Biography
Lizzie Marvelly - Writer, Musician, Creator
While Lizzie Marvelly traverses many diverse paths, her journey started with her love for music. Discovered by Frankie Stevens and her famous uncle, Sir Howard Morrison, in her early teens, Lizzie was on the road at age 16. Described as a ‘true songbird’ and a ‘national treasure’, her musical life has been something of a wild ride: two major international signings, two top-ten albums, a top-fifteen pop debut, two European tours, concerts in Asia and Australia amongst others, a smash-hit charity single, two semi-finalist songs in the International Songwriting Competition, a song co-written with P-MONEY in the Kiwi film Born To Dance and countless national anthems and tours.
In May 2015, Lizzie launched Villainesse.com, an online media project aiming to create smart, ‘no-filter’ media for young women. Lizzie was motivated to create Villainesse.com because she wanted to hear more young female voices represented in the media. Bringing together bright young student and citizen writers and inspirational contributors, Villainesse is on a mission to empower young women.
In September 2015, Lizzie launched Villainesse’s first major campaign, the globally-successful #MyBodyMyTerms. Aiming to spark conversation about victim-blaming, revenge porn, consent and sexual violence, the #MyBodyMyTerms videos have been viewed over 500,000 times, and received press attention from the Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Buzzfeed US, Cosmopolitan US, Bustle, and the New Zealand Herald, among many others.
In 2016, Lizzie began writing a weekly column for the Weekend Herald. She was invited to speak at TEDx Auckland 2016, presenting a talk about the need for comprehensive education around sex and sexuality.
In 2017, Villainesse was named a finalist in the Canon Media Awards, for both the Best Blog and Best Editorial Campaign or Project categories. It went on to win the Best Blog Award, just two years after its creation. Lizzie was also named a finalist in the Opinion Writer - General category for her work as an opinion columnist for the Weekend Herald, an award she went on to win.
In 2018, Lizzie co-produced, co-wrote and co-directed The REAL Sex Talk, a 12-part webseries on sexuality education. Later that year, she co-founded 'Wāhine Kākano - The New Zealand Young Women's Festival', a free event for young women aged 16-22.
Lizzie's debut book, That F Word, was published by HarperCollins, and released in late August, 2018. To round off a busy year, she's currently co-producing a documentary about the Māori women's suffrage story for Māori Television.
Lizzie is passionate about children and young people, and has been an ambassador for Variety - The Children's Charity since 2011, becoming a member of the board in late 2016. She is also a member of the board of the New Zealand Drug Foundation.
She has been a finalist in the Women of Influence Awards, a semi-finalist in the New Zealander of the Year Awards, and has received a Local Hero medal.
Her hobbies include spending far too much time on Twitter, drinking wine with friends and continuing her quest to find Auckland’s best date scone.