NUKU: Recent Episodes
Qiane Matata-Sipu
Interviews with kickass Indigenous women doing things differently! I invite you to look at the world through a different lens, a personal lens, a cultural lens, a lens made by and made for us – mā hine, mō hine, kia hine!
In this episode we catch up with Tiffany Witehira and Aroha Harris. We talk about the challenges of language learning, the realities of juggling kura with parenting and mahi, we celebrate the achievements and talk about what lies ahead.
In this episode we catch up with Chelsea Winstanley and Leonie Kapea Hayden to discuss our rūmaki reo journey, safe reo speaking places, anxiety about leaving an immersive environment, expectation Vs reality, and our diverse experiences throughout the year.
In episode two we speak to filmmaker Chelsea Winstanley and Journalist Leonie Hayden about language learning feeling like we're all in kohanga reo, and how that realisation creates safe to fail spaces in the language reclamation journey. We discuss the good and bad of te reo Māori in the film and media industries and chat about the responsibility of language learners and speakers. We share our favourite kupu and the deep meanings behind them and, give you lots of learning tips regardless of where you are on your journey.
Following on from the acclaimed NUKU podcast and book that showcased 100 kickass Indigenous women doing things differently, our new series Tōku Reo is focussed on language. Across 10 special episodes we will be sharing the language reclamation journeys of Indigenous women, including our host Qiane Matata-Sipu who has returned to kura in 2022 studying Rumaki Reo at Te Wananga Takiura o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa.
To watch the video version of this podcast visit: https://youtu.be/n8T4fBSWrNk
To buy the book, NUKU: Stories of 100 Indigenous Women visit: www.nukuwomen.co.nz/shop
For more about NUKU visit www.nukuwomen.co.nz
We speak with Māori Midwife Camille Harris and fragrance developer Tiffany Witehira who are both at the beginning of their year-long total immersion Māori language course. The pair share the stories behind their desire to reclaim te reo, share their lived experiences of language being looked down upon as a result of colonisation and, give us an insight into the first month of their study. They also share some study tips and tricks they have picked up along the way.
Following on from the acclaimed NUKU podcast and book that showcased 100 kickass Indigenous women doing things differently, our new series Tōku Reo is focussed on language. Across 10 special episodes we will be sharing the language reclamation journeys of Indigenous women, including our host Qiane Matata-Sipu who has returned to kura in 2022 studying Rumaki Reo at Te Wananga Takiura o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa.
To watch the video version of this podcast visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCfy1KKLvlA
To buy the book, NUKU: Stories of 100 Indigenous Women, visit www.nukuwomen.co.nz/shop
For more about NUKU visit www.nukuwomen.co.nz
Kia ora e te whānau. Today is a very special day, we celebrate NUKU //100!
Through this series we have met and interviewed wāhine right across the motu - the matauranga holders, the frontliners, the carers, the whale whisperers, the teachers, the researchers, the ahi kaa, the boundary pushers, the leaders, the workers, the innovators, the motivators, wāhine who are empowering across generations by being unapologetically themselves.
NUKU //100 holds a special place in my heart. It is my honour to introduce you to my māmā, this 100th wāhine is a reminder to us all that we will come across so many inspiring wāhine on our journey, from all over the world in all walks of life, but we must never forget those who make us who we are - our mothers, our grandmothers, our aunties, our sisters, our daughters.
Meet Karen Matata (Te Waiohua, Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao, Arorangi (Rarotonga), Temakatea, Oneroa (Mangaia)
Karen has been an early childhood educator for more than 40 years. She has worked for her marae, Makaurau, as secretary for more than 25 years, and holds governance positions across education and community groups in Tāmaki Makaurau.
In this episode we talk about her Māori girls boarding school experience, she shares her perspective on single motherhood and sharing her eldest daughter with her parents to raise, we discuss the power of education and talk about the reality of working for your people.
Meet NUKU //099 Dr Acushla Dee Sciascia (Ngāruahine Rangi, Ngāti Ruanui, Te Ātiawa)
This incredible wahine is a business woman representing Indigenous perspectives and narratives in research, evaluation and strategy development. Her studies found her researching digital tangihanga long before Covid-19 had arrived, exploring how tikanga in te ao Māori is changing with modern times.
In this episode we talk about her mahi and explore the inter-generational kōrero around tikanga, today.
Kurahapainga (Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) is the founder and artistic director of Hawaiki TŪ, a Māori performance company specialising in kapa haka and haka theatre. She is also a member of the renowned Te Waka Huia kapa haka roopu.
In this episode NUKU //098 talks to us about the foundation of haka theatre, she shares her experiences growing up as a child of a gang member and tells us about the realities of trialing for one of our country’s top kapa haka groups.
Te Raina (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu, Italy) runs education programmes about Māori culture from her whare wānanga, Kurawaka.
Based in Pōrangahau, she teaches wāhine to find their karanga voice, teaching the foundations of karanga and the mātauranga of mana wāhine, mana atua and mana motuhake.
In this episode we kōrero about kurawaka, kapa haka and karanga, and get completely immersed in the stories of this wonderful whaea.
We have a special double episode for you. NUKU 095 and 096 are Geneva Harrison (Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri) and Mihi Tibble (Ngāti Mākino, Ngāti Whakahemo, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue, Whānau a Hinerupe, Rakairoa, Te Whānau a Karuwai, Te Aitanga a Mate).
The friends are the founders of Tuhi Stationery. They create notebooks, diaries, maramataka resources and other stationery products inspired by Māori language, culture, environment and values. They also have a Sāmoan range.
In this episode we talk about the realities of small business. The pair share with us their personal stories of growing up with grandparents who lived according to the maramataka and tell us how they are helping to revive our connection to our lunar calendar system.
Dame Hinewehi Mohi (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tūhoe) has been iconic in the development of puoro Māori for the past 30 years.
In 1999, she released her Oceania album and made history singing the national anthem in te reo Māori. Today, she is championing a bilingual music industry for Aotearoa.
In this episode we talk about her passion for te reo Māori, she shares the story of Raukatauri Music Therapy Centres inspired by her daughter, Hineraukatauri. And, she tells us about her dream to see Aotearoa musicians record in both languages.
Yvonne (Ngāpuhi) is a mentor and trustee with Auckland Teaching Gardens Trust. She supports the community with garden plots, gardening courses and supplying kai to food banks.
We recorded this interview in her garden in Māngere, surrounded by manu and the local community tending to their plots.
In this episode she talks to us about her upbringing and how society has changed over her lifetime. She shares the importance of growing a garden, not only for sustainability and kai purposes, but also for learning some of life’s greatest lessons.
Xiuh, as she likes to go by is of Mexican heritage (Mestiza, Nahua (Mexico)). For years she has worked to revitalise ancient Indigenous practices. Here in Aotearoa she shares temazcal, kinam and tezcatlipoca practices of old central Mexico. She is also a wisdom keeper of ancient Toltec traditions.
In this episode Xiuh talks to us about the colonisation of Mexico and she shares how connecting with wāhine Māori challenged and inspired her to refocus her mahi on strengthening Indigenous cultural knowledge and practice.
Matariki, as she prefers to go by (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe) is the Co-Lead for RIVER (Revitalising Indigenous Values for Earth’s Regeneration) and Co-Manager for the New Zealand Alternative. She is also Project Manager for Te Kaunoti Hikahika (or E Hika!), a constitutional reformation project rolling out across Aotearoa.
Based in Tāneatua this phenomenal wahine spends her time supporting both people, and planet, to thrive.
In this episode we talk about connecting the global Indigenous community, the whakaaro behind constitutional reformation and why each of her sisters carry the name of our most popular star cluster.
Charmeyne Te Nana-Williams (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Toa) is the CEO of What Ever It Takes, an organisation using Māori models of clinical practice for whānau affected by complex disability and trauma, as a result of an acquired serious injury.
She came into this mahi through her own experience in finding support for her husband who, following a boxing injury, became affected by disability and trauma.
In this episode Charmeyne talks to us about that pivotal time in her life, she shares kōrero about working with whānau hauā, and celebrates her twin girls and their sporting success.
