Kari Moana Austin
Kei aku nui, kei aku rahi, kei ngā pātaka whakairi kōrero, tēnā koutou katoa.
I am of Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Rapuwai and Waitaha descent, and was born and raised ki raro i te maru o Aoraki (under the shelter of Aoraki), in the small township of Temuka, right up the road from my marae and papatipu rūnanga, Arowhenua.
At a personal level, ko tōku whānau tōku oranga. My family is my life, and are the motivation for everything I do. I am of the generation who was lucky enough to have been born at the beginning of the Kōhanga Reo movement, so was fortunate enough to have been immersed in te reo Māori (the Māori language) from birth. It is my belief that it was these early years that instilled in me a thirst for all things Māori, a thirst that has stayed with me to this very day. Te reo Māori is my passion, a taonga (treasure) that I will be able to pass on to my tamariki and mokopuna, ensuring the inter-generational transmission of te reo Māori, and new generations of Ngāi Tahu speakers of te reo. For me, that is my drive.
I am currently tutoring te reo Māori at the University of Waikato and have tutored te reo Māori and Treaty of Waitangi Studies at the University of Canterbury in previous years. While at University, I have held various positions including President of the Māori Law Students Association at both Waikato and Canterbury Universities and Māori Law Student Facilitator at Canterbury. Before going to University I worked for the Ministry of Youth Affairs for three years as the New Zealand Youth Representative on the Commonwealth Youth Programme.
I have just completed a conjoint degree at the University of Waikato. A Bachelor of Laws (LLB) through the School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) through the School of Māori and Pacific Development, majoring in te reo Māori with the Treaty of Waitangi as a supporting major. I intend to embark on post-graduate study at the University of Canterbury in 2008.
Nālani Blane Kealaiki was born and raised on the island of Maui, graduated from the Kamehameha Schools Kapālama Campus, and earned her B.A. in Communications from the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa. She recently launched a marketing and special events firm – Dahl Consulting, LLC.
Her current community involvement work includes: serving as the President of Lōkahi Canoe Club; stage manager for Maoli Arts Month Wearable Arts Fashion Show; and participating in planning committees for the Great Aloha Run and ‘Ohina – The Short Film Showcase.
In other professional efforts, Nālani is also a member of the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce and the International Radio and Television Society. She is credited as an Associate Producer for one of Hawai`i Film Festival’s award winning films, I Scream, Floats & Sundays.
Mahinapoepoe Paishon Duarte
I am a native of O’ahu; fortunate to have been raised in the water rich moku(regions) of Ko’olauloa, Ko’olaupoko, Kona, ‘Ewa and Wai’anae. I dedicated a little over ten years of my life to revitalizing He’eia Fishpond, a traditional coastal food system, located in Ko’olaupoko, O’ahu. As a part of the managing and co-founding group, Paepae o He’eia, our aims are to build balanced approaches to address local food security and indigenous education needs. Today, learners of all ages are growing their capacity to cultivate fish and seaweed for their individual, familial and community well-being in a more adaptive manner. My time at He’eia Fishpond also facilitated the meeting of my partner, Ka’eo Duarte. We are the proud parents of Kamaküpā’aike’e.
Currently, I am employed by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration to steward the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a vast and remote marine region that is recognized for its outstanding natural, cultural, scientific, and conservation values. As a Policy Program Coordinator, I am working to apply side by side, Native Hawaiian knowledge and contemporary scientific knowledge towards addressing common resource management questions.
I am a former student of Kamaküokalani, Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, and of Kahuawaiola, at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo. I also intend to pursue advanced learning opportunities in both academia and traditional knowledge settings to explore the role of marine ecosystem based management, alternative micro-economy development and community-based governance.
Gerard te Heuheu is from the Ngati Tuwharetoa iwi (tribe) of Aotearoa / New Zealand. He is a commercial fixed wing and helicopter pilot based at Taupo. Gerard is also extensively involved in all facets of tribal economic development. He sits on the Tongariro Taupo Conservation Board and the Tauponuiatia Management Board by appointment of the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board. Gerard also has governance relationships with several other key tribal land trusts and economic authorities. He currently works on a number of special projects with the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board.
Aimee Kaio
Ko Motu-Pohue te maunga
Ko Te Ara a Kiwa te moana
Ko Awarua te whenua
Ko Te Rau Aroha te marae
Ko Tahu Potiki te tangata
Ko Ngai Tahu, Ngati Mamoe me Waitaha te Iwi
He uri ahau na Te Arawa, Mataatua me Ngapuhi hoki.
Ko Aimee Kaio toku ingoa.
I live in Bluff, New Zealand, I was born and raised here, and this is where I have chosen to raise my family also. My partner, Jason Harrison and I, are the proud parents of three beautiful children. Reese Erenora Hinewaa is our eldest daughter, Ali Werahiko Te Wairama, is our son, and then we have, our baby girl, Amaria Te Aranga Irihapeti. I come from a large extended Whanau, who are forever supportive and loving, and we are all an integral part of Te Rau Aroha Marae.
