My whānau Māori whakapapa from my Mum connects me to Te Hiku. My iwi are Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, and Te Uri o Hau. My grandfather was Croatian and my father is English. This mixed heritage made life challenging in the 1960s and 70s – housing, education etc. We had no TV; we grew most of the food we ate, and Mum made our clothes. I learned that through adversity comes opportunity, and for me, that opportunity is always found in learning.
Our lifestyle during my childhood, built character. In 1975, when I was nine, I won the spelling bee at my 5th primary school, and they couldn’t believe that this pōhara Māori girl did that. But the best thing was the prize was a dictionary thesaurus, which opened a world of language and sparked my inner nerd.
Fast forward to 1985, when my parents were still living on the breadline, and on a whim with some inheritance money they bought the White Lady Pie Cart from Brian Washer. They asked me to come home for Easter and help them, and here I am still in the Far North 42 years later. After working in the pie cart for a while, my dad told me I should be working with people, I said to him ‘What do you mean? I am working with people!’, and he said ‘No, no – like a counsellor or something’. I was interacting with so many different people, some of them at their worst; 2 o’clock in the morning after a big night at the pub, blurting their whole life out to me. It was where I learned a lot of my social work skills. People would literally hand me their wallets and say ‘Take the money out’, there was a lot of trust in us. We would stop a lot of people from drink driving too, even dropped people home. I think we probably saved a lot of lives.
I took his advice and started working in the community, first with Homebased Whānau Support, then I was the inaugural coordinator of Kaitaia Community House, and have worked across many iwi, government, community sectors, and then in education spaces for the last 22 years.
I think what’s most surprised me about my career is learning to public speak. 20-year-old Jaqi was quite shy, and lacked confidence, but my Mum saw my potential and made me her delegate on our marae trust. Additionally, my mentors Gloria Herbert, taught me how to speak in public and Robin Shepherd nurtured my governance and leadership potential. He always pushed me to be better – subtly challenging things in a way that made me think. He was an amazing teacher.
I might not have degrees on paper, but I definitely have a QBE – Qualified By Experience. I’m well-read, mostly self-educated and I’m proud of that. I have this curiosity that never really switches off and live in a space of possibility, and believe that what we know is just a tiny dot in a massive circle of what there is to know. The rest of that circle? That’s where the possibility lives. That curiosity helped me raise my extended whānau. Growing up, I wanted to be that ‘no kids – cool aunty’, then at 29 when I had my first baby, and my husband went away for 6 weeks, I had to learn real quick about raising a child and loved being a Mum. One of my favourite sayings – work smarter, not harder and to have a plan. Whānau are the key and education is the door. When education is at the forefront of your whānau decisions, you will transform their lives.
Raising extended whānau tamariki – whāngai, as well as my own 2 has been a privilege and a challenge. One of my sisters took her own life, another passed from an accidental drug overdose and one has mental health issues, but their kids are amazing and talented and somehow we managed to grow some great people. Helping them see their own worth is all about making them feel loved, accepted and respected. Encouraging them to grow their strengths, giving them experiences that open their minds.
When I see someone who I have helped, become the person I knew they could be, it gives me great satisfaction. I turn sixty this year and have decided that I am taking some time out for Jaqi Brown and am resigning from most of my volunteer roles. I need to make some lifestyle changes. These last school holidays, I spent two weeks with my mokopuna. Just me & them and I loved it, it was awesome! But I found I couldn’t do things I wanted to do with them, I just felt tired all the time and it made me reflect on what is the most important thing in my life? It’s my grandchildren, but it’s also my health and wellbeing. So, my step back is centred around ‘renovating’ my health and reducing stress is a part of that. My sixties are going to be all about things that bring me joy and fill my cup – it’s going to look like getting healthy, and maybe even getting wealthy!
This is a huge step for me, I have always been involved in the community or a trustee on a board for 40 years, giving a part of me to everybody else. So now, I want to give back to Jaqi Brown. I need to step back to step up. I want to learn more about how to say NO and see what that opens up for me, because I’ve been such a yes-person my whole life. I think I’m going to come back from this break better and stronger; this is not the end of my community mahi.”