A year to simmer
A reflection of 2025
Me aro koe ki te hā o Hine-ahu-one.
Pay heed to the essence of Hine-ahu-one (the first woman in te ao Māori).
There have been times this year my confidence has wavered
“Is this the right thing to be doing”, “will it succeed”, “what the hell am I doing!?”, “who am I to deliver this”—but I always come back to the fact that I have been put on this path for a reason, I need it and so does this community. The whakataukī (māori proverb) above, reminds us to listen to the essence of the first woman (a legend told in Te ao Māori)—to trust our intuition, our grounding, and the innate power we hold as wāhine.
There have been times this year I have felt incredibly frustrated.
I am on a personal health journey to heal from burnout. About a year ago I found out I wasn’t ovulating, my sex hormones (estrogen and progesterone) were all over the show and I wasn’t producing cortisol as my body had been completely flooded with it. This was the result of years of high stress and operating in a nervous system that was in no way supported or given time to recalibrate. I had relationship break ups, liquidated a business and moved countries and back again (during the pandemic, so wasn’t able to return home when borders closed). This lead to a long and sometimes frustrating journey back to my baseline—of which I am still on (forever a student over here + shoutout to my amazing friends, family and fiancé).
Earlier this year as I started to work with my friend Deb from Holmes Healing—a completely open book, I dove into receiving massage, reiki and some life coaching prompts from her. She reminded me of the magic of the universe again and I started to see what was opening up in front of me.
Manawa was born out of a desire to reconnect with myself, with my immediate environment (moving back to Tauranga from down south), and with others (following burnout and physical side effects of this)—to integrate nature into my life in a more considered and easeful way. February had brought around the annual Wāhine & Wapiti trip that myself and my colleague and friend Roy Sloan organise for the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation. Returning home from the trip my partner, Hamish, said to me‚ “you are so much more yourself after you’ve been in the bush”. Long story short I started to connect the dots and the shape that is Manawa began to emerge.
Wanting to implement what I learnt in my last business and years of sole trading, this year was about letting things simmer, not jumping in blind with excitement, testing the waters and setting up systems and practices in a considered way. This has been a huge personal accomplishment for me, I have had to hold myself back to prioritise my health and find true balance of what this looks like while also working my day job. Slow mornings, rest, saying no, intentional energy direction.
There are times this year I have felt grateful
Nine months later, I am in awe of the people I have met through Manawa. Every event I am rewarded with ladies keen to get out and try new things, or do more of what they love—bringing along friends and more often than not, showing up by themselves for themselves. I am reminded constantly to practice what I preach (even if at times Hamish has to remind me during wobbly moments), it keeps me in check and holds me accountable.
My healing journey is far from over, I have just found out I have an underactive thyroid, which while helps explain how I feel, is not what I really wanted to hear after making so many lifestyle shifts. Alas, this is the journey and I am just grateful to be here and still be able to move my body and go on adventures.
As an entrepreneur and someone who has helped others grow their own businesses (I am a brand strategist and designer by trade), I see so many parallels of people’s personalities, passions and personal circumstance intertwined with their businesses—we would be blind not to acknowledge the mirror it can hold up to us. Chaotic personal life? Probably going to show up in the business. Intentional, calm, centred personally? More likely to be reflected in the business too. It might just be me, but this is apparent when I reflect on the last five years of life and business and what I want to bring into this new venture too.
Now is the time to keep showing up
A golden thread I have noticed is that I am fiercely feminine. I’m in no way anti-men (in-fact, most of my outdoors knowledge has been taught to me by amazingly patient tāne), but I feel the desire to be surrounded by powerful wāhine. Running my studio I hired four amazing ladies, and now with Manawa it’s the women I choose to largely connect with. The energy felt when we as wāhine come together and realise our true power is a force to be reckoned with. Teaching women new skills, sharpening old skills and empowering the belief in self means we will go on to teach others. It’s just how we operate as maternal beings. There’s power in this, and I’m here for it.
2025 was a big year of going gently and I can feel the positive impact that has had on every one of my cells. I am taking it one step at a time and want to thank you all for being a part of this incredible haerenga (journey). Now’s the time to keep showing up and delivering more of what lights me up in the hope that it lights up others as well.
If at times you feel like you are feeling frustrated, hearing the voice of imposter syndrome, or feeling a little off base, then I urge you just to pause, listen to the essence of Hine-ahu-one—trust your intuition, your grounding, and that innate power we hold as women—or just reach out to your sisters, we’ve got your back.
So if 2025 was the year for setting the foundations and figuring out what Manawa is and how it is delivered in a way that is authentic to me—then 2026 is the year it really comes into its own. With this growth I have taken some time and space to revisit how Manawa shows up in the world. We will be kick starting the new year with a brand glow up—same logo, just a level-up of content delivery and brand presence—ready to grow this wonderful community and offer more space to learn, expand and explore.
I look forward to sharing the calendar of experiences for 2026 with you, including some very special events and partnerships we have cooking in the kitchen. If you have any ideas on what you’d like to see Manawa doing then please reach out, I am all ears.
Now is the time to keep showing up.
