All About Love Heart
Learning has never been so social
Treat yourself to inspiring events, fascinating insights, and meaningful connections with some of New Zealand's most remarkable people
Hi we're Frances Valintine CNZM & Fee Webby, Co-founders of Love Heart - Social Learning
We created Love Heart because, after years of working together in education and technology, we realised that an entire generation of active, curious New Zealanders was being overlooked. While the world focuses on learning in the first half of life, people aged 50 and over are often expected to wind down - just as many are looking towards their best years. As New Zealand approaches a future with more people over 65 than under 20, keeping our minds engaged and building real, face-to-face connections isn't just a nice-to-have; it's one of the strongest protective factors against cognitive decline, loneliness, and poor mental health. Online learning can't replicate the magic of sitting in a room together, sharing ideas, and having robust, hands-on discussions. We're partnering as co-founders to create a vibrant social enterprise dedicated to rich, in-person experiences that bring expert speakers, thoughtful topics and like minded people together, where conversation and curiosity are just as important as the content itself. We've created single workshops, learning lunches, one day experiences and 4-6 week courses that dive into topics like history, technology, arts, society, culture, flora & fauna, sport, science, food, architecture and much more and we can't wait for you to explore them with us.
We believe that as people buy tickets to a show or the movies, equally they should be able to buy a ticket for a quality learning experience where they learn something new, become part of a community and make a new friend.
If you want to keep your mind sharp and expand your community - you've come to the right place.
We are thrilled to bring you Love Heart - Social Learning and look forward to growing this next chapter with you.
Say Hi to us fee.webby@heart.co.nz & frances.valintine@heart.co.nz we look forward to meeting you,
Frances & Fee :)
Technological Impact Workshop (Getting Creative with Digital Technologies)
Introductory Ballroom Dancing Workshop
AI, Scams & Cybercrime: Staying Safe in a World of Intelligent Threats
What does it actually take to build an Olympic medalist?
The Great Irish Famine at Home and Abroad
Space and Satellite Technology: Where We Are Now - and What Comes Next
Staying robust and independent as we age - Workshop
World War Two and the American Influence on Jazz in New Zealand
Local Lens, Global Story: Building a Media Career from Hawke's Bay to the World
POPULARThe Art of the Statement Planter
Biotechnology, Actually, Is All Around Us
Art as a Pathway to Reflection and Wellbeing Workshop
Scott Towers of Fat Freddy’s Drop - From the Stage to the Bay Learning Lunch
Guy Lowry - Learning Lunch: The Mechanics of Equine Speed: Training the Ultimate Athlete
Adele Rose, CEO of 3R - Leading the Circular Economy
Lifesaving care in the air: Inside the New Zealand Air Ambulance Service
Professor Duncan Reid: Beyond the Podium: Stories from the Frontline of Elite Sport Learning Lunch
Dr Louise Speedy: From Medical Student to Military Major Learning Lunch
Shea McAleese OLY: The Evolution of a Four-Time Olympian Learning Lunch
POPULARFrancky Godinho: From Soil to Plate: A Vegetable Garden Tour and Seasonal Learning Lunch
Dr. Inge Haselsteiner: Humanity in Medicine - Empowering the Lost Women Learning Lunch
Everybody Eats: A Seat at the Table: Food, Community & Connection
Tony Martin: From Seedling to Sensation - How New Zealand Creates the Apples and Pears of the Future Learning Lunch
Scientific & Technological Advances 6-week Course
Sports & Speed 4-week course
POPULARThe Sweet Science & Savoury Secrets: Hawkes Bay Learning Adventure
POPULARBehind the Scenes: Napier Port & Mainfreight Learning Adventure
History 6-week Course
POPULARWorld Experiences 6-week workshop series
Flora & Fauna 4-week Course
Creative Arts & Music 6-week Course
POPULARSociety, Culture and Human Behaviour 6-week workshop series
POPULARLearning Adventure & Lunch: Norsewear - Turning Around an Iconic Kiwi Brand
The World of Music 6-week Course
Learning Adventure: A Journey of Peace and Heritage: Kopua Monastery & Paper Mulberry Café
Meet our Love Heart team
Fee Webby
Fee Webby is based in Hawke's Bay and is the co-founder and Managing Director of Love Heart. Fee is a dynamic leader known for her ability to operationalise high-impact educational initiatives. Having served as the General Manager of The Mind Lab and Tech Futures Lab, Fee has been instrumental in delivering postgraduate programmes and workshops that focus on digital skills, human potential, and sustainability. With a background that spans both creative agencies and executive education, she possesses a deep understanding of behavioural shifts in the workplace and how to remove barriers to learning. Fee is highly regarded for her ability to connect people with the tools they need to succeed, making complex concepts accessible through her engaging and optimistic approach to learning.
