About us

Narrative Muse is an Aotearoa New Zealand startup using deep tech for good.

Our platform offers tailored recommendations that match user preferences with books, movies and TV shows that are aligned to their identity, interests and values.

We’re building a technology that uses forward looking data to learn what underrepresented audiences would like to read and watch – even when these stories don’t exist yet.

This technology helps prevent content echo chambers by recommending books, movies and TV shows based on users’ preferences, rather than what they’ve read or watched in the past.

Then, using this hard-to-obtain data, we provide valuable insights to screen producers and publishers to express and highlight under-served market gaps.

The Narrative Muse platform offers recommendations from real people. We plan to maintain our current community-led content curation model while enhancing it with AI to gather deep, global knowledge about entertainment by and about underrepresented groups.

Join the revolution!

When you sign up with Narrative Muse, you’re doing more than just discovering awesome book, movie, and TV recommendations. You’re supporting underrepresented storytellers, you’re telling content producers what you want to read and watch, AND you’re helping to create more of the stories you crave. 

In short, you’re changing the game. 

Together, we can transform the entertainment industry into one that supports underrepresented audiences.

Join Narrative Muse today and be part of the representation revolution.

Meet our team

Say hi to Brough Johnson, Co-CEO of Narrative Muse. She’s our original instigator and Co-founder. She loves to work on solutions to big problems, particularly ones that involve social equity. Previously a film and TV Editor of shows like Emmy®-winning series Rūrangi, as well as Power Rangers, The Brokenwood Mysteries, and Westside, she’s now supporting Narrative Muse's vision of representation and belonging in entertainment. When not attempting to read and watch everything ever made, she's usually on her back porch hanging out with her queer and ally community. After being raised in the US, Brough lives in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Nigel Lopez-McBean is also Co-CEO of Narrative Muse. He was Emmy®-nominated for Disney's SHOOK and Cannes Lion-winner for brand campaign work with Ricky Gervais for Netflix. Originally from the UK and of part Jamaican, part Spanish origin, Nigel is now based in Sydney, Australia, via stints working in Los Angeles and Aotearoa New Zealand. He enjoys finding new, collaborative ways to make things happen involving great people, creative intuition, and insights. He's done this with global brands like Sonos, Levi's, Lyft, Disney, Amazon, Netflix, Apple, and United Nations. He’s also an ex-postman and bookseller, so the content delivery thing runs pretty deep.

Sarvajith Ravishankar, Chief Digital Officer is a technology executive who has delivered technology transformation and digital products for a number of iconic NZ brands including 2 Degrees, Spark, Blind and Low Vision NZ, Fletcher Building and Jucy Group. Jith is also a passionate entrepreneur who founded and grew start-ups like ClubGroups, a cricket stats management platform which was part of the IceHouse and Tambura Foods, a FMCG business with products stocked all over NZ through foodstuffs and progressives.

Simone Pakieto is our Partnerships and Operations Manager, and a mother of five in a big blended family that spends a lot of time eating good food and watching great movies together. She is super-proud of her Niuean heritage and calls the island of Niue “The Rock of Polynesia” home, even though she was born and raised in Aotearoa New Zealand. In addition to her loves of dancing, reading, and events (planning and attending!) Simone channels her creativity through her family’s small business, Spacifically Yours.

Courtney Schafer is Lead Data Scientist at Narrative Muse. Before moving to Aotearoa, she designed algorithms to interpret imagery from satellites and spacecraft, while writing a trilogy of epic fantasy novels on the side. Courtney has always been passionate about helping others discover under-read books and forgotten authors. When not working or writing, she figure skates, climbs mountains, and chases after her insanely active spoodle. Courtney lives with her husband and son in the rural township of Lake Hawea.

Ed Waldegrave is the Product Designer and Marketer for Narrative Muse. After stints as a pilot, flying instructor, entrepreneur and digital marketing expert, he now uses his marketing and technology savvy to coordinate and develop NM's platform, product, and overall look and feel. Working with good people and doing meaningful work is really important to him, as is good food, great friends and time spent outdoors.