NUKU 089 is Irihapeti Edwards (Ngāti Manawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hikairo, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, Te Arawa). This incredible young woman works across financial services and global youth leadership.
Among a number of accolades, she has been a Prime Minister’s Scholar and UN Youth New Zealand delegate.
In this episode she talks about financial literacy and the power it has to transform our communities. She shares her journey into leadership and tells us some of her ambitions in the financial sector.
Tania Page (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāi Tahu) is a journalist currently working with TVNZ’s flagship current affairs show, Sunday.
Earlier in her career, she was on the team that launched the 24 hour news channel Al Jazeera English.
In this episode she shares her career journey, working in news media around the world, and talks to us about some of the heart-wrenching stories she has had to cover in her time as a journalist.
NUKU 087 is Puawai Cairns of Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Pūkenga whakapapa. Puawai has held a number of roles across her time at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, including as curator.
She is currently Te Papa’s Director of Audience and Insight.
In this episode she talks to us about the power of museums and the importance of telling the right stories. She shares some of her favourite exhibitions and how they have impacted both her, and the community she serves, and, she shares her journey as a single māmā and the realities of co-parenting, today.
Julia Arnott-Neenee (Sāmoan, Chinese, British) is the co-founder and director of PeopleForPeople, a youth-led social enterprise on a mission for digital equity.
She’s also a strategy and insights specialist with a personal goal to change the statistics around the lack of diversity in the information and communications technology sector.
In this episode she tells us about her experience working with industry leaders across the world, the realities of the digital divide and why it was important for her to come home and help create change for her people.
NUKU 085 is Mary Brown (Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Whātua). Mary is a full-time, stay-at-home māmā of 10 tamariki, all under 15 years old. She is also a champion for financial literacy.
In this episode we talk about motherhood and the stereotypes that come with raising a large family. Mary shares her whakaaro on raising the leaders of tomorrow and she tells us how being a māmā has helped her find herself.
We’ve got a double episode for your today with Melony Paikea-Tautalanoa (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Arawa) and Manawawharepu Udy (Te Arawa, Mātaatua, Tainui)
Mel and Manawa are the founders of Ngahere Communities, a social enterprise championing the potential of South Auckland entrepreneurs, innovators and creators through collaborative spaces, common values and co-designed responsive programmes.
In this episode we talk about social impact, business growth and the pair share personal stories about their youth.
NUKU 082 is Phylesha Brown-Acton (Fineone Hakupu, Atua (Niue)
Phylesha serves Pasifika Rainbow, LGBTQIA+, MVPFAFF+ peoples and their families. She is the Executive Director of F’INE Pasifika Aotearoa, co-founded with Mama Tere Tahere-Strickland.
F’INE is part of the Pasifika Whānau Ora Collective and Phylesha’s primary role is to challenge rhetoric and oppressive systems that minimise or have invisibilised her community.
In this episode we talk about Phylesha’s upbringing, we discuss the topic of gender, and she shares the importance of Indigenous terminology when it comes to her community.
Deirdre Nehua (Ngātiwai / Ngāti Hao) has spent most of her life working for positive change for ngāi Māori, challenging the racism and inequities thrust upon our communities as a result of colonisation. She is also a writer and poet.
From her involvement in the Maori Land March and land occupations of the 70s, 80s and 90s, to working in prisons, reputedly becoming the first CEO to wear moko kauae and, travelling the world to exchange indigenous knowledge with other first nations people, she has fit a lot of life into her 7 decades.
In this episode we kōrero. About everything. She shares her experiences growing up in whangaruru, to the moment in her life she became most politicised. She shares with us her poetry that she describes as Indigenous erotica, and reminds us that you’re never too old to enjoy sex.
Dr Jenny Lee-Morgan (Waikato, Ngāti Mahuta, Te Ahiwaru, Chinese) is a teacher, author, researcher, māmā and grandmother with Chinese-Māori whakapapa.
Jenny has worked as a secondary school teacher and in the community, tertiary and business sectors. Today, she is a professor of Māori research and the director of Ngā Wai a te Tūī, Māori and Indigenous Research Centre, Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaki (Unitec).
In this episode she shares her experiences as a Māori-Chinese wahine growing up in Aotearoa.
In this episode she shares her experiences as a Māori-Chinese wahine growing up in Aotearoa. We discuss identity and racism, reflecting on her book Jade Taniwha. We also dig deep into the topic of decolonisation, with Jenny believing it all starts with decolonising our minds.
Renata Watene (Ngā Puhi, Tainui) is an optometrist, and one of very few Māori in the industry.
As the director of her own optometry practice that now boasts two locations in Tāmaki Makaurau, and a member of the Waitematā District Health board, she is passionate about improving health equity for Māori, particularly when it comes to eye health.
In this episode Renata talks to us about her 21-year-long career. She shares her whakaaro on our health statistics and talks about prevention as key - reminding us we should be getting eyes checked every two years! We discuss the new health reforms taking place across Aotearoa and Renata shares her personal stories about failure, and how failure is vital for success.
NUKU 078 is Ramari Stewart (Ngāti Awa). She is a renowned tohunga tohorā, based in the small village of Ōkārito in Te Waipounamu.
She has had a life-long affinity with whales, having learned mātauranga from an early age with her parents and wider whānau. From observing and learning about live whales, to leading the recovery of stranded whales, she has spent decades keeping our customary practices alive.
In this episode Ramari shares with us her passion for the ocean, for the taiao and all that lives within it. She teaches us the power of observation and encourages us to think about succession planning for the survival of our culture. We celebrate a world first with the recent naming of the Ramari beaked whale, the only species in the world named after a wahine. And Ramari reminds us that while her main kaupapa has been whales, there is a lot more to her than the huge mammals that grace our oceans.
Phillis Meti (Arorangi, Rarotonga) is a golf professional and a 3-time World Long Drive champion. In 2006 she became the first New Zealander, and youngest ever, to win the World Long Drive championship. She’s since been smashing records at competition level for more than 10 years.
With a career full of accolades, Phillis is passionate about bringing more young Māori and Pasifika women into the sport.
In this episode we talk about her early days following her dad around the green. She talks about the choice she had to make between professional netball, and professional golf and we discuss the difficulties of being a Polynesian woman in a male-dominated sport. Phillis also tells us all about her dream to open an academy of sorts to help kids from Aotearoa pursue their college sporting dreams in the USA.
This weeks podcast episode is sponsored by ITRAFFIC*- New Zealand's trusted Traffic Management service project partner. 100% NZ Maori and Pacific owned business with a vision.
Dr Karlo Mila (Kolofo'ou, Ofu (Tonga), Savai'i (Sāmoa), Pālangj, ancient connections to Savai'i and Pago Pago (Sāmoa)) is a renowned poet. She is also the programme director, founder and creator of the Mana Moana leadership programme. Her work explores knowledge, language, and core concepts indigenous to the Moana. In this episode she shares about her creative life, her māmā life, and the similarities that we, the people of Te Moana nui a kiwa, all share. We also talk briefly about suicide. So take care when listening.
NUKU //075 is Awhitia Mihaere (Ngāti Kahungunu). She is a healer, a traditional birther, a tohunga ruahine, and a teacher of rongoā Māori.
**Awhitia was born on the floor of her whānau home in Tokoroa, guided into te ao Mārama by her grandmother. It was this nanny that nurtured Awhitia’s wairua from that day on.
In this episode we talk about her journey and the worlds she walks in. Awhitia shares with us ancient matauranga and encourages us to strengthen our connections with our atua and our tupuna.
Like many of our podcasts, take care when listening, and have breaks when needed.**
Lusi Faiva (Patamea, Savai’i Samoa) is an award-winning stage performer and dancer, who has been practicing for the last 25 years. Her heritage connects her to Patamea, Savaii Samoa.
**Her performance is mainly in the contemporary genre and contact improvisation, but she also loves to interweave her Samoan culture through siva.