Te Runaka o Awarua are my employer, and have been so since 2001. Over the years I have contributed to and managed many hapu and marae based projects, in both paid and voluntary roles. I have a passion for educating our people, our tamariki/youth, research and development. Currently, I co-manage Awarua Research and Development in which all of our research is for greater wellbeing outcomes of our people.
I completed a BS in Biochemistry from Otago University in 1999, from here I returned home to raise my first born. I have continued to study, mainly Postgraduate Business Administration and I am now in pursuit of my Masters Degree.
I look forward to the FNFP programme, working alongside other whanau who work for the same purpose and to experience their mahi and culture.
Kia Ora koutou katoa
Esther Puakela Kia’aina is a Land Assets Manager for the Kamehameha Schools’ Land Assets Division and is responsible for the management of agricultural and conservation lands on Windward and Leeward O’ahu and the island of Moloka’i. A graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, she received her bachelor of arts degree in political science and international relations from the University of Southern California and her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. Esther also did graduate work in Japanese Studies and International Economics at the Johns Hopkins University Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.
Before returning to Hawaii in early 2007, Esther spent 21 years in Washington, D.C., where she served in a variety of public policy positions on Capitol Hill, including Chief of Staff to Congressman Ed Case of Hawaii, Chief of Staff and Legislative Director to Congressman Robert Underwood of Guam, and Legislative Assistant to Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii. At the national level, she is known for her expertise and effective advocacy work on improving U.S. policy toward Native Hawaiians and other indigenous peoples and advancing issues affecting the U.S. Pacific Territories, Freely Associated States, and Asian and Pacific Islanders. In 1993, Esther was instrumental in working with Senator Akaka to get the Hawaiian Apology Resolution enacted into law and signed by President William Clinton. The law provided for a U.S. Apology to Native Hawaiians for the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and called for a reconciliation process between Native Hawaiians and the U.S. government.
At the community level, Esther is an active member of the Prince Kuhio Hawaiian Civic Club and Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa. Among her top priorities now is to see the Kalaupapa Memorial Act enacted into federal law. The act provides for the establishment of a memorial within Kalaupapa National Historical Park on the island of Moloka’i to honor and perpetuate the memory of the more than 8,000 people who were forcibly relocated to the Kalaupapa Peninsula from 1866 to 1969.
Noelani Lee, of Hawaiian, Chinese, and Irish decent, is the Executive Director for the 501(c)3 non-profit, Ka Honua Momona International (KHM), on the island of Molokai. KHM’s mission is to serve as a model of sustainability mauka a makai (from the mountains to the sea) and their philosophy is to develop indigenous education systems by revitalizing natural and cultural resources, perpetuating traditional knowledge and stewardship and evolving with modern technology which will result in a self-sufficient model for all nations.
Noelani serves on several boards including Molokai’s Women’s Shelter, Molokai Ohana Surf Club and The Helekunihi Foundation. She was a 2005 Pacific American Emerging Leader, a 2005 Weinberg Fellow, a 2006/7 AIO Ambassador, and is a contributing author to the second volume of In Our Mother’s Voice.
Noelani received her BA from Princeton University in Anthropology, having written her thesis on Hawaiian Sovereignty, and her MA from the University of Hawai’i, Manoa in Pacific Islands Studies. In an effort to expand the boundaries of the school’s acceptance of Indigenous knowledge, Ms. Lee was the first person at the University of Hawai’i to dance and chant her Master’s thesis, Mai Home Hawai’i: Hawaiian Diaspora and the Return of Hawaiians from the Diaspora.
He kalo kanu o ka ‘āina ‘o Hōküao Pellegrino no Maui Nui o Kama ma ka Makani Kokololio o Waikapü, kahi e kaulana nei i Nā Wai ‘Ehā. Aia lā i laila e waiho nei kona ‘ili ‘āina aloha ‘o Noho’ana i hānai ‘ia ai ‘o ia. Hōküao Pellegrino who is from Maui is a native of Waikapü of the gusty winds, which is one of the four famous kalo growing regions of Nā Wai ‘Ehā. It is on his family’s kuleana land of Noho’ana where he was raised.
Hōkūao Pellegrino graduated from St. Anthony High School in 1997. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Notre Dame de Namur University in 2001, majoring in sociology with an emphasis on social justice and cultural anthropology. In 2007 he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Hawaiian Language at Ka Haka ‘Ula o Ke‘elikōlani, Hawaiian Language College at University of Hawai’i at Hilo. During summers 2001 and 2003, he studied in Rapanui and Tahiti. In 2004 he received a Hawai‘i State Foundation Grant on the Culture and Arts and apprenticed under master craftsman Kana‘e Keawe to research and craft all of the traditional implements pertaining to kalo farming and poi making. Hōküao has taught at his alumni high school, St. Anthony, and for Kamehameha Elementary School, Maui Campus. Recently he assisted in teaching a first of its kind intensive interdisciplinary college course (CSI: 198 Kalo) for UH-Hilo, which focused on investigating the significance of kalo from both cultural and scientific perspectives as well as addressed the many issues surrounding its future survival. Currently he is a part time instructor for the Hawaiian Language College at Hilo, where he teaches Hawaiian Ethnobotany.
