Celebrating Vicky Teinaki

Vicky and I worked together at HMRC back in 2018 and 2019. From the second I met her as part of my welcome to Orangebus, I adored her. I was and always will be in awe of her energy, her lust for learning and how open and ready she was to teach and share her knowledge. At the end of 2018, I found out I was being taken off my project at the time and moved onto hers. I was so happy! I remember the man who sorted out who went where from Orangebus asking me for a word the day I found out I was moving. We stood under the spiral stairs and he asked me how I was feeling about joining the project with Vicky. I said I was super excited to learn more from her. I wanted to learn more about prototyping and she'd offered to teach me. He then, after a painful hesitation, said to me 'Do you think you two will work well together?' I laughed! And then realised he was serious and said absolutely. Why wouldnt we? He said to me 'Well it's just that you're both so....erm...outspoken. Sometimes that doesnt work.' Oh how I laughed. 🤣 I suggested that he meant direct and passionate and we left it at that. What followed was still the best 6 months of my 7 year career so far. And I'm not sure anything will ever top it. Vicky took me under her wing, but still somehow, while teaching me all I'd asked to learn, made me feel like I was good at my job and backed my decisions, challenged me where she disagreed, and encouraging me to do the same.  She helped me push for a promotion, and for more money when I found out that people with no experience were coming in with more pay than me. When she said she was leaving I was devastated. But happy for her as she wanted more of a challenge. She gave me a card, hand drawn of course, and she'd written Stay Weird on the front in lovely bright lettering. Inside was a heartwarming message. We thankfully kept in touch after she went to DWP and met up regularly for brunch. I've eaten half the eggs benedict in the north east with her. We went to events, wine tasting, and to see films occasionally too. I'm so thankful for that day the decision was made to move me to her team. It led to a friendship I'll cherish for the rest of my days.  

I first met Vicky when she arrived as a PhD student in the Northumbria University design research centre where I worked. In all the years I knew her, I never really knew what her PhD was about - so it definitely wasn’t mutual academic interest that we bonded over. The staff in the centre were meant to help the students, but Vicky’s vast knowledge and experience meant that she was very quickly the one helping me - and she was always happy to suggest some relevant reading, or to sit down and help me troubleshoot a problem.I was lucky enough to keep Vicky as a friend after we’d both moved on from Northumbria, and through lots of job moves and house moves over the years. Every now and then she’d float the notion of moving away to another city and the idea would fill me with dread, followed by relief when she came up with another good reason to hang around the North East a little longer. As well as being my friend, Vicky’s been my travel companion - our first trip together being Dublin, when she sneaked me a guest ticket to ‘help’ her live-blog a conference (help that she absolutely did not need, but we had a great time doing all the most touristy Dublin cultural experiences that we could find!). She’s been my temporary housemate, and more than once I tried to persuade her to come and work with me - but of course she always had plenty of better offers. One of the things I most admired about Vicky was that she knew her talent and her worth, and she always chose to take on big challenges, where her incredible skills would benefit the most people. Vicky actually met my partner Jon four years before I did, kindly pre-screening him for me when she took an improv comedy course in Newcastle - yes, improv comedy was another of the many skills she acquired over the years! I asked Vicky to come with me for moral support the first time I went to see Jon perform in a comedy show, telling her I was really nervous because if he turned out not to be funny, how could I keep going out with him? Who would want to go out with an un-funny comedian? But Vicky calmed my nerves beforehand, and luckily we both agreed it was a great show, and Jon was funny, and lovely, and so I did stick with him.I’ve heard Vicky described by her colleagues as a keystone, someone they can’t imagine being without, and she was also that to her friends. When Vicky joins your social circle she becomes its instigator, archive, technical support desk, and moral compass. She leaves behind an empty place in our cheesy girls movie club, our spa club, our make and mend festival club, our vermouth drinking club, our theatre road trip club, our ‘ooh it’s been a while shall we just go and have some nice food and wine?’ club. The thought of never knowing Vicky’s views on the new Bridget Jones movie, or Greta Gerwig’s take on Narnia, hurts my heart - because nothing else can match a Vicky critical analysis (and the relevant reading and viewing list that comes with it). Vicky was very committed to the idea of me writing plays again, which I haven’t done for a few years, and she made lots of offers to meet me in cafes at lunchtimes or after work, to help me find space for writing in my life again - offers I so wish I’d taken her up on. I think this is one of the ways she would show us her love, by always remembering the things that really mattered to us, and making sure that we remembered they were important too.The pain I feel from Vicky’s passing could never outweigh the joy of having had her in my life, and the 15 years of wonderful memories she’s given me. I’ll be thinking of Vicky every time I see a sweet-faced dog in a coffee shop, every time I see Portuguese Albariño wine on a drinks menu, and every time I see the comedian Dylan Moran - who summed her up perfectly when he spotted her in the front row of his gig in Newcastle and chose her to be his timekeeper for the show, telling her that she looked ‘responsible, but in a fun way - and radiated positivity’. I thank Vicky’s family for sharing her with us, this wonderful human who blessed our corner of England by making it her home. And I would encourage all who knew her to ‘be more Vicky’ in her honour - and live like she did, with the bravest and kindest of hearts and the most curious mind.