Lusi was born with cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, however this hasn't stopped her from achieving many accolades for her art, nor has it stopped her becoming a tutor on mixed dance with people of varying abilities.**
This episode is different from any one we have recorded to date. Lusi has different verbal abilities, and so shares her experiences with us using all the tools she has to help her with everyday life. We have a full video of this kōrero at our website to help tell Lusi’s story.
**Heather Te Au-Skipworth (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu, Ngati Ruanui, Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is the creator, visionary and CEO of IronMāori. She started the multi-sport event in 2009 with only 300 people. Today, it boasts events right across Aotearoa with numbers reaching 6000 participants per venue. IronMāori has also become the biggest club provider into Ironman New Zealand.
The kaupapa was set up to tackle the growing issue of ill health amongst Māori and is proudly open to all people of all shapes and sizes. Heather’s strive for equity isn't just in the health space. This wahine toa ran for parliament in the last general election and has high hopes to represent her people when the next one rolls around.**
In this episode Heather talks to us about her inspiration behind IronMāori. She shares her personal challenges and the experiences she has had with whānau who have suffered with addiction. Heather also talks to us about the realities of running an election campaign, and what she wants to change for Māori should she get a seat in parliament at the next election.
Pagan Karauria (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa) started woolhandling when she was just 15. Today, she has not only made a career of it, she is also an international champion, winning competitions in Aotearoa, Australia, the UK and Europe. Two summers ago she also ticked off a shearing goal with 402 sheep shorn in 8 hours. She has won accolades in this division too, at national and world champs winning the women’s shearing final in 2019 and coming second in 2020 competition, while carrying a shoulder injury.
As a shearing contractor’s daughter Pagan set out to learn everything in the industry. Now based in Clyde, she spends her year between farms in Central Otago and Te Tai Tokerau, and at competitions in between.
In this episode we talk about wool and the diverse experiences it has given our NUKU //072.
**Dr Ani Alana Kainamu (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa, Kōtirana - Glaswegian) is an environmental researcher within Te Kūwaha, the National Centre of Māori environmental research at the National institute of Water and Atmospheric research. She is also a māmā of two kōtiro.
This amazing wahine completed a double degree in Zoology and Māori studies before achieving a Masters in Marine Science, and then a PhD in Environmental science looking at local and Indigenous values of shellfisheries.**
Her mahi has taken her across Aotearoa and over to Hawai’i learning and sharing Indigenous aquaculture practices.
In this episode we talk about her journey, from her career, to māmāhood and everything in between. She shares her passion for hauora through kai, we explore the way she acknowledges her Pākehā whakapapa and, Ani tells us a tale of that time she saw a starfish chase a paua.
When I first read an online bio for Dr Erica Newman it stated her whakapapa as Māori, and then in brackets, ‘iwi unknown’. It has to be one of the most powerful, yet painful, identifiers I have ever read.
The lecturer in Te Tumu: School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous studies at the University of Otago, recently received a Marsden Fast Start research grant to journey with descendants of Māori adoptees in their search for their tūrangawaewae.
It is a journey she knows intimately, as the daughter of a Māori adoptee.
In this episode Erica shares with us her whānau story of disconnection and the ongoing mahi to search for her whakapapa. She tells us the effects of our adoption laws in Aotearoa and discusses identity formation of Māori adoptees, sharing the personal account of her own māmā.
We also talk about the heartbreaking reality of knowing you are Māori, but not knowing where you come from. This isn’t an easy kōrero, but it is such an important one.
Georgia Latu (Kai Tahu, Ngāpuhi) is the 14-year old C.E.O behind Pōtiki Poi. A pakihi that makes, sells and distributes poi and earrings, while sharing mātauranga Māori.
Her business has environmental and social values at its heart, using op shop and second hand materials, with biodegrading plastic, and employing people with diverse abilities from Cargill Enterprises.
In this episode we talk about the inspiration behind Pōtiki poi, Georgia shares the realities for juggling kura and mahi, and she gives an insight into what it's like being an Indigenous kōhine, today.
Te Ao Kapa (Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Wai, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Porou) started with Te Kaha O Te Rangatahi Indigenous Youth Hub at age 18, filing paperwork and helping in the office.
Today, 12 years later, she has just been made the organisation’s CEO. Her mahi is to support rangatahi navigate their way to becoming their own champions of positive change.
In this episode we talk about Te Ao’s career journey. From her role as a rangatahi sexual health peer support worker, to a stint as general manager. She shares with us her views on leadership and how her own experience of personal neglect, burnout and life-changing whānau events led her to reevaluate her orangatanga, in turn changing her leadership style to better influence work-life balance within her organisation.
We also talk about her village of empowering Indigenous wāhine and, her involvement in Hip Hop International NZ. -
Kyla Campbell-Kamariera (Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, Taranaki Tūturu) is the Waikato Students' Union President and a member of the University Council. Currently completing her masters degree, focusing on Indigenous leadership, she has a passion for politics, history and wāhinetanga.
Her journey has at many times been very straight forward, with her love of education and her drive to succeed both academically and creatively. At other times, she has faced challenges many of us could never comprehend; being diagnosed with a brain tumor as a teenager, and losing her māmā and kuia to murder.
In this episode we talk about her upbringing in the far north. Kyla shares her leadership ambitions, her educational achievements and the realities of her mahi representing a diverse collective in University politics. She also talks about systemic racism and the power of Indigenous women.
Dr Ngahuia Murphy (Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Ruapani ki Waikaremoana, Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rangitihi) is a mana wahine, kaupapa Māori researcher recovering ancestral knowledge that heals and empowers Māori and other Indigenous whānau.
The author seeks to recover living relationships with our atua wāhine and helps to facilitate that for others through her research, ritual, wananga and dance, as a medium of ceremony.
In this episode we talk about the divine feminine, about our whare tangata, our menstrual blood and the mana and tapu of wahine. We also talk about how we can recover our own ceremonies for ourselves and our whānau.
We delve into topics that can feel deep, heavy and tapu, so be conscious of where you are listening to this episode, take care of yourself and take breaks where needed.
Loretta Lanauze (Imi Moriori, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāi Tahu) calls Rēkohu Chatham Islands her home. She lived there with her whānau until, like most teenagers on the island, she had to move to the mainland for her high school education. While many leave the island for schooling, few return to live permanently.
Loretta however is one wāhine who has come back to Rēkohu where she is raising her beautiful daughter, looking after the whānau homestead and whenua, working as a chef, training to become a fire woman and recently, becoming a member of the local LANDSAR, land search and rescue volunteer organisation.
In this episode we talk about her island life and upbringing, we discover more about her moriori whakapapa and the mahi her whānau is doing to reclaim their reo and tikanga and, she tells us all about her dreams to one day write her own cookbook.
Kaai Silbery (Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu, Tainui) is the founder of Go Wild Apiary, Chatham Islands Freeze Dried Honey.
Also working as the head chef at Hotel Chatham, she is passionate about wild foods, endemic plant species and, of course, her bees.
In this episode we travel to Rēkohu, Chatham Islands, to kōrero with Kaai about her unique honey product and how it is gracing the menus of restaurants across the world. We also talk about her journey to becoming a chef and how a carved pou at the local island marae helped her discover her whakapapa connection to Rēkohu.
As a 35 year old Māori woman some of my greatest pain, sadness, whakamā and frustration comes from my journey with te reo. Like many, I didn't grow up with te reo Māori as my first language and over the years I have searched for it in school, at night classes, through wānanga and with whānau.
Recently I have yet again opened the books to continue my efforts in becoming fluent in my own language. Following on from the kōrero with NUKU //063 Stacey Morrison, she flips the microphone on me to share a bit about my challenges, celebrations and expectations with te reo Māori and why my yearning for my reo is stronger now than it has ever been.
// Qiane Matata-Sipu
Most of us know NUKU //063 through her extensive career on our screens and airwaves. Stacey Morrison (Ngāi Tahu, Te Arawa) is a māmā, writer, facilitator and tutor. She is a veteran broadcaster, television host and consultant. She is also a passionate champion of te reo Māori and is an ambassador for the breast cancer foundation.
