Te Ao Kapa (Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Wai, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Porou) started with Te Kaha O Te Rangatahi Indigenous Youth Hub at age 18, filing paperwork and helping in the office.
Today, 12 years later, she has just been made the organisation’s CEO. Her mahi is to support rangatahi navigate their way to becoming their own champions of positive change.
In this episode we talk about Te Ao’s career journey. From her role as a rangatahi sexual health peer support worker, to a stint as general manager. She shares with us her views on leadership and how her own experience of personal neglect, burnout and life-changing whānau events led her to reevaluate her orangatanga, in turn changing her leadership style to better influence work-life balance within her organisation.
We also talk about her village of empowering Indigenous wāhine and, her involvement in Hip Hop International NZ. -