Frances Valintine CNZM
Frances Valintine is based in Auckland and is the co-founder and advisor to Love Heart. She brings her passion for education and for learning to everything she does, from speaking on global stages to mentoring leaders and facilitating sessions at the frontier of change. Frances has dedicated her life to her education initiatives that focus on developing a deeper understanding. She is an award-winning educator and futurist who has spent over 25 years at the forefront of educational innovation. As the founder of academyEX, The Mind Lab, and Tech Futures Lab, she has pioneered learning models that bridge the gap between traditional education and the demands of the digital economy. Frances is a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) — an honour awarded for her lifetime contribution to education and technology. She has been recognised globally as one of the top 50 EdTech educators in the world. Her expertise lies in identifying "the next big thing" and helping individuals unlearn and relearn to stay relevant as artificial intelligence and automation reshape our society. She is the Founder and Board Chair of academyEX, a board member of the University of Silicon Valley, and she holds a Master's degree from the University of Melbourne.
Melissa Fincham
Melissa is Auckland-based and the Learner Experience Planner for Love Heart. With a rich background in education and education program management, Melissa has spent years fostering environments where people can collaborate, learn, and inspire one another.
Prior to joining Love Heart, she spent a decade at The Mind Lab and academyEX, playing a pivotal role in supporting leadership and cultivating spaces for bold, interesting conversations. Her earlier work as an Engagement Manager at The Mind Lab further highlights her commitment to empowering learners and educators with contemporary knowledge and practical skills. Before her work in the education innovation space, Melissa built a robust career in marketing and program management within the technology sector. She spent 21 years at HP (previously Compaq), culminating in her role as Education Programme Manager, where she successfully implemented education programs and events across New Zealand's early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors.
Christina Tay
Christina is a lifelong learner with a profound passion for exploring diverse cultures and disciplines. Her curiosity has inspired extensive global travel, from teaching English to Buddhist monks in Laos and volunteering at a Thai orphanage to visiting museums across Europe, the UK, and Asia. A highlight of her travels is the Bishop Museum in Hawai'i, which she visits frequently, including during the 2014 World Indigenous Peoples' Conference on Education.
Her academic journey began with law and politics at Waikato University, where she discovered dispute resolution. She subsequently earned a Master’s in Mediation and Conflict Resolution from Strathclyde University, UK. This period included an exchange at the East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai and research in Hong Kong on the ombudsman's role.
Currently a Learning Facilitator for Love Heart Social Learning, Christina also teaches the Restorative Practices microcredential at Victoria University. A fully accredited restorative justice facilitator and assessor, she recently delivered mediation training in Micronesia. Previously, she served as Director of Employee Assistance Resolution Services at Victoria University.
Outside of work, Christina enjoys connecting with loved ones and attending international events, such as the 2025 Restorative Practices conference in Singapore, to continually expand her expertise.
Stacey Larsen
Stacey is a Marketing Specialist at Love Heart. With a background in both the technology and tourism industries, she has developed expertise in content strategy, digital marketing and audience engagement, with a particular passion for creating authentic connections.
Drawn to Love Heart's belief that learning has the power to enrich lives at every stage, Stacey is inspired by the opportunity to help more people discover experiences that spark curiosity, build confidence and foster meaningful relationships.
