Tamahou Temara has had the enviable privilege of having an up-close and personal relationship with our nation’s treasures. It’s a career that has seen him facilitate the return of ancestral bones long-forgotten in foreign museum vaults; the training for which began on his own marae with his own tīpuna.   

Raukura Huata is using her background in marketing to help her father produce their own wine and start her own boutique kai Māori delivery business in central Wellington.  The two projects stem from a devotion for fine foods and hospitality which began at her grandmother’s dining table.

Tipene Kapa-Kingi is helping government organisations to better understand how to engage with Māori in a meaningful way. With a degree in Accounting and an acute knowledge of business strategies, Tipene is hoping to serve te Ao Māori by advancing our economic outcomes.     

Kingi Rakete-Tane is a reo teacher with a fresh approach that is inspiring rangatahi to pursue it further.  His passion for the language began during a dark time in his own youth, having chosen to abandon a budding NRL career to share his native Taitokerau dialect with Sydney’s kōhanga reo.

Kawiti Waetford went to London to start a career in opera, but while there learning about the forms of language and the vocal dynamics of opera he began to feel the pull to come home and start his own family. But while he’s happy these days to live off the land and give his time to youth projects he still finds time to jet off overseas for a quick gig.

Isaiah Apiata is keeping the tradition of inter-cultural discourse and international brotherhood alive on Te Tī ki Waitangi Marae, a role he has prepared for since elders chose him to receive the history of one of our most significant marae.

Alana Thomas has found her vocation in representing iwi, hapū and whanau claimants in Waitangi Tribunal inquiries. However this descendant of Ngāti Rehia, Ngāti Kuri began her path into the law after her own close brush with the judicial system.

Musician, performer and teacher Horomona Horo speaks about his journey to discovering taonga puoro and te ao Māori.