Biography
Ko Pirongia te Maunga (The Mountain is Pirongia)
Ko Kāwhia te Moana (The Ocean is Kāwhia)
Ko Waipā te Awa (The River is Waipā)
Ko Pūrekireki, Hiiona me Maketū ngā Marae (The Meeting Houses are Pūrekireki, Hiiona and Maketū)
Ko Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Maniapoto me Waikato ngā Iwi (The tribes are of Mahuta, Maniapoto and Waikato)
Ko Tainui te Waka (The Voyaging Canoe is Tainui)
Ko Cadence Kaumoana tōku ingoa (My name is Cadence Kaumoana)
I am a grandchild descended from the great Polynesian ancestral waka of Tainui. I have served my tribes as a grand-daughter, a mother, grandmother, Chief Executive, public servant and Chairperson.
My professional background is in the education, social service and public sectors with a strong focus on Māori and Pacific people’s well-being and the care and protection of our natural environment. I have won a Prime Minister’s Excellence Award in Māori Education, an award for Best Youth Entrepreneurship paper and a number of other academic awards, and most recently awarded my Doctorate with the University of Auckland.
I am passionate about empowering our communities to lead their families through healing and wellbeing. I believe that education and learning is a tool to empowerment and I work at supporting the knowledge acquisition of our people and the normalisation of Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge systems) in all aspects of our lives. Knowledge is the first step, then comes planning, seizing or creating opportunities and then action. A process I have coined 'The Four Aces' and one I lead through example.
