The Two of Us: Denny Spee and Anne Pankhurst

Anne Pankhurst is the events co-ordinator at Tauranga Chamber of Commerce and chair of Tarnished Frocks and Divas. Denny Spee is creative connector at Creative Tauranga and executive producer of Tarnished Frocks.
Anne on Denny

Denny and I first met at the after-party following the first Tarnished Frocks and Divas show six years ago.
The show was fantastic. We all went to Bravo. I found Denny and told her she had to do another. I took her stunned silence as agreement. I was very keen to help in any way so there began a working relationship which grew into a close friendship.
Initially, much of our contact was through emails and phone calls in the build-up to the second show in 2007. It didn't take long for a much more personal respect for each other to emerge from the working relationship. We chat almost every day now and email an awful lot more. Our friendship brings great enjoyment to our working relationship.
Coming from a family of singers and entertainers, Denny is used to expressing herself and loves flamboyance. She ran a dance studio in the Mount for 10 years and revelled in encouraging young men and women to follow their dreams and work hard for them. Denny has a very creative mind. She works at Creative Tauranga and is always excited about promoting new projects. She runs Creative Beat magazine and is the executive producer of Tarnished Frocks and Divas. I love her passionate zest for life.
Being the eldest of many sisters and mother of three, Denny is a strong leader. If you tell her like it is, she'll hear it like it is.
Anyway, Denny is far too busy laughing and enjoying life to spend time bearing grudges.
Denny on Anne

I was quite shell-shocked when Anne approached me and started talking about the next show we were going to do. I told her it was a one-off but she kept on building a picture of the future of Tarnished Frocks. I was too exhausted and surprised to argue. Annie can be quite persuasive when she puts her mind to something, so before I knew it we had a 10-year plan.
We started to get to know each other over weekends of long chats about budgets and business plans. It might sound rather boring but we had such fun together. It became obvious quite quickly that we shared a deep bond. We are both up-front and don't suffer fools gladly. I like that if you ask Annie for her opinion she'll give you a straight answer, even if it's not the one you hoped to hear.
When we meet at Annie's house to catch up, I am always greeted by the smell of delicious coffee and the sight of a plate groaning with cheese. We get quite carried away chatting for hours. Although we both have strong opinions, we don't argue. In Annie, I respect a person with great depth and intelligence.
I have always loved people with plenty to say and Annie is such a dependable friend. I know she's always got my back. Over the years, we have shared some of the drama life throws at you. She's always first in line to give you a cuddle, dig out a bottle of red and start you on the path to thinking positively and seeing each set-back as an opportunity. She's very caring in her 'Annie' kind of way.