While Stacey has raised her three tamariki with te reo Māori as their first language, she herself did not learn until adulthood. It was in fact, her third language.
In this episode we hear personal stories of her upbringing and losing her māmā to breast cancer at a young age. We talk about language and the ways we can incorporate te reo into our everyday lives and, we talk about the realities of being an indigenous woman today and honouring our puku.
Tania Pouwhare (Ngāi Tūhoe) is a manager in local government for Community and Social Innovation, testing radical challenges and opportunities that enhance the mana of our people, particularly those that have been left behind by the economy.
Her mahi spans both grassroots and systems levels, directly affecting those farthest from resources, power and influence.
In this episode we talk about her time in the UK and her formative years working for women’s rights organisations. The self-professed feminist shares her views on sexual and reproductive health rights for wāhine and, Tania talks unapologetically about New Zealand’s class system and the paradox facing the Māori economy.
Darna Appleyard (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa, Te Whakatōhea, Scottish) spent much of her childhood in Tasmania. It was there across the ditch she learnt first hand about some of the hardest things she’d have to face in her life, from racism and inequality, to family suicide.
This self-described ‘equity challenger’ works to disrupt the distribution and programming of health resources to achieve health equity for Māori.
In this episode we talk about her childhood and the time whaea Eva Rickard knocked on their front door, Darna shares her passion for Māori health outcomes and the innovative solutions they need to be achieved and, she talks openly about losing a father and brother to suicide.
As per all NUKU kōrero, we do not shy away from the hard topics in this episode, so please be kind to yourself when you listen, and take breaks where you need.
Kura Paul-Burke (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Whakahemo) is a Māori marine ecologist, scientific diver and trans-disciplinary researcher with extensive pragmatic knowledge combining mātauranga Māori and Western science to assist co-developed kaitiakitanga.
As well as her role as an associate professor for Mātai Moana with the University of Waikato she works with rangatahi to teach freediving and has spent much time dedicated to the restoration of mussel beds in Ōhiwa harbour.
In this episode we talk about the importance of our moana environments. We discuss the benefits of combining matauranga Maori with Western science and, we learn that although Kura spends much of her time underwater, this wahine is not the greatest swimmer.
Julie Paama-Pengelly (Ngaiterangi - Te moutere o Matakana) describes herself as a practitioner of political identity activism through the teachings and practice of mahi toi, predominantly Tā moko.
Living and working in te rohe o Tauranga Moana, her studio is a space that nurtures a diverse group of creatives. Julie was one of the first wahine kai tā of modern times, working, sharing, learning, and leading in a very male-dominated space.
In this episode we talk about her journey with tā moko, the power and resurgence of our traditional marks and we discuss pūhoro, for wāhine.
Maata Wharehoka (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Apakura, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Kuia) started her working life as a nurse. Her mahi in health saw her write the first stop smoking programme for Māori women and, she led wāhine in cervical screening programmes on marae.
She later found her niche in marae at Parihaka Pā and championed marae arts, raranga and karanga. In 2015 she won the Creative New Zealand Ngā Tohu ā Tā Kingi Ihaka award recognising her lifetime contribution to the arts. Maata’s many passions have been combined in her mahi around death, as she champions Kahu Whakatere Tupapaku, the tīkanga Māori practices surrounding death and burial.
In this episode she tells us about her life’s journey, what it was like to grow up with a strict mid-victorian minded aunty. She shares experiences of birth and death in her whānau, and she tells us why she advocates for euthanasia and how we all need to be prepared to die.
Tuhi-Ao Bailey (Ngāti Mutunga, Te Ātiawa, Taranaki) is a kaitiaki dedicated to our Taiao. The Parihaka pā trustee supports hapū, marae and Māori landowners with water, fish and flora monitoring, as well as riparian planting and pest control. She is a passionate climate change champion and gardener who has helped set up maara and tree nurseries with a number of roopu, while also incorporating Indigenous planting practices into her own backyard.
She is known to many by her Pākehā ingoa, Emily. However in recent years she has actively sought to Indigenise her world even more, nurturing her reo Māori, receiving her moko kauae, and leading with her ingoa taketake.
In this episode we talk about her mahi as an iwi representative and her many years of advocacy, activism and action. We discuss the importance of whenua, growing kai and the effects of climate change. Tuhi Ao also shares an intimate insight into what it was like to be abruptly thrown into the public eye on October 15, 2007, and how Taranaki has helped heal her and find strength in her identity as a wahine Māori.
Veranoa Hetet (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Te Ātiawa) is a master weaver and one of our country’s most celebrated contemporary artists. Although, the humble wahine from Waiwhetū cringes when you describe her as that.
Veranoa is an uri of renowned weavers and teachers, her grandmother, the late Dame Rangimarie Hetet and her mother, the late Erenora Puketapu-Hetet. As well as her aunty, the late Diggeress Te Kanawa. She says being surrounded by art, and having parents as masters of their art, meant her journey was pretty straight forward.
Today, her work is national museum collections, it adorns the walls of galleries, she has kākahu that are awarded for excellence, like the New Zealander of the Year award, and most importantly, her work is worn and carried by her tamariki and mokopuna. Veranoa also helps whānau around the world to reclaim Māori art traditions through the Hetet School of Maori Art, an online kura where she teaches raranga, tāniko and kākahu, including korowai.
In this episode we talk about the importance of keeping our art practices alive, the beauty and vitality of the harakeke plant and we learn the correct kupu for our different woven cloaks.
Laura O’Connell Rapira (Te Ātiawa, Ngāruahine, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whakaue) is a community organiser, campaigner and writer.
She started her career organising events, before moving on to charity fundraising. However, she got pulled into a different direction when she started RockEnrol, a youth-powered campaign to get more young people out to vote. In 2014 she joined ActionStation and became their director. Since then, she has worked with communities nationwide around steps towards economic fairness, climate protection, human rights, global peace and honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
In this episode we laugh about the irony of being full-time paid activist, we discuss some of her recent highlights, like the move to make Matariki a public holiday, and, we talk about her next chapter with the Foundation for Young Australians.
Awatea Mita (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Porou) is a justice advocate speaking out for equitable outcomes in the criminal justice system. She is also a passionate advocate for Indigenous rights.
Her current advocacy projects are around repealing the Bail Amendment Act 2013 and increasing the use of restorative practice alternatives to harm. Much of this drive came as a result of her own 22 month incarceration in 2015 and seeing first hand the vulnerability and strength of our wāhine Māori under punitive state control. She wants to help create a system that restores balance while keeping the mana and dignity of whānau intact.
In this episode we talk about her childhood and the integral part her whānau played in sharing the stories of resistance in Aotearoa. We discuss her experience in the prison system and how the death of her son, while she was incarcerated, changed her forever. Awatea also shares her current journey and the possibility of one day, lending her voice to represent our people in our highest office.
Maia Mariner (Ngai Tai, Samoa) is the founder of Lazy Sneakers, a not-for-profit organisation that collects and redistributes reusable sneakers for free. Maia is 15. She came up with this idea at 12 and has enabled tamariki to participate in sports and other activities, right across Pōneke and around the country, with a simple pair of shoes.
From size 18-plus basketball kicks, to a styley pair of chucks, this kōhine is changing lives.
In this episode Maia gives us an insight into what it’s like being a young Indigneous woman in Aotearoa today. She shares with us the highlights of her mahi helping young and old and opens our eyes to the realities of running a charity, while still being in high school. And, (thanks to some encouragement from her whāngai NUKU aunties) she tells you how you can help her achieve her dreams.
Tiffany Witehira (Ngāpuhi) is reputedly the only Māori fragrance developer in the world. She runs the only Māori owned and operated perfumery in the world, Curionoir.
From making fragrances, to collaborating with like-minded artisans, she loves to curate experiences that tie in all our senses. From her hand-blown glass bottles, to the hand poured perfumes that evoke an array of memories, every element of her business and being is thoughtful and personal.
