My journey of discovering my heritage started while studying social work at Auckland University. I needed to go back and find my family history and family tree. I always knew I had Maori blood from my mother’s side but wasn’t completely sure as my mother was from a time where she wasn't able to talk openly about being Maori. Through my research, I discovered I am a descendant of Hori Pokai the chief of Ngati Poua. Hori Pokai's daughter is my great, great, great, great grandmother.

I’m a hairstylist now and have always loved hair and especially a natural approach to it. I also like the idea that there is a spiritual element to our hair. The head has been long established with being tapu. A person of higher status such as a rangatira is traditionally meant to be the person to dress hair. Wide-tooth combs, oils and clay were used to create hairstyles, sweet-smelling titoki berries that had been pressed are thought to have been the best oil for hair.

Top knots, which is a generic way European writers described the hairstyles, were a favourite among high ranking Maori. Some that are known are tiki, putiki, tikitiki, tuki, koukou and rahire. The head is the most tapu but also where a strong connection to your mana was held, is often adorned by feathers, leaves and flowers. Maori men of high stature often wore their hair with a bone or wooden combs. Following colonization, Maori men started rocking shorter looks and women had started wearing bone in their hair.