I joined Orange Bus in January 2015 and 3 weeks later I was contracted out to HMRC, where I first met Vicky. She, like me, was also working for Orange Bus and had been contracted out to HMRC.One morning when checking my emails I saw an email in my inbox from Vicky, this was despite her only sitting a few desks away. She had sent a link to a job advert at HMRC for the same role I was doing but as a civil servant not a contractor, the salary was significantly better. In fact, I later found out I was actually the lowest paid Researcher at HMRC.I spoke to Vicky about the role and she filed me with confidence about my prospects, allaying all my fears and suggesting that I speak to the Head of Research. I was eventually successful in gaining the role. This was an act of pure selflessness and sums up the person that Vicky was.I later found various Interaction Design roles for Vicky to try to return the favour, she was often aware of them already and would calmly explain that she couldn’t apply as she was in a sponsored work visa. No frustration whatsoever from her, the only frustration was from me at realising someone so perfect for so many roles was repeatedly denied opportunities to apply. I was so delighted when she got her British citizenship and became a civil servant at DWP.She had a huge role in the first few years of my career and it was a privilege to have known and work alongside her in so many projects. Thank you Vicky, RIP

I met Vicky in 2010, at the Interaction Design Association's annual conference in Savannah, Georgia, USA. I was *amazed* that she had come all the way from New Zealand for that, and impressed that she was making plans to do a PhD in the UK. When I was exploring my own UK options for doing a PhD I looked into Northumbria, and when I visited Newcastle to look it over she very generously put me up in her flat and showed me around. I ended up choosing Northumbria, and the two of us remained very congenial during my four and a half years in Newcastle. Our large age gap meant that we didn't socialise much (when I moved to Newcastle I was 60 and she was 28) — but we always enjoyed catching up, and we even shared a flat for a few months when she needed a space in a hurry. Here's one of my favourite memories, if you'll indulge me: A couple of years into my PhD programme, I took a few days in London. When I returned, the conversation went like this: Me: "You know, Newcastle is growing on me, but I'd still rather live in London." Vicky: "But Newcastle is so SAFE!" Me: "I'm from WASHINGTON DC!"Vicky: "Ah, right, fair enough.":-)Vicky also helped me navigate UK immigration rules, and her leadership of Northern UX Newcastle led to my meeting the commercial director of the company for which I've worked for more than eight years now. She was ahead of me on the immigration journey, and she mentored me along that path. Vicky and I didn't see much of each other after I moved to Cambridge, but whenever we ran into each other at a conference we enjoyed catching up; and we had the occasional brief conversation on LinkedIn. I will always cherish the memory of our last contact: she reposted a LinkedIn article I had written about design research, saying how important and excellent it was. That meant a tremendous amount to me, especially given the breadth and depth of her contributions to the design community. Vicky Teinaki was instrumental in my choosing Northumbria University, finding a life in Newcastle, understanding what lay ahead of me on the UK immigration front, and making contact with the company that ended up hiring me. My life in the UK (and I'm a citizen now) owes a great deal to her. I will always be grateful. Thank you, Vicky, from the bottom of my heart. I miss you.