I believe everyone faces adversity. I am not special and I have never pretended to be.

I hate raving on about myself and when it comes to accountability for our people, I’d rather let my experience do all the talking.

I am a strategic indigenous leader with over 30 years of experience in governance, negotiation, social development, health systems, and First Nations diplomacy.

But it wasn’t always like that. I like many others had a hard upbringing. I spent many years as a child living with my whānau in garages and substandard housing. My father lost his battle with tuberculosis in the prime of his life and I started earning money doing a milk run to put kai on the table.

I joined the Navy as soon as I could to help my whānau and I overcame illiteracy – which I kept hidden – at age 26 to pursue an education. This led me to Auckland University where I gained two degrees with honours in education. I’ve also done the Harvard Executive Program in Negotiation and Leadership and studying for my PhD in Business (Negotiation).

I’m a proud pāpā of five and koroua of six and I’ve been a prison officer, university lecturer, social worker in New Zealand and California, health researcher, teacher, general manager of Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust and chief executive of Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government in Quebec, Canada.

I am the chief executive of Ngāi Te Rangi Iwi Trust and Ngāi Te Rangi Settlement Trust, roles I’ve held for nine years now.

I love my mahi because everything I do is for our people. I’m used to fighting against bureaucracy, cultural suppression and the erosion of traditional Māori social structures.

“I come from a people who could make the earth shake beneath our feet with our haka. We are warriors—not just of battle, but of systems, of vision, and of strategy.”