A researcher and social commentator, Celia Lashlie worked for 15 years within the prison service, starting in December 1985 as the first woman to work as a prison officer in a male prison in New Zealand. Celia, who had a degree in anthropology and Māori, went on to work on a number of projects, all of which were linked to improving the lives of at-risk children and empowering families to find their own solutions to the challenges they were facing.

Celia Lashlie is the author of the bestselling books The Journey to Prison: Who Goes and Why, He'll Be OK: Growing Gorgeous Boys into Good Men and The Power of Mothers: Releasing Our Children.

She passed away in 2015.