Amita Kala is Marketing and Communications Manager for Narrative Muse. Based in Aotearoa, Amita is a plant-based feminist that loves all form of digital content - especially ones related to food, diversity, representation and, those that aren't triggering about old patriarchal narratives! In her spare time you'll find her advocating for various non-profits, doing group yoga sessions, helping her friends run political campaigns and making random content to post on Tiktok!

Jessie Kollen is Editorial Manager at Narrative Muse. She takes care of editorial systems and our contributors – and their excellent contributions. A fun-loving feminist, environmentalist and writer, Jessie grew up without a TV, so books are treasures and watching movies whenever she wants still feels like a treat. You’ll find her in Europe or Aotearoa New Zealand.

Atyia Police is an Editor at Narrative Muse. She has degrees in French Literature and Health Science, which lend themselves to the fantastical scenarios she cooks up in the screenplays she writes. She’s a lover of films and can be found anticipating adventures at local cinemas. Atyia spends evenings working at the hospital or volunteering. During the day, she’s an instructional designer at a non-profit NGO in Canada.

Danna Petersen-Deeprose is the Database Editor for Narrative Muse. Born in Montreal, Canada, they have an MA in English Literature from McGill University, where their research focused on literature of the sublime and the grotesque. They spend most of their time maniacally reading fiction of all genres, writing short stories, talking loudly about social justice issues, and going on picnics. They now work as an editor at an academic publishing house.

Shelbi Polk is a Narrative Muse Editor and Copywriter and freelance writer based in North Carolina. Her money mainly goes to books and travel, with some set aside for supporting local musicians. She’s also working on her first book, in between daydreams about the next trip she hopes to take – biking between towns in Eastern Europe!

Board

Nagaraj Krishnan is an Independent Director on the Narrative Muse board and teaches Global Management and Marketing at Victoria University in Wellington. As a member of the senior management team with HarperCollins Publishers and Penguin Random House, he led and contributed to multinational business development strategies, product and marketing campaigns, and implemented many improvements to sales operations and the customer experience. He enjoys face-to-face connections and building relationships, and his leadership and strengths reflect core values of honesty, courage, resiliency, curiosity, self-awareness, inclusivity, and agility.

Rhonda Kite ONZM, is the Narrative Muse board screen sector Independent Director. She has served on most of the Aotearoa screen industry boards including NZ on Air, SPADA Guild, Te Māngai Paho Funding Agency, Ngā Aho Whakaari Guild, and Māori TV. She’s also the founder and director of Kiwa Digital (the world’s leading production house for experiential digital books). Rhonda has been honoured with the New Zealand Order of Merit for her Services to New Zealand in Technology for Film and Television. Her passion is empowering vocational education through creativity and she believes in the power of storytelling.

Suse Reynolds is the Investor Director at Narrative Muse and sits on many boards. She is also the Executive Chair at Angel Association New Zealand. She is driven by her enthusiasm to play a key role in the promotion of New Zealand fabulousness, and is currently pursuing this as a passionate believer in the power of angel investment to generate world changing businesses. 

Advisors

Meet Teresa Bass, Co-founder of Narrative Muse. When she’s not using her brain cells for Narrative Muse communications and co-foundery things, she’s binge watching TV, screenwriting buddy-comedy movies, and thinking of names for the dog she dreams of having one day. Teresa is among the hordes of Americans who now call Wellington, New Zealand, home.

In addition to being AI advisor at Narrative Muse, Dr Julian Seidenberg is Head of AI at Narrative, which builds AI-assisted software for professional photographers. Julian combines experience as a software architect and software developer with a PhD in artificial intelligence. He is a technical leader in applying AI to real-world business problems, always striving to make the technology practical and understandable for all the stakeholders involved. He is based in Auckland.