In this episode we talk about her journey, the challenges of growing up in a predominantly Pākeha upper class world after leaving her papakāinga-based childhood, and, she shares with me her unreleased native plant fragrance collection while I try my best to sound fancy while describing the smell and memories it evokes. We definitely tried some new things with this podcast.
Dr Kelly Tikao (Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu) is a Māori researcher, Nurse, māmā, and self-described dabbler in the creative fields.
Based in Ōtautahi, she became interested in customary birthing practices following her cousin’s experience with home birth. She began implementing some of those practices into her own birth experiences with her children, and progressed into a Masters and then PhD on the kaupapa.
In this episode we talk about hapūtanga, birthing, story and liberation.
Today we celebrate the halfway mark of the NUKU 100 with a very special NUKU //050. Linda Aumua (Fijian) is a passionate advocate for educational equity for Pacific people’s in Aotearoa. She is also the māmā of our videographer, Taylor.
Linda has worked in community development and as a teacher, director and senior policy analyst, transforming lives through access and success in education from preschool to tertiary both here and in Fiji.
In this episode we talk about the power of education, Linda’s experiences working across the Pacific, Indigenous female leadership and, we talk about motherhood, from the lessons her own mother taught her, to the ones she is imparting on her own children.
Hana Tuwhare (Ngāpuhi) is a community activator and speech language therapist. She works alongside whānau, kaiako, iwi, early education centres and organisations to help create rich oral language environments for our pēpi in the first 1000 days.
She recognises the links between language, culture and identity, putting a focus on mātauranga Māori through her mahi to support young tamariki to thrive as thinkers, learners and readers who, are also grounded in who they are.
In this episode we talk about the importance of talk and oral language for our babies, we get tips for teaching and learning at home and Hana shares with us her experience touring with a big top travelling circus.
Ema Tavola (Dravuni - Fiji, Pākehā) is an artist-curator which she says mostly involved her being an arts manager, advocate and hype woman of Moana Oceania arts and culture.
She is the Director of Vunilagi Vou, an independent exhibitions gallery and consultancy in South Auckland. She is also a māmā to her daughter, Lanuola.
Born in Fiji and raised in the UK and Europe as an ambassador’s daughter, she has lived through a civilian coup back in her homeland before finding a second kāinga and settling in Aotearoa as a teen.
In this episode we talk about Moana Oceania arts and its importance to Aotearoa, we discuss her career and how her role as a mother has shaped her and her values in this creative space and, Ema speaks openly about miscarriage and baby loss, reminding wāhine with similar experiences, that we are not alone.
Lizzie Dunn (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Te Arawa) is on a mission to help people learn Indigenous languages through technology. The founder of Lingogo is doing so through her passion for storytelling, creating dual-language e-books.
Having a background in publishing and, working with NZ Film Commission, Lizzie used her experience to create the digital start-up in a new industry. The business hustle isn't always easy, but when you are driven by kaupapa, it is always worth it.
In this episode we talk about the power of language, the pursuit of success and, how the lived experience of Lizzie’s grandparents, particularly her grandfather facing racism, her grandmother escaping Hitler, have shaped her and the change she wants to make in this world.
NUKU //045 Rebecca Davis (No Ngāti Hei, Ngāti Porou ki Harataunga, Ngāti Tamatera Te Arawa, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga) is a change agent, and NUKU //046 Stevie Davis–Tana (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Porou, Te Arawa, Ngāti Raukawa) is a powerful spoken word poet and youth worker.
The mother-daughter duo are creating impactful change right across Aotearoa. Through Rebecca’s impact strategy mahi transforming communities and organisations, to Stevie’s creative ventures empowering our rangatahi, the pair are a force who want to see our people thrive.
In this episode we talk about single-parent experiences from the different perspectives of mother and daughter, we discuss the importance of system change and Indigenous systems return and Stevie shares her tips on how to write poetry and performs one of her compelling pieces about moko kauae.
Maruhaeremuri Nihoniho (Ngāi Tahu, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Porou) spent much of her childhood beating high scores on the spacies machines at her local fish and chip shop. That childhood pass time turned into a passion, as Maru became the founding CEO Metia Interactive, developing and producing games for multiple platforms.
She uses games to tell Indigenous stories, and her passion project Guardian Maia, is an action-adventure game that explores te ao Māori with a wahine toa, lead character.
In this episode we talk about being an Indigenous woman in a male-dominated industry, she shares her transition from a career in hospitality to tech, tells us the realities of pitching for million dollar projects and, shares some memories of favourite old-school game, ghost and goblins.
We travelled to Te Tauihu to meet NUKU 43 Kerensa Johnston (Ngāti Tama, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Whawhakia). She is the CEO of Wakatū Incorporation, which has about 4,000 owners who descend from whānau and hapū of Whakatū, Motueka and Mōhua rohe.
Kerensa has worked as as a solicitor in the private sector, a Barrister and, as a legal academic where she specialised in Māori legal development, public law, land law and international law. She was part of the Nelson Tenths Reserves and Occupation Reserves case against the NZ Government, which was won in the Supreme Court.
Today, her role has a focus on leading her whānau through the sustainable use of their land and resources, including a focus in areas of food sovereignty, innovation, and Indigenous science.
In this episode we talk about that supreme court case and the legacy of Wakatū, about harnessing the strengths of different iwi and hapū, and her mahi with Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, the Māori Centre of Research Excellence.
Rachel Taulelei (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Koata) is the CEO of Kono, a whānau-owned food and beverage company that boasts horticulture, seafood and of course, award-winning wine. Guided by Te Pae Tawhiti, a 500 year plan for success, Rachel is at the helm of a unique business model with kaitiakitanga at its core.
With a career that has spanned law, international trade and enterprise, business and, governance, you can understand why she is highly sought after in roles like the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council.
In this episode we talk with Rachel about what it means to build an innovative international brand. We talk about wāhine in leadership, appropriation and the realities of working for your people.
Hiria Cameron and Kat Poi are sisters. Of Tainui, Te Arawa and Tongan whakapapa, the pair both work in racial equity education, building people’s skill, capacity and knowledge to engage, sustain and deepen conversation about race.
Their mahi contributes to humanity achieving liberation and equity, while also empowering people to be healthy and, to thrive in their identities. They do this through one courageous conversation at a time.
In this episode we talk about black lives and white skin. We try and talk about their youth as world trampoline champions but the discussion quickly returns to decolonisation and indigenisation, about shaping racial consciousness and about what it means to be “Māori enough”.
Donna Kerridge (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Mahuta) is a tohunga of Rongoā Māori, although she doesn’t describe herself as that. The humble practitioner, tutor and advocate is passionate about Indigenous practices that focus on healing and restoring our people and, our whenua.
Rongoā is a practice she learnt from childhood, growing up in a whānau that would seek their medicine from the bush, and from each other.
In this episode we talk about orangatanga and all that entails. We discuss the Tohunga Suppression Act and today’s laws that still limit our traditional practices. Donna shares some of her top tips for wellness and, tells us the tale of how her second form school teacher, Mrs Kingi, changed her life.
Kristin Ross (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Tara) is an entrepreneur, a producer and a creative.
If you have tamariki, you will likely know her best as the co-founder and co-creator (with her husband Hōhepa) of the first Māori speaking dolls, and associated cartoon, Pipi Mā.
Kristin and her husband produce Māori language content for digital and television broadcast, and while te reo Māori is now the primary language in their home, it wasn’t something she grew up with.
In this episode we talk about being unapologetically Māori. Kristin’s passion for our language, our culture and her drive to create a fully Indigenous world for our tamariki and Mokopuna so te reo me ona tikanga can be a daily reality for our future generations.
Kiriwaitingi Rei (Te Arawa, Ngāti Ama ki Rangitaiki, Ngāti Toa Rangatira) has worked in governance for almost 10 years. Her mahi has seen her practice as a solicitor and working for a post settlement iwi investment company before becoming the Chief Executive of Maori Investments.
She recently became the an independent director for the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union, the first wahine to be appointed to the board in its 108 year history.
In this episode we talk about smashing stereotypes on the roles of women, the need for diversity of thought as well as gender balance and age representation on our governance boards and, what it takes to be a woman in leadership today.
