Raised in Dunedin, Denise Ng is the daughter of pre-eminent New Zealand-Chinese historian Dr James Ng, who died this year, and writer and oral historian Eva Wong-Ng, who now lives with Denise and her husband, Robert Yang, in Gibbston.
Denise is a fourth-generation NZer — James fled China with his mum and elder brother in 1941, in the face of the invading Japanese army, and settled in Gore where his father and grandfather owned a laundry.
After attending St Hilda’s Collegiate, Denise trained as a nurse in Christchurch and nursed in Wellington before joining her future husband in Singapore in 1985.
Later, through his careers in aviation and logistics, she had stints in London, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Auckland, Pakistan and Brunei.
In London, a friend encouraged her to do a course in image consulting — made famous by British TV stars Trinny and Susannah — and subsequently she’s become highly regarded in this field through her company, ImagoImage.
Denise explains image consulting is not just about advising clients on colour and styling but also arming them "to come across as the best versions of themselves".
"I do work with personality, too — I have a background in psychology."
She’s advised individuals, small and large businesses and government agencies on professional image including interpersonal skills, communication and etiquette.
"If you’re teaching people how to come across, they can also read people as well, based on their appearance and personality" — a skill frontline staff can use to help make sales.
"It was a fantastic job to take around the world, you could work according to your own flexible hours."
All that travel also led to an understanding of cultural diversity, Denise says.
Career highlights have included being president of the Association of Image Consultants International’s Singapore chapter and helping seed chapters through Asia, guiding a Mrs Singapore Universe contestant through to fifth place and advising majors and colonels on their public-facing roles in the Singapore National Day Parade.
When her husband retired, the couple bought a Gibbston property where they settled in late 2019.
It was close enough to Dunedin, where her parents were still living, while, growing up, Denise had also enjoyed holidays at the family’s Queenstown crib.
With Covid arriving soon after their move, "it was actually great in terms of forcing us to settle because our lives had been so much on the road", she says.
In 2022, Denise became chair of the Lawrence Chinese Camp Charitable Trust, which aims to restore the first and largest Chinese settlement in Otago — her dad had bought the site of the camp in 2004.
Another project James Ng initiated was a gold trail from Dunedin to Queenstown, initially tracing the Chinese goldminers’ trails through Central Otago.
Denise has now taken on the project with Dunedin’s Neil Harraway — "we’re developing an app that takes people around these places".
She’s also just been appointed to the NZ Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust, which her dad was inaugural chair of — a past government set up the trust as part of an apology for a poll tax formerly levied on Chinese immigrants.
She’s been involved, too, with the local council’s welcoming communities advisory group, through which she was guest judge for the ‘diversity and inclusivity’ category of last year’s Queenstown Business Awards.
She’s also helped insert some Chinese-related events into the Arrowtown Autumn Festival, given the role Chinese goldminers played in the town’s history.
These include a lion dance in the opening ceremony and a Chinese presence in the street parade — she even had her mum reading poetry and short stories in the town’s library this year.
Meanwhile, Denise brought her image consultancy online during Covid, and is keen to expand her business into Queenstown, too.
She’s also continued to do some work in Singapore, including helping some high-end clients with their personal shopping.
Having nursed in a neurosurgical ward in Wellington, Denise was involved with a localcharity fashion show for the NZ Brain Tumour Trust a year ago.
She says she’s loving Queenstown for its international vibe.
"There are so many people here who share similar experiences to me, similar journeys."
