships with lifestyle, wellness and clean beauty voices already talking to the same people.
Alongside the media work, I proposed a launch newspaper, wrote it and worked with Kate on the design. The Oria Times featured the product reveals, an interview with a perimenopause specialist, a launch-day offer and, for a bit of fun, an Oria Skin horoscope column.
Result
Features in Air New Zealand’s Kia Ora, Remix Magazine and New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, alongside targeted digital coverage, gave Oria Skin a sustained media presence. In the year that followed, sales grew 30% year-on-year.
The brand shifted from product-focused to story-driven, and built a community that connects with Kate’s story and advocates for her.
Kate is still building on that, commissioning photography and content that reflects her audience.
South Coast Arts Trail
How two years of content strategy, artist short films and a brand refresh helped grow a grassroots community event into a fixture on Wellington’s arts calendar.
Opportunity
The South Coast Arts Trail is a not-for-profit annual event connecting artists, visitors, locals and businesses across Wellington’s South Coast. Getting it onto Wellington’s events calendar means more people coming to the South Coast, discovering artists and creatives, and supporting local businesses along the way.
After three successful years, 2025 was a pivotal moment, including a move to spring for the first time, a push for new sponsors and funders, and a more sustainable platform to match the Trail’s growing ambitions. Its biggest challenge was a lack of original content to build a campaign on.
Solution
I took on the Trail’s Communications Lead role pro bono, applying the strategic approach I use with WHL PR clients and the production standard I bring as a filmmaker at CraftInc. Films. Over two weekends in 2025, I directed and co-produced sixteen short films with a crew of recently graduated filmmakers, each film running ten minutes or more and profiling a South Coast artist or organisation. The films became the campaign’s strategic centre, driving traffic across two editions.
In 2026 I remastered and regraded the series for the big screen as Art of Making, a three-session documentary programme screened at Wellington’s Empire Cinema over the Trail weekend.
Alongside the films, I helped lead the Trail’s brand refresh in 2025 and ran the creative and communications output across both years. This included managing the website build, writing core copy, media relations, day-to-day social media and live coverage across the Trail weekends. Facing tighter budgets in 2026, I made the case for a passport-sized visitor guide and map, which the team then developed. It cut costs while making the guide easier for visitors to carry and use on the day.
Result
I secured coverage well beyond the Trail’s own channels, through local radio, print and community listings, and, for the first time, a featured spot with WellingtonNZ, the Wellington Region’s Economic Development Agency. The digital strategy behind that work drove Instagram reach up nearly 100% year-on-year, with website traffic and Google Search clicks each growing 30%, much of it in an 18-day launch window.
The South Coast Arts Trail was also named a finalist in the Wellington City category of the 2026 Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards.
Art of Making opened to a full house on its first night, with strong attendance across all three screenings.
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