Hōküao is also currently employed as the Cultural Landscape Curator at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i in Hilo, where he oversees and maintains one of Hawai’i’s largest native plant landscapes, develops educational curriculum surrounding the many rare and endangered species currently growing there, and propagates native plants. In addition, he has been archiving and curating their native Hawaiian artifacts collection.
Aside from his work in Hilo, he is a kalo farmer and the cultural and educational coordinator for his family’s kuleana land (Noho‘ana Farm) in Waikapü, Maui. Noho’ana Farm is a unique bilingual cultural and educational center whose mission is “E ola ka mauli i ka mo‘o o Hāloa”. It is there, that students from Kamehameha (preschool to high school) help restore and maintain 12 ancient lo’i kalo, ‘auwai and learn about native plants and their traditional uses . With the large support of the Waikapü community, poi is made on a regular basis to help feed the kupuna of that district as well as other areas in Nā Wai ‘Ehā. He is also working on Native Hawaiian water rights with Hui o Nā Wai ‘Ehā.
Rangimarie Parata Takurua
My name is Rangimarie Parata Takurua. I am married to Tauira and we have three beautiful children, Hera Putiputi, 11, Paratene, 7 and Anaru 5. Most of my career has been devoted to Maori economic development and I have been fortunate to have rubbed shoulders with some of the great pioneers of Iwi and Maori economic development from an early age.
From Massey University where I graduated with a Bachelor of Business Studies, majoring in Marketing, I was trained in Development Finance Corporation NZ for the first Maori development bank, the Maori Development Corporation. It is interesting today, almost 20 years later, that I sit on a steering committee which is looking at merging the substantial resources of three large Maori organizations to build a similar organization that aims to accelerate the Maori economy and Maori business success.
In the early ‘90s, after a 2 year OE in London and France, where I worked for a Japanese investment house in Mergers and Acquisitions, I returned to New Zealand and was lured back to work for Ngai Tahu, at a time that working for your Iwi was not considered a career move!! For the next 5-10 years I enjoyed the cut and thrust of working in an environment that was very dynamic (code for unpredictable), challenging (code for impossible), and all consuming (perfect for someone who doesn’t have a life outside the tribe).
This was during pre-settlement years when we had a net asset worth of about $20,000 on a good day and multi-million dollar moemoea (dreams) – it was my job to reconcile the two and more importantly help the Board prepare us for our Treaty of Waitangi settlement. My job title was Investment Manager, which reflected about 1/3rd of what I actually did. Our priorities at the time were threefold – successfully conclude the negotiations with the Crown; build an enduring tribal structure that would take us into the future; and build a solid business platform that would both sustain us in the lean years leading up to the settlement and provide some invaluable commercial experience.
I have officially resigned from the tribe three times, the last time as a director on the commercial arm, Ngai Tahu Holdings Corporation. But of course you can never cut that umbilical cord, even when you move away to the North Island.
I am now living in the Hawkes Bay at Te Aute College ( the oldest Maori boys school in New Zealand) where my husband is the Principal. I sit on a number of Boards, including Te Ohu Kaimoana (Maori Fisheries Commission), Te Putea Whakatupu (Developing Maori leadership), Poutama Maori Business Trust (developing Maori micro-business and SMEs), Ngati Awa Group Holdings Ltd (a tribal commercial board in the North Island) and Noku Te Ao Early Childhood Trust (the first total immersion early childhood centre in Te Wai Pounamu). I also run my own consultancy specializing in Governance and Management of Maori organizations throughout the country. Given the pioneering nature of most of the work I do it has occurred to me that instead of being the subject of a number of studies and thesis over the years, it is time to start writing my own thesis!
Jamie Tuuta
I am Ngäti Mutunga and also affiliate to other iwi within Taranaki. I have a diverse background with experience as a solicitor, a lecturer in Māori language and literature, a Treaty Settlement negotiator, a project manager, a director, a trustee and Māori television political reporter. In short I describe myself as being community minded as I have been intimately involved in tribal governance and management for the past 12 years and continue to focus on community development work.
On a personal level I am passionate about my whānau and my iwi. I have four sons with the last two arriving two weeks ago. I am currently in the process of moving back to my home in Urenui, Taranaki.
I currently sit on a number of Boards including Parininihi ki Waitōtara Incorporation (a large Māori Dairy farming Incorporation). I am a committee member of the Incorporation and also sit on the Investments subsidiary and charitable Trust. I am also the current chairperson of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Mutunga, a trustee of Te Reo o Taranaki Trust (a trust focused on the revitalization of Taranaki language and dialect), a director of Hauora Taranaki PHO Limited (a Primary Health Organisation in Taranaki), Port Nicholson Fisheries Ltd (a lobster fisheries business based in Wellington) and Tuiora Limited (a Māori development/health organisation).
At present I am grappling with the New Zealand Governments Climate Change Policy where I am a member of the Māori Reference Group Executive on Climate Change tasked with reviewing the policy and Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme. I am also project manager for the Taranaki Māori Trust Board working through restructuring and possible disestablishment of the Board.