Angela Swann-Cronin (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata) is the first, and still the only, wahine Māori to become a pilot in the Royal NZ Airforce. A title she has held since 1999.
Her career has gone from working in the military, to becoming a pilot with a regional commercial carrier, celebrating a few seaplane and skydive flying experiences in between.
The māmā of two who has whakapapa to the East Coast, was born and raised in Rotorua, and although she spent much of her life travelling the world, she is happy to now be settled back there in a unique whare, made from straw, yes, straw.
In this episode we talk about being a wahine in a male dominated industry, about the highlights, and challenges she faced in 13 years of military service and, Angela tells us all about that straw house.
Terangi Roimata Kutia-Tataurangi (Ngāti Konohi, Te Aitanga a Hauiti) is the only nail technician in the world that specialises in Māori nail art. She has coined the term Toimaikuku for her unique style that blends new beauty techniques with Indigenous design, offering both a nail salon experience and retail nail wraps.
Born and raised in Te Tairāwhiti, the māmā of two is a graduate of Toihoukura, and is challenging the norms of Indigenous art practice.
In this episode we talk about business, beauty and being a boss.
Dr Diana Kopua (Ngāti Porou) is a psychiatrist that is changing the system by preferencing Indigenous approaches to orangatanga.
As the developer of Mahi a Atua, she uses Māori creation stories and pūrākau to transform mental health frameworks, providing an affirmation of our amazing genealogy and validation for our resilience.
Dr Di is teaching communities of practice an alternative to the Western model, using a culturally sensitive new therapy to address mental distress and suffering amongst Māori.
In this episode we talk about her upbringing, her career journey, and how her approach to health is smashing white supremacy.
Tina Ngata (Ngāti Porou) has spent her life showing up for justice.
Working in advocacy for Indigenous peoples and Papatūānuku, her passion for justice led her to become an active researcher, mahi that works in research while also committing to being an active part of the solution.
She believes that in order to achieve lasting social and environmental justice, we must first start with decolonisation and dismantling the doctrine of discovery.
In this episode we talk about imperialism in Aotearoa, her passion for te taiao and, that time she worked for the Royal Family.
Honey (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Haua, Waikato-Tainui) is a sporting icon.
The current captain of the Kiwi Ferns is a dual-code sportswoman with a career that has spanned 18 years and counting. The semi-professional athlete is also a disability sports adviser and sports commentator, smashing stereotypes across the sector.
Born and raised in Putāruru, Honey invites us back to her whānau homestead to share her story.
From her childhood days playing every sport the rural town had on offer, to raising her own teenage boys, and, her passion for equality in sports. She also talks about caring for her terminally ill māmā, and the realities of dealing with grief.
Courtney (Tainui, Ngāti Koroki Kahukura) is a jeweller, artist and a lapidist - someone who cuts and shapes precious stones.
Through her business - Courtney Marama, she designs bespoke jewellery, handcrafted in precious metals and set with gemstones from Aotearoa mainly working with Pounamu. Her unique approach to Pounamu, marries tradition with innovative design, shaping delicate pieces not commonly made from this taonga.
In this episode, we talk about her upbringing in Cambridge, her sustainable approach to craftswomanship and, being a new māmā.
Kera Sherwood-O’Regan (Kāi Tahu) is a wahine who lives with Fibromyalgia. She started the organisation Fibromyalgia Aotearoa NZ, to help others living with the condition. Alongside this mahi, she also runs Activate, a social enterprise creative agency with a focus on bringing voice to social and environmental kaupapa.
Since age 16, Kera has advocated for Indigenous rights. She is a staunch climate activist and has represented Indigenous Aotearoa a number of times at the United Nations convention on climate change.
In this episode, we talk about climate justice and the effect global warming has on every aspect of life. We learn about how important Indigenous solidarity is when speaking to a global audience and, we kōrero about living with an invisible disability.
Kanoa (Ngāti Porou, Tuhoe) started off as a kid’s tv presenter and is now one of very few (less than a handful on our count) wahine Māori to lead prime time television in Aotearoa.
Born in Gisborne, she spent much of her childhood moving around Tokomaru Bay, East Cape and Coromandel, before moving to Cromwell. Recently reconnecting to Ruatoria has become a significant part of her adult life and was key in her journey to strengthen her hononga to all sides of her whakapapa.
Using her platform to advocate for and address issues that affect many New Zealanders, Kanoa flows between waves of both public support and public criticism.
In this episode we talk about the joys and pains of being a wahine Māori in mainstream media, we learn about Kanoa’s childhood, she shares stories of the indigenous women who inspire her most, and we laugh, and cringe, about all the keyboard warriors.
Marama (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou) is a māmā, an activist, a proud wahine Māori and, the co-leader of the New Zealand Green Party.
For years we have seen her on our television screens, in our newspapers, and at our community events. Many of her speeches in the house have gone viral and she isn’t afraid to front the public on some our toughest social and environmental issues.
But who is the wahine behind the politician?
In this episode we talk about her rise to politics and the realities of mahi and māmāhood. About climate change and social inequalities and, that time she kayaked up the Whanganui Awa, retracing the ancient trade routes, all the way to Tāmaki Makaurau.
Tia lives in Vancouver. It is the tupuna whenua of her husband and where she is raising her tamariki for the time being. Of Ngā Puhi and Te Aupōuri whakapapa, she is a māmā of six and the director of Whaea Productions.
She has spent many years working towards the protection of our taiao, and challenging decision-makers in their recognition of Indigenous peoples.
Being so far from home she finds solace in the Indigenous communities around her, and has focussed much of her recent mahi documenting the stories of Indigenous women.
In this episode we talk about the challenges of living overseas, she tells us about jumping off the Auckland harbour bridge with her Tino Rangatiratanga Flag and, what its like to be a wahine mau moko, and, a Constellation.
Rangimarie is the tumuaki of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Tututarakihi in the Far North.
At only 29 she is transforming the education system by creating a unique kura, embeded in tikanga Māori, with a goal to actively exercise Tino Rangatiratanga. Tututarakihi aligns its school term with the maramataka. The curriculum caters to the interests of its tamariki, and the taiao as a core part of the classroom.
Language, mathematics and science are learnt through diving, fishing, entrepreneurship, farming and other practices that invite community champions to become kaiako, teaching through lived experience.
In this episode we talk about the status of te reo Māori in Aotearoa, creating a tikanga-based Māori education system, Rangimarie’s dream to build a whare whakairo in Te Tai Tokerau and, why she advocates for a 4 day working week for better whānau wellbeing.
Julia is a dancer, mark maker, storyteller.
Of Papua New Guinean and Australian heritage, she created the film Tep Tok : Reading Between Our Lines, sharing the journey to raise awareness for the dying art form that she is helping revive through her hand poke and hand tap method.
She talks to us about her practice, about women’s traditional roles in mark making, and reviving the old, to new old.
This full time artist is a bark cloth maker and currently living in Turanga (Gisborne). Her Aute pieces are adorned with celestial patterns, combining ancestral knowledge of Kapa and star navigation.
In this episode we talk about how Hawaii helped Nikau find her calling, how art school almost turned her off being an artist and, that time she ran off to be in the circus.
Aqui is a Janajāti woman from the Himalayan regions of South Asia. She travelled to Aotearoa from India earlier this year for an exhibition we both participated in at ST PAUL st Gallery. It was in the middle of the Ihumātao reclamation and so we recorded her interview in a portacom, on the whenua.
In this episode she shares the reality of being an indigenous Indian woman, of growing up in a militarised neighbourhood, the rules around when and how people can gather, and the truths of the tea plantations in her home area of Darjeeling. She also talks to us about her brave move to open Sister Library and, how she uses art in activism and community empowerment projects.
Recently Pualani Case travelled to Aotearoa to bring us the stories of Hawaii and her fight to protect her maunga, Mauna Kea.
Aunty Pua, as she is affectionately known, is a spiritual and cultural leader. She is a Kumu Hula, a teacher of traditional dance and chant, and is a passionate advocate for the Kanaka Maoli indigenous people of Hawaii.
