Rachel served as New Zealand Consul General in Guangzhou from 2016 to 2019, a period of rapid expansion in New Zealand’s relationship with Southern China.  During this time she led NZ Inc and supporting agencies and businesses in-market, and oversaw public diplomacy initiatives to strengthen the bilateral relationship.

Prior to this, Rachel served in policy and legal roles at the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing and the New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei and was seconded to New York to represent New Zealand at the UN General Assembly.

A fluent Mandarin speaker, Rachel also founded a consultancy which provided services and facilitated business opportunities for New Zealand companies, government agencies and Māori entities in Asia.

Rachel holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Science from the University of Auckland and studied Mandarin at the Australian Defence Force School of Languages and Taiwan National University.