Stacey believes that meaningful connections often begin with a simple invitation to learn something new. Through thoughtful storytelling and community-focused marketing, she is passionate about helping people feel welcomed, informed and excited to take part in the conversations, ideas and experiences that make lifelong learning so rewarding.
"Recent evidence showing that adults underinvest in training even when returns significantly exceed the costs"
OECD article link
The Gift of Learning
The team at Love Heart have spent the better part of three decades working in education. We have watched how learning transforms people — not just what they know, but who they become. And yet, for all the attention we pay to childhood education, to university degrees, to corporate training programmes, we have consistently underestimated the most powerful learning window of all: the years after sixty. Love Heart wants to change that.
Love Heart believes that the years that come after sixty are not a winding down but an opening up: a stage of life rich with curiosity, perspective, and the particular freedom that comes from knowing what actually matters.
Love Heart exists because the world presents so many diverse topics to explore, because learning alongside other curious, engaged people is one of the great pleasures available to us, and because the conversations that happen when informed people have the space to think create abundant opportunities for growth and connection.
Article
The Science Is In: Learning Later in Life Is One of the Best Things You Can Do For Your Brain and Body
March 30, 2026
The old idea that the brain is essentially "set" by middle age has been comprehensively dismantled. Neuroscience now confirms that the brain retains neuroplasticity — the ability to form new neural connections and adapt — throughout our entire lives. Researchers at the American Psychological Association are actively leveraging this understanding to develop programmes that boost cognitive function in older adults.
The brain you have at sixty-five is not a diminished version of the brain you had at thirty-five. It is a different brain — one with more pattern recognition, more contextual wisdom, and, crucially, more capacity to benefit from structured learning than we ever previously understood.
A landmark 2025 study published in Innovation in Aging by researchers at Duke University and the University of California, Davis, followed thousands of older Americans and found that people who engaged in learning activities in later life showed significantly better cognitive function over time. The finding that stopped me in my tracks: the cognitive function of a 71-year-old who engaged in later-life learning was, on average, comparable to that of a 65-year-old who did not engage in later-life learning. That is the equivalent of a nearly six-year delay in cognitive decline — not from a pharmaceutical intervention, not from surgery, but from the simple act of continuing to learn.
The NIH's landmark ACTIVE study, which followed 2,021 adults aged 65 and older over twenty years, found that a specific cognitive training programme — just five to six weeks of sessions — was associated with a 25% lower rate of dementia diagnosis over the following two decades, as tracked through Medicare claims data.
Twenty years of protection from a few weeks of engagement. That is not a marginal finding. That is a revolution in how we should think about learning as a health intervention. The Social Dimension Is Not a Bonus. It Is the Point.
Here is what the research makes abundantly clear: learning in isolation is useful. Learning with other people is transformative. A 2025 study in Frontiers in Public Health found that social engagement in group settings plays a measurable protective role for cognitive health in older adults.
The act of discussing a new idea, of having your thinking challenged by someone sitting across the table from you, of forming a friendship with someone you would never have met otherwise, are neurologically significant events. The World Health Organisation estimates that approximately 11.8% of older people worldwide experience loneliness, and the evidence linking social isolation to mortality, disability, and dementia is now unambiguous. A 2024 cohort study published in JAMA Network Open found that increased social isolation was associated with elevated risks of all three.
Social connection is not a nice-to-have. It is a health imperative.
What makes social learning so powerful is that it addresses both dimensions simultaneously. You are not just stimulating your brain — you are building the kind of meaningful human connection that research consistently shows extends both the length and quality of life.
References
[1] American Psychological Association — How learning protects the aging brain (2026)
[3] Duke University School of Nursing — Preventing Dementia with Later-Life Learning (2025)
[6] World Health Organisation — Social Isolation and Loneliness
[7] Lyu, C. et al. — Social Isolation Changes and Long-Term Outcomes, JAMA Network Open (2024 )
[8] News-Medical — Lifelong learning helps older adults build mental resilience (2025 )
[10] Ohio State University — Lifelong learning offers many benefits for older adults (2026)