She holds multiple degrees, and was a public school teacher for more than 30 years, but today, she and her family work tirelessly to protect their ancestral spaces from destruction and desecration.
In this episode we talk about religious colonialism, indigenous solidarity, and of course, her beloved Mauna Kea.
KūKia'iMauna
Dr Amber Aranui (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) has a special job. As a researcher for the Karanga Aotearoa Repatriation Programme at Te Papa Museum, she has spent the past 10 and a half years searching the world for our tūpuna, and working to bring them home.
The bones and body parts of some of our ancestors are in museums, universities and private collections. Old. Young. Tāne. Wāhine.
Amber’s mahi is to find them, learn about how they came to be there, investigate who they are, then try to reunite them with their descendants. It isn't an easy job, but it is an important one. And is one that gives her a lot of fulfilment.
In this episode we talk about the history of ‘scientific research’ on Māori and Moriori, Amber shares some of the emotional realities of her mahi and, she teaches us about the issues related to repatriation.
www.NUKUwomen.co.nz
Lynell Tuffrey Huria is the only Māori patent attorney in Aotearoa. She is helping Māori navigate the intellectual property system, identify cultural property and develop protocols and processes for recognition and protection within Western structures.✊🏽
Of Ngati Ruanui and Nga Ruahine Rangi whakapapa, she is passionate about creating a better future for our people and in 2018 co-organised the first Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho conference to discuss ways we can protect our cultural heritage in this ever-changing world.
She is a māmā, a nanny, a talented golfer and an ex DJ.
In this episode we talk about intellectual property and how to keep ours safe. We discuss the power of indigenous women, how to achieve balance, and share personal stories about healing from grief. She also talks about the kickass indigenous wahine who inspire her.
Damaris Coulter (Ngāti Kahu) started her hospitality journey as a child, working at her uncle’s restaurant in Kaitaia. She grew up around hospo and spent her early adult life learning from some of the best chefs and restauranteurs in the business, both here, and in Italy and the UK.
When she returned to Aotearoa, she opened Coco’s Cantina with her sister, and ran the restaurant for almost 10 years before signing over her share to pursue a world-changing idea.
Her new project, The Realness, shines a light on small business. A space to highlight independent, owner-operated, artisan food spaces.
In this episode Damaris talks to us about her passion for hospitality and how she believes we can flip the economy by supporting small, and local.
Sidenote, there’s a few F-bombs dropped through this podcast, Damaris is a passionate speaker, so if swearing hurts your ears, this one might not be for you.
Donna Tamaariki and Moana Tamaariki-Pohe are twin sisters whose affinity for the Ocean was passed down to them from their tūpuna. Of Māori (Ngāti Whatua Orakei, Te Waiohua), Cook Islands, Tahitian and Tauiwi descent, the pair have spent their entire lives working to protect and preserve the ocean. Whether it be through waka ama, navigation, teaching, governance or policy change, they are working to have an everlasting positive effect on their tūpuna moana, the Waitematā.
The pair are also having great impact in the entrepreneurial space. Both are small business owners, with Donna currently in a role focussed on Māori economic outcomes. Moana wrote, and delivers, the HineBoss programme empowering indigenous women right across the country, into business.
In this episode we discuss ego vs eco, we talk about the true measure of success and, we find out which twin has paddled enough nautical miles to have circumnavigated the world three times!
Chelsea Winstanley is a filmmaker. She directed the documentary Tame Iti: The man behind the moko, and co-directed Waru, the heart-wrenching film about child abuse, made by 8 Māori female directors. Her producer credits include What We do in the Shadows, and the short film Night Shift. And most recently, she helped Hepi Mita make a documentary about his mum, the pioneering Merata Mita – sharing the stories of how she decolonised the screen.
Now Based in Los Angeles with her husband and children, Chelsea is a world away from her home town of Mt Maunganui. And while there might be a few more red carpets in her life these days, this Te Puna girl has never forgotten how she got there.
Today, we talk about that journey. She shares what it was like being a 21 year old single māmā having to rely to on a benefit, through to the life changing car accident that forced her to have to learn to walk again.
She also talks about the realities of the film industry and the importance of indigenous representation on our screens.
When you think of a librarian, what image pops into your head? Because for me, before I met Kim Tairi, I saw an old nanny wearing a cardigan, glasses with a beaded chain, and a long burgundy skirt.
Damn all those television programmes that embed stereotypes into my brain!
Our NUKU //015 couldn’t be further away from that picture. Kim manages a university library and works with 100 staff. She has been working in this field, in different roles, for more than 25 years.
Born in Otepoti, she has spent a lot of her life living across the ditch. She loves working in libraries because they help build social capacity, they are a safe space, a warm space, and provide access to knowledge to help people navigate their way through life.
In this episode Kim smashes all my preconceived ideas about this career pathway. The funky māma talks about indigenous knowledge systems, decolonising cultural institutions and, feminism.
(This podcast is marked as explicit, but she only drops 1 impassioned f-bomb about a third of the way through. Its otherwise safe for all ears).
Ninakaye Taane-Tinorau is of Ngati Maniapoto whakapapa. She was born and raised in Otautahi, Christchurch before moving to Auckland at age 19. There, she became a peep show dancer and stripper, working in the sex industry for 4 years. With that lifestyle, came an addiction to drugs and alcohol. She isn't one to shy away from this period in her life, in fact, she talks about it openly to help other wahine know the realities of this world.
Today, the māmā of three (and new nana) is proudly 18 years sober. She is a managing director of a successful music production company and record label and, is one of only three people in Aotearoa who instructs Kemetic Yoga. She is also a co-faciliator of women’s safety programmes.
In this episode we talk about her journey, the dark parts of her youth, through to her experience with domestic violence. And, the light parts of her adulthood, sharing with us her time with Lakota people as she, along with other Māori women, performed a haka in solidarity against the North Dakota access pipeline. She also shares how she is using her platforms to help inspire, motivate, and empower Indigenous women.
Content warning: This episode talks about domestic violence and discusses adult themes.
Hinewirangi is one of those kuia that you want to sit with for hours. Her knowledge, her experience and her stories, are mesmerising.
She is a writer and poet. An activist and a tohunga of taonga puoro. She has worked in rape crisis centres and, in prison rehabilitation.
In this episode we cover so many topics, as you do when you sit at the table with wahine full of wisdom. We talk about racism, Atua wahine and kaitiakitanga. Hinewirangi shares her personal story of sexual assault, how she faced her rapist years later and, the tools she used to help her forgive. We talk about art and Indigenous knowledge. About being strapped at school for speaking te reo Māori and how today, we need to decolonise our reo. And, we hear the fascinating story of her waka tūpāpaku, the vessel she is making to house her ashes, when she dies.
Content warning: This episode may be confronting for some, it shares details about sexual abuse. Hinewirangi’s story is raw, and uncut. We do not shy away from challenging topics of conversation. For those who listen to NUKU with their daughters, you may want to screen this episode before you let your tamariki listen. There are adult themes, but I promise you, there is also some great wisdom we can all learn and grow from.
Dr Huhana Hickey (Ngāti Tahinga, Tainui, Ngai Tai) is a Crown Director and a passionate advocate for our disabled community, our whanau hauā.
She has a long standing interest in human rights, particularly the rights of people who come from marginal backgrounds. She often comments on the consequences of discrimination and social oppression.
Of Māori, Navajo, Aboriginal and Sami whakapapa, Huhana was raised in Stratford with a Pākeha adoptive whanau. At birth, her ethnicity was falsified, removing all connections to her indigenous heritage.
In this episode we talk about indigenous disability and where human rights and tikanga Māori intersect. We share korero about Multiple Sclerosis and adress the notion that Māori don't get MS and, we discuss medical marijuana - its pros, its cons, and its misconceptions.
Reina Vaai is from Sataua, Savai'i. She lived in Samoa in her early years, until a cyclone destroyed her village and, her home. Her parents made the decision to move to New Zealand permanently. Here, she grew up in a humble home that housed their wider whānau. Her parents and siblings all shared one room.
