The value of looking deeper and stepping outside your comfort zone

Manuella’s story: The value of looking deeper and stepping outside your comfort zone

When Manuella Pedrosa first signed up for Girls who Grow, agriculture wasn’t part of her plan. Growing up in Queenstown, she enjoyed academic subjects, saw herself pursuing law, and admits she had never given much thought to the challenges facing New Zealand farmers. Today, she is studying Law and Commerce at the University of Otago, combining international business, law, and languages. But a Girls who Grow project in her final years of high school changed the way she sees the world and helped her develop skills and confidence that continue to influence her journey.

Manuella’s introduction to Girls who Grow came through a biology teacher who encouraged her to take part in an innovation challenge focused on one of Central Otago’s biggest environmental challenges: drought. Alongside students from across the region, Manuella travelled to Cromwell where teams were challenged to think creatively about real-world agricultural problems. For someone who describes herself as naturally analytical and black-and-white in her thinking, it was a new experience.

“It was completely outside my comfort zone,” Manuella says. “We had to come up with solutions and think outside the box. That wasn’t something I’d really done before.”

Thinking beyond the obvious

The experience sparked her curiosity and led her to continue with Girls who Grow the following year. Together with teammates Lucy and Ellie, Manuella began researching Tagasaste, a drought-tolerant shrub known for its ability to improve soil health and provide high-protein feed for livestock during dry periods.

The team spent months researching the science behind Tagasaste, speaking with farmers, exploring its practical applications, analysing costs, and even developing marketing plans for how farmers might adopt it. “We treated it like a business proposal,” Manuella says. “We looked at everything from implementation and sustainability through to how you would actually convince farmers to use it.”

One of the most valuable parts of the project was connecting directly with people working in agriculture. Through conversations with farmers already using Tagasaste, the team gained a much deeper understanding of both the opportunities and challenges facing rural communities.

For Manuella, it was the first time she truly appreciated how closely environmental issues are connected to business, food production, and everyday life. “I don’t think I had ever stopped to think about how something like drought impacts farmers and the wider economy. It made me realise how much the environment affects everything. Sustainability isn’t separate from business; it’s connected to everything we do.”

When an idea becomes something real

The project went on to earn the team the Wakatipu Rising Stars Award and recognition from local leaders. But the biggest impact for Manuella wasn’t the awards, it was the confidence that came from seeing an idea grow into something meaningful. “Having mentors and adults genuinely listen to your ideas and believe they could become something was huge. It makes you back yourself more.”

One of those mentors was Girls who Grow Programme Manager Cath van der Meulen, who worked closely alongside Manuella and her group throughout the project. From helping the team shape their ideas to encouraging them to think bigger about what was possible, Cath became an important source of guidance and support.

Looking back, Manuella says having someone believe in both the project and the people behind it made a lasting difference. “It wasn’t just about the project itself. It was having people like Cath encouraging us, backing our ideas, and creating opportunities for us to grow.”

The impact extended well beyond the Tagasaste project. Through Girls who Grow, Manuella discovered new confidence in her own abilities, developed her leadership skills, and found herself exposed to opportunities and perspectives she might never otherwise have encountered.

She later became Head Girl of Wakatipu High School and was selected for the YMCA Y25 programme, where she was recognised as a Climate Change Trailblazer alongside other young leaders from around New Zealand. The experience also broadened her understanding of leadership and exposed her to perspectives she had not encountered before, including Māori approaches to environmental guardianship and sustainability.

“It helped me become a more critical thinker. Instead of just accepting what’s presented to me, I learned to look deeper and think about the root cause of a problem.”

A broader perspective

While agriculture may not feature directly in her future career plans, the lessons from Girls who Grow remain firmly with her. As she considers pathways in international and environmental law, she still finds herself returning to the ideas she explored through the programme: sustainability, long-term thinking, and understanding the wider impact of decisions.

Most importantly, Girls who Grow showed her that leadership and imagination don’t always begin with expertise. Sometimes they begin with curiosity. “I went into it thinking it was just another school project,” she says, “but it completely changed my perspective.” That’s perhaps the most powerful outcome of Girls who Grow. Not that every participant leaves wanting a career in agriculture, but that they leave seeing connections they couldn’t see before.

For Manuella, a project about drought became a lesson in leadership, sustainability, business, and critical thinking. Now, as she studies law and commerce and considers a future in international and environmental policy, the project remains a reminder that some of the most valuable learning happens when you’re willing to step into a world you know nothing about.

About Girls who Grow

Girls who Grow is a leadership and innovation programme designed to inspire young women to explore opportunities across New Zealand’s food and fibre sector. Through real-world challenges, mentoring, industry connections, and hands-on projects, participants develop confidence, leadership skills, and a deeper understanding of the environmental, social, and economic issues shaping the future of agriculture.