Where are they now?

Where are they now?

Shana Llorando – Singer/Songwriter (2010 Winner)

Shana is beginning to make her musical dreams a reality thanks to the AMP Scholarship that she was awarded last year.

Shana is an ambitious, driven and extremely talented 17 year-old high school student from Sancta Maria College, who last year was awarded an AMP Scholarship to help her do her thing, which is singing and song writing.

Her goal was to have a professionally recorded, promoted and distributed studio album to promote her music and showcase her talent to internationally acclaimed musicians, pushing her closer to a (hopefully world) renowned music career.

As a result of winning an AMP Scholarship, she’s now recorded her first single, and is scheduled to release it in May 2011.

Shana’s drive and passion has inspired a new AMP Scholarship category – Study Start – which will award one Year 12 or Year 13 student with $15,000 towards their tertiary studies, so they do great things.

Kathryn Wilson - Footwear Designer (2002 Winner)
Kathryn has made her dream a reality and truly believes that AMP’s support helped it happen.

Kathryn won a $5,000 AMP Scholarship in 2002 and says that she can't explain how grateful she is to AMP for getting it. She used the Scholarship to create a sample range of shoes, which led to her very own range for New Zealand fashion design company, Caroline Sills.

Kathryn also utilised the money for a launch party held in a gallery in Auckland, which resulted in some great publicity for her work, resulting in orders from shops and many articles in influential magazines, newspapers, websites and on TV.

Kathryn had just started working for Caroline Sills as a knitwear designer when she was awarded the AMP Scholarship. Winning it justified to the owners of Caroline Sills that she was serious about designing shoes and they backed her in making her own range. It also meant that factories in New Zealand took her seriously because she had AMP's name behind her, giving her credibility instead of "being just a girl who loved shoes."

This is now Kathryn’s eighth year of business and she designs more than 20 different styles per season,sold in 60 boutiques throughout New Zealand and the world. Her total sales have grown at least 20 per cent on each year, resulting in a healthy and prosperous business.

Kathryn thinks the AMP Scholarship programme is absolutely fantastic and says that she wouldn't be where she is today without AMP. She also believes the profile of AMP was very helpful and her association with it still gains her respect with international manufacturers today (she often gives potential partners her press release which mentions her AMP Scholarship).

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