Isabella Njohana

Business Support Associate, Plant & Food Research

Isabella is a driven and resilient young leader who is an avid learner and doer. She was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, and she came alone to Auckland for her studies in 2012 and has permanently migrated to New Zealand.

Having always been passionate about science since primary school, she graduated from The University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science. She also completed Master of Bioscience Enterprise to gain knowledge on the commercialisation and business aspects of science. She had lived in Wellington for six months following the completion of her Masters to work for Victoria University’s technology transfer company; Viclink.

Currently based in Auckland, she works as a Business Support Associate in Plant & Food Research; one of the seven New Zealand Crown Research Institutes. Her day revolves around working with multidisciplinary teams such as the scientists, finance department, and legal. She believes that science and technology hold the key part of solving the problems of present and future.

She is part of the executive committee of New Zealand China Trade Association – Young Associates (NZCTA-YA). As the Events Manager, she is in charge of finding new ideas and speakers, as well as organising the event logistics. The mission of NZCTA-YA is to equip rangatahi of all backgrounds with the knowledge about China and encourage them to experience and be involved with events revolving around NZ-China relationship.