“Tahi” is Born – Empowering New Māori Lifestyle Magazine Launches
Tahi magazine, a Māori lifestyle glossie that’s the newest brainchild of the InnoNative Base managed by He Puna Marama
Trust was officially welcomed into the world today before rousing applause by a capacity audience at the InnoNative Base
in Whangarei.
Kaumatua, Kuia, Chief Executive Raewyn Tipene, members of the Trust Board, members of the Northland Regional Chamber of
Commerce, local Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime and whānau gathered together to celebrate another InnoNative Economy
initiative by the Te Tai Tokerau Trust.
Its Chief Executive, Raewyn Tipene said the production of Tahi was a dream come true – given the Trust had been dying to
do a magazine for years.
She thought the magazine was both a celebration of growing an indigenous ecosystem of showcasing Māori goods and
services plus it was a powerful vehicle that presents whