Jennifer Te Atamira Ward-Lealand is a heavily accomplished actor,  singer, director and now also an Intimacy Coordinator. She is currently the President of Equity NZ and was named the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year for 2020. Yes. You read that correctly. NZer of the Year.  Fully fluent in Te Reo Maori - she has been gifted the name Te Atamira (The Stage). It was very cool to sit down with her and talk to her about her various working roles, life as an artist and her journey of immersion into the Maori language and culture. She is articulate, genuine and intelligent and it was real pleasure to chat with her. Thank you for your time Jennifer. 

My man Daren is born and raised in Viti (the indigenous name of Fiji - which we talk about in the podcast) and is a poet and writer. It was a real honour to sit down with him and I personally learnt a lot from this podcast. Daren has a wealth of knowledge about Pacific history and some of it is truly fascinating. We talked about the current Covid situation in Viti, our experiences of both growing up in the islands, rugby (of course) and his new book, "Vunimaqo and Me" which is out now and is his newest collection of poetry. I've read it and it is definitely something else.

Thank you Daren for your time, if you're interested in purchasing his book of poetry it's available in the link below 

http://kavabowlmedia.com/vunimaqo/

DJ AlDoodie aka Alfred 'Aholelei is a Tongan husband, father and DJ that has been in the game since forever. He now runs Mafana Sound which is a very cool production company that provides the atmosphere and audio soundscape to funerals and to any other significant events that require this service. It was great to sit down with him, give him some of my curry and talk about his take on life and where he feels he's at. He also talks openly here about the racist situation he was involved in that went viral a few years ago. Thank you bro for your time and your authenticity.

Kalo is a Tongan/Maori bank manager. She was great to sit down with and her unfiltered sense of humour is really contagious. This is a story about finding your roots, staying humble, financial literacy and more than anything this is a story of love. A love story of her family - for her dad, her husband and her son and I see this as also a tribute to her late nana, who recently passed away but had a big part in raising Kalo.  Thank you Kalo for your time, thank you for your honesty. I really hope this story reaches out to you the listeners/viewers as Kalo's authenticity comes across so well in this podcast.

Oh, also at some points you will really hear the rain on the roof, as this podcast was happening while we were in a mini storm. Wonderful Auckland weather :)

John Pulu is a Tongan presenter and reporter for TVNZ's Tagata Pasifika, and for Pacific Media Network. None of his comments should reflect either company or brand. I'm kidding. 

He is a true servant of the Pacific community and has a real passion for keeping our community updated and well informed with the correct information. I apologise in advance this podcast has many laughs as it is nearly impossible to stay serious for more than 5 minutes. We talk about many different things and are eating lu sipi which is lamb that has been cooked in coconut cream and taro leaves. Thank you for your time bro, thank you for all you do for our Pacific people. Enjoy.

Ruben Wiki, also known as the Kava King, is one of NZ's living legends when it comes to Rugby League. He is the most capped Kiwis player, has played over 300 NRL games and was one of the most lethal enforcers when he was playing. Born and raised in Otara, South Auckland it is only fitting that his gym Wiki Workz, is based there and is giving back to the community that helped raised him. I really enjoyed sitting down with him, he is an all round nice guy who has a big heart and of course his request was for a bowl of Kava.

Barbra Auva'a is a Samoan athlete that was sent over here to NZ as a child. Her journey thus far has had obstacles and successes but her attitude and approach to life has a fierceness that will jump out at you. She has been a beauty pageant, a champion NZ power lifter and still her journey continues into other fields that she now wants to dominate.She has a way on not letting things keep her down or making her feel discouraged. I have no doubt that she will very soon be successful at what she's doing as her mindset is always very focused. I really enjoyed sitting down with her and I hope her podcast reaches out to you and speaks to you. If you find a few irregularities with this podcast it's because the camera died a few times (so thank you for your patience Barb!), and also this is my fifth attempt at uploading it - thank you Canaan Ene for coming to the rescue!

Te Kohe Tuhaka is a Maori father, actor, director, and now producer who has been in the storytelling game for the last 20 years. It was great to sit down with him and even though him and I have shared many a garage drink over the years there is still things I hadn't fully learnt about his journey that I heard for the first time in this. The man from Gisborne has many talents - some of them we talk about in this but mainly his journey to becoming the artist and person he is today has been the fruits of a lot of the work he has put in over the years and also the many life experiences that have guided him. Always a pleasure. Everyone - my bro, TK.

Kava drank in this episode was generously supplied by @uovkavafarm - hit them up on IG for some of this goodness.

Indira is a Tongan Mother, Producer, Journalist, a very talented singer and is currently a presenter on TVNZ's Breakfast show every weekday morning. It was great to sit down with her and in true Tongan fashion she turned up with amazing food cooked by her super talented chef husband (@themusclechef on IG). This conversation about who she is, where she's come from and what drives her was very moving, and she opened up about different aspects of her life that she probably wouldn't normally talk about. I found her to be inspiring, courageous, well spoken and a true beacon of hope for anyone that dares to dream of bettering themselves or simply dares to dream of a better life. Thank you for your time sis. The version of this podcast on Youtube has images inserted throughout it.

Music by @marekothehorse Logo by @larissamcm