Upon leaving school, Reina pursued a career in law, and decided to practice criminal law. Not one to be confined to a single career pathway, this ambitious young woman has also worked as a television reporter and director. Just recently, she directed her first web series, The Misadventures of a Pacific Professional, and has written her first children’s book, The Inventor, dedicated to the children of South Auckland.
In this episode we talk about Reina's upbringing and career pathway. We discuss the realities of defending some of our worst criminals and, we have a conversation about privilege, who has it, who doesn't, and how we recognise our own. Note: This podcast contains some adult themes.
Angela Watene lives in the city that never sleeps, New York, New York, working as a management consultant with one of the world's largest accountancy firms. Her current area of focus is financial crimes, working with organisations to help mitigate against the threat of fraud. Of Tainui whakapapa, Angela grew up in Māngere. Her career started at Price Chopper Otahuhu and KFC at the local town centre. She didn't go to university, didn't graduate with honours, instead her adventurous spirit took her on a trip to London for her big OE. Her work ethic carried her through a range of temp jobs, and her dedication and openness to all opportunities, set her up on a path that would take her around the world. At 40, she has already travelled to more than 50 countries, but home will always be where the heart is, Aotearoa. Today we kōrero to Angela about her International career, her passion for travel, and what its like living across the road from Jennifer Anniston.
Hana Tapiata is a lifestyle blogger living by indigenous philosophies and mātauranga Māori. Her passion is promoting tūpuna mātauranga in as many different mediums, and on as many different platforms, as possible.
With a combined online following of more than 20,000, this self-published author believes that if you know yourself, and your whakapapa intimately, nothing will stop you living into your potential.
In this episode we talk about rugby, and rock lifting. About Tahiti’s ancestral games and, about becoming a self-published author. We learn how to adapt ancient knowledge into a modern context and, how to connect with tūpuna and atua, to interperet their pūrākau, their legends and stories, to help guide our lives.
In 2018 Aotearoa celebrated 125 years of suffrage. Of women winning the right to vote. One wahine who played an integral part in that history making moment was Meri Te Tai Mangakahia. Of Te Reinga, Ngati Manawa and Te Kaitutae of Te Rarawa, she was the first woman ever recorded to have addressed the Kotahitanga Parliament. In that time she requested Māori women not only be given the vote, but that they also be eligble to sit in the Māori Parliament.
In our only posthumous profile for the #NUKU100 we learn about this rangatira though her great granddaughter Challen Wilson, and great grand niece, Emma Frost. They share their stories of their kuia, her personality, her political influence, and how her journey has inspired their pathways today.
Dr Lily Fraser is a GP with a special interest in low carb high/healthy fat nutrition. With a 15 year medical career she has seen the effects of chronic illness and, on the flip side, the positive effects a lifestyle change can have on individuals. She wants to show that low carb is a normal way of eating. You could even say, a traditional way of eating.
In this episode we speak with the Turuki Healthcare Clinical Director about her Kai Tahu whakapapa and, being a Māori female in the medical industry. We learn about the low carb lifestyle and its effects on health and wellbeing and, we talk about healthy lifestyle options to help whānau realise we don't have to be resigned to a life of metabolic disease.
In this episode we talk about growing up outside of your culture and reclaiming our Indigenous practices and systems. We have a great conversation about ikura (menstruation), going right back to Hine-nui-te-pō and the first period. We discuss the way our tūpuna would celebrate ikura and, how colonisation has changed those practices. We also discuss Michele’s determination to end period poverty in Aotearoa.
Of Tainui &Ngati Pāoa descent Michele grew up identifying as an ‘urban’ Māori. And although she didn’t learn te reo me ōna tikanga as a child, she always felt an incredible connection to her tūpuna and te ao Māori. After working (unhappily) as a corporate lawyer and then suffering with postnatal depression after the birth of her second child, she was led into the ngahere to begin her healing and her journey to reconnect with her culture. Now, the owner of Frankie Apothecary, a rongoa-based skincare company, is helping other women and their families heal through natural remedies.
Michele is also the CEO and creator of IamEva, New Zealand’s first period-proof underwear brand.
At only 25 Jacqueline Paul (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga) is already working in policy advocacy with a passion to have the youth and Indigenous voice included across governance boards.
This landscape architect has a keen research interest focused in building better homes, towns and communities. She wants to improve Māori housing, mobilise rangatahi (youth) and Māori voices, and improve architecture and urban planning with transformative policies. The big goal? Help hapū become sustainable and, help eradicate homelessness.
In this episode we talk about how Indigenous design principals and urban papakāinga can respond to the homeless crisis, the importance of co-design and community-led initiatives. We discuss the mulitiple uses of land as a key resource and, the importance of advocating for rangatahi Māori to get a seat at the table.
Designer and weaver Kiri Nathan has spent the past 9 years building a fashion brand from competition-winning garments at Style Pasifika to a high-end label dressing some of the world’s most influential people, including Beyonce, Barack and Michelle Obama and, our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.
In this episode she shares her journey. We talk about her childhood in Scotland growing up on the motorcycle racing circuit, her time as a 19 year old solo mother studying Visual Arts and working as a flight attendant, right through to her venture into fashion design and business.There a some gems about how to find your inspiration, the power of a strong support system and, embracing your difference in a competitive industry. Kiri also talks about being challenged on her “Māoriness”, being influenced by the groundbreaking Pacific Sisters and, how she, supported by her husband and 5 children, is helping change the culture in the fashion space.
Mojo Juju is from Te Whenua Moemoeā, the land of dreamtime, Australia. She is an ARIA nominated artist of mixed Filipino and Aboriginal heritage, from the Wiradjuri people of NSW. Her latest album Native Tongue is her most personal yet. It talks about being mixed race and, that feeling of straddling a line between where you belong and, questioning if you are enough.
I sat down with the singer-songwriter in between sound check during a recent gig in Auckland to talk about identity, racism and what it feels like to be displaced and have lost connection to your Indigenous culture. We also discuss her views on being alienated by both the mainstream and, your own people. Mojo shares her journey of being a queer woman of colour, we talk Australian politics and, celebrate how she is proudly smashing stereotypes in the music industry.
In this episode we meet Veesh Patuwai (nee Armstrong) and talk about life in the Far North, the gentrification and regeneration of her Glen Innes community and, how she playing her part in raising the next generation of Indigenous female leaders.
Veeshayne is most recognised from her days in radio as a DJ for the urban Māori station Mai Fm. In the 90s, she moved to the big smoke of Auckland from small town Moerewa, quickly making her mark in the industry by becoming the first Māori female to ever win Best New Broadcaster at the Mobil Radio Awards.
While she is known for her radio and acting career, it is her mahi supporting kōhine Māori that sits closest to her heart. As the creator and kaitiaki of Urutapu, a leadership programme for young Māori women, Veesh is championing indigenous women to transform our communities and recognise our potential and power.
Melissa Robinson-Cole is of Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Kahu descent. She is a full-time artist and designer, and is also a staunch advocate for body positivity. Lissy, as she likes to be known, is also a walking bubble of joy. It's a feeling she is passionate about, going as far as covering her car in fluro/neon crochet for her latest art project #JoyRide - spreading joy, quite literally, around town. She is effervescent, vibrant and, makes a really yummy cheese dip! In this episode of NUKU she talks about celebrating joy after experiencing heart-wrenching loss and sadness, her dream to crochet a wharenui and, the incredibly political act of loving your body, when the world says you shouldn't.
(please note this podcast is marked explicit but it is very clean, there is only one F-bomb dropped towards the end, used in passion.)
Hear from founder and creator, Qiane Matata-Sipu, about how NUKU has the ability to transform thinking, transfer knowledge across generations and uncover layers to cultural identity. Listen to what drove the creation of this project and how it serves to connect, collaborate, guide, entertain and inspire.
"Today I invite you, indigenous wahine, to look at the world through a different lens, a personal lens, a cultural lens, a lens made by and made for us – mā hine, mō hine, kia hine!"