Three Carlas bring similarities and differences to La Fiesta

The three Carlas - Carla Tonks (left), Carla Donson and Carla Langmead. Photo / Paul Brooks

La Fiesta has started and is in full swing, with events and activities celebrating Whanganui women and women everywhere. Three of those women go by the name of Carla and they all have a big part to play in La Fiesta.
Carla Donson is the founder and co-ordinator of La Fiesta; Carla Tonks and Carla Langmead will be presenting activities and learning sessions throughout the month-long celebration.

"We're kind of same-same, but different," says Carla Donson. "It's not just that we have the same name, but we all have spookily similar backgrounds. Before I did my education and social policy degree, I trained in sports science and have spent a lot of my life doing sports coaching — netball, cricket, hockey, tennis ... sport is a big passion for me.
"That whole sense of working with women around body image, bodywork, particularly for women who have experienced trauma: there are lots of amazing things we can do, as women, to reclaim ourselves if we've experienced trauma, and one of the ways we can do that is engaging with your physical self.
"Of course, these ladies have similar synergies with that. I thought it would be good to explore our similarities and how we're applying that actively in our community."

She says the other thing the Carlas have in common is a strong community focus as well as involvement with La Fiesta.
"Our name means 'one who is strong'," she says. "My mum was deliberate when she named me. She wanted me to have a name that would be empowering for me.
"The meaning of my name is an anchor point for me."

For Carla Tonks, her name (and her middle name) comes from a grandmother, giving her an ancestral link. She has a grandmother in Germany and another in England — two names, two cultures.
Her parents were sporty and, as a child, she was into sports. University proved to be a sporting lull.
"In my late 20s and early 30s I got back into [sport] and really enjoyed it." This was back in England where she was working long office hours and her husband was away a lot with his job in the RAF. She started off getting a bicycle to compete in a fundraising event for disabled skiers, kept the bike and started doing triathlons.
"Within a couple of years, it had become a massive passion of mine. I spent the weekend swimming, riding and running ... and then Emily came along, our child, who is 7 now. Through being pregnant with her, and afterwards, I was frustrated with the lack of knowledge and help around what I could do to keep physically active.
"Fast forward four years. We need an adventure, Steve gets a job with the NZ Air Force ... and off we go, the three of us."

For Carla that necessitated a lifestyle change and she wondered what she could do. She had already got her personal trainer credentials, so she saw herself getting involved helping mothers and women in general through every stage of life — pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, menopause — and try to empower them with a bit of education and knowledge around trying to find the right movement exercise that is right for them at their time of life.

"I was really excited," says Carla Donson, "When Carla [Tonks] said she wanted to do a couple of sessions in La Fiesta, particularly the one around perimenopause and menopause.
"There is such a need for women to have safe spaces where they can not only talk about it but where they can actually learn some things they can do to move, inform and empower themselves."

Carla Langmead's first name came from a very different source and was chosen by her father. She has a background in physical exercise for people, particularly women of all ages, but while that continues she has also experienced a holistic shift towards overall and mental wellbeing.
"My core business is the Heart Math stuff, but I have been taking [exercise] classes in Whanganui for 25 years."
Carla has a range of sessions scheduled for La Fiesta, including age-appropriate Sit Fit and other exercise classes, as well as Raising the Energy, which delves into "heart coherence" and global consciousness. That's where her Heart Math Institute research comes in.
"I work with people on how they see themselves: their story and the emotions that are attached to that story, which can get in the way of them living their best life."

"The other interesting thing which we can all relate to is that we all perform functions and we're in a position where women will come along and say 'Tell me what I need to do'," says Carla Donson. "But I tell them, I will encourage you, cheerlead for you, but I will never tell you what you need to do." She says she wants women to own their choice, whichever way it turns out.

"We are all working for women's empowerment and looking at that whole approach around wellbeing and wellness, and coming at it from different ways, but, fundamentally it's all about activating the woman to do that, because she wants to."