Meet Ms Kate Lucio, Miss Taranaki Philippines 2026! Kate is a nursing student at WITT and will proudly represent the Taranaki Filipino community at the Miss Philippines New Zealand 2026 competition in Wellington - an annual celebration that brings Filipinos from across New Zealand together. In this episode, we get to know Kate, hear about her journey and learn how she is preparing for the national competition over Labour Weekend. Kate will also share a preview of her special performance for the event. A fundraising and raffle night will be held on 12 September at St Joseph’s Church to support Kate on her journey. During the evening, she will be crowned by Miss Taranaki Philippines 2024.

Olena Williams holds a Ukrainian passport, was born in Russia, has a Russian mother and a Korean father, and now lives in Aotearoa. Based in Taranaki, Olena is a creative communicator, social media strategist, educator, public speaker, and stand-up comedian at House of Laughs Through her business, Olena Williams Media, she helps small businesses bring their brands to life through social media storytelling and practical marketing. She is also a food blogger and ethnic cooking specialist who loves bringing people and cultures together through food, conversations and community events. With a life journey spanning Siberia, Ukraine and Aotearoa, Olena brings creativity, curiosity, business experience and a wonderful sense of humour to everything she does.

For Veronica and her family, moving to New Zealand wasn't a leap into the unknown, it was the fulfilment of a dream years in the making. After building a life together in Colombia, she and her Kiwi husband made the move to Aotearoa in 2023 to raise their two children in the country where their story first began. Veronica shares how a university exchange in 2009 led to a chance meeting that changed her life, what it's been like starting over in Taranaki, and the joys and challenges of creating a place to truly call home.

In this episode, Alina and Clara share their personal journeys of home, belonging and living far from the countries where they grew up.

Clara talks about travelling home from Wellington to New Plymouth and the special feeling she gets when Mount Taranaki comes into view—that moment when her heart says, “I’m home.” ❤️ Alina is also preparing to return to Romania, where she will reconnect with her mum, family and roots. In October, she will also be part of two meaningful retreats in Slovenia and Bucharest, exploring connection, authenticity and coming home to ourselves. Together, they reflect on what it means to move to another country and create a new life. New Zealand feels like home, but Romania will always be home for Alina, just as Spain remains home for Clara. Maybe home doesn’t have to be only one place—it can live in different countries, relationships, memories and parts of ourselves. 🌍

🎧 Listen to the episode and let us know: When do you feel most at home? Is home a place, a person, a feeling—or a little bit of everything?

In this episode our guest Benjamin from New Zealand talked with hosts Maria and Brian about living abroad and returning to Aotearea and falling back in love with his birth country.

During this conversation, Benjamin shared with us about being a father to a stillborn child and his project to create a platform to support men, and the people around them, in navigating that experience. Benjamin also discussed health and wellness topics along with his experience co-founded a thriving community health, fitness and wellbeing hub, Redefined, based in Bay of Plenty, the values he carried and picked up while living abroad, and his involvement in BROS.nz, a men's brotherhood and depth-work community.

In this episode, we welcome back our previous guest, Lidia, from Spain. Lidia first joined us on the show a year and a half ago, and since then her life has evolved in many exciting ways, including getting married earlier this year.

During this conversation, Lidia shares her journey with the Ngāmotu Breakfast Toastmasters Club, reflecting on the skills she has developed, the confidence and connections she has gained, and some memorable anecdotes along the way. She also explains how Toastmasters works and why it has been such a rewarding experience

Originally from Indonesia, Nina arrived in New Zealand on 4 July 2009.

She has spent the past five years enjoying life in New Plymouth, where she feels truly blessed by all the opportunities the country has given her.

Surrounded by beautiful people, Nina works dedicatedly as a Support Worker, while also running her own self-made side hustles in hospitality and photography.

Above all, she is a proud mum to two beautiful girls. Nina loves living in Taranaki, where being so close to both the beach and the mountain beautifully reminds her of her home country.

In this 1 hour show you'll meet some of the beautiful people who make up Taranaki's vibrant international community.

In this 1 hour show you'll meet some of the beautiful people who make up Taranaki's vibrant international community.

In this 1 hour show you'll meet some of the beautiful people who make up Taranaki's vibrant international community.