If anyone was going to come up with a topless swim as a way to raise money for breast cancer, it was probably going to be Debs Brockelsby
The irrepressible founder of Rotorua-based STOKEDNZ has built her business around adventure, good people, giving back and her favourite life mantra: life is short, do cool shit.
Debs has very good reason for living by those words. In 2015, a serious brain injury changed her life and left her questioning what she was doing with it. After two years of recovery, she decided it was time to stop waiting for tomorrow and start doing more of what made her happy. That meant leaving her career, embracing her love of the outdoors and eventually launching STOKEDNZ in 2017.
Fast-forward to today and that same spirit is behind one of STOKEDNZ’s most wonderfully unconventional fundraisers. The Topless Swim + Hot Pool Soak brings women together at Lake Rotoiti for a chilly, liberating and undoubtedly laughter-filled dip, followed by hot pools, food, drinks and plenty of yarns. And there’s a very serious purpose behind all the fun: 100% of the profits go to Breast Cancer Foundation NZ. STOKEDNZ raised $52,963 for the foundation across 2024 and 2025, and Debs is determined to keep the momentum going.
But this isn’t simply a clever fundraising idea. It started with Debs’ friend Di Foster. A breast cancer survivor who had undergone a mastectomy, Di had become self-conscious about getting changed and swimming in public. When Debs realised that something as ordinary as going for a swim could become such a source of anxiety, she knew she wanted to do something about it. Her solution was characteristically Debs: “throw open the conversation, get women together, celebrate our bodies in all their glorious forms, and have a bloody good time while doing it”.
The result is an event that feels much bigger than a fundraiser. It’s about normalising difference, building confidence and reminding women they don’t have to look a certain way to belong. In 2025, 70 women took part, all with a personal connection to breast cancer, stripping off and plunging into the 14°C waters of Lake Rotoiti before retreating to the hot pools. There were laughs, tears, plenty of courage – and, naturally, ABBA.
That’s the thing about Debs. She doesn’t seem particularly interested in doing things by the rule book. Her own life changed in an instant, and rather than allowing that experience to make her smaller, she used it as permission to live bigger. STOKEDNZ grew from that philosophy and so has its approach to giving back: be kind, get amongst it, look after your people, and do something that sets your soul on fire.
So yes, there will be bare boobs. There will probably be squealing when that first bit of cold water hits. There’ll be hot pools, food, drinks, laughter and a bunch of women cheering each other on.
But underneath the cheekiness is something beautifully simple: women showing up for women.
