Tihē wā mauri ora! He uri tēnei nō roto i Muriwhenua. Ko Te Rarawa Kaiwhare, ko Ngāti Kahu ōku iwi. Ko Te Uri o Hina, ko Ngāi Tohianga ngā hapū. Ko Pukepoto, ko Ōturu, ko Pēria ōku tūrangawaewae. Ko Kanapu Tipene rāua ko Ireti Puhipi ōku tūpuna. Hoinō i whānau mai au, i tipu ake au ki Tāmaki ki te Tonga, ki Māngere, ā, mō ngā tau 18 kua noho au ki Kirikiriroa, ki te rohe o Waikato.

I am a Kaupapa Māori researcher and translator, my areas of interest are sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing, health rights, the revitalisation of te reo Māori, the reclamation of our traditional mātauranga, and restoration of our hapū lands. Currently, I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Te Kura Tātai Hauora o Te Herenga Waka (The School of Health, Victoria University of Wellington), researching the sexual and reproductive health and rights of Māori and Indigenous women living with HIV; and a Senior Research Fellow on Te Mana o Rangitāhua, at Te Ara Whānui Research Centre. A māmā, a kuia, and a competitive kaihoe (waka ama paddler), I also sit as a trustee of our whānau land trust. Despite currently living in Hamilton, the dream is to be settled on our papa kāinga in Muriwhenua within the next few years. Mauri ora ki a tātou!