Oriini Kaipara recalls pretending to be a news presenter in front of her classmates as a kid, standing before a makebelieve camera as her bulletins flowed in te reo.
For friends and family of the Maori mum-of-four, it’s no surprise she became an award-winning journalist. And now she’s hit headlines herself as the first person with a moko kauae to read mainstream news on TV.
“I was a boisterous, inquisitive, know-it-all little girl,” laughs Oriini, 36, who made her 1 News debut filling in as a midday presenter last month. “Then I had two of my kids by 17, went to film school because it was a one-year course, and kind of fell into journalism after that.”
The Whakatane-born presenter’s journalism experience includes working on Maori radio station Ruia Mai and presenting Maori Television’s Native Affairs show.
“Reading the mainstream news was a dream and I was so excited because it represents beyond me,” the Te Karere journalist tells. “It’s for all of us – Maori and all of New Zealand.”
West Auckland-based Oriini was brought up fully immersed in te reo and Maori traditions as a child, attending Maori language schools until her late teens. As one of Aotearoa’s most well-known Maori reporters, one of Oriini’s missions now is to normalise her language and culture with the help of the moko kauae she got in January this year.
This story is from the December 23 2019 edition of Woman’s Day Magazine NZ.
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This story is from the December 23 2019 edition of Woman’s Day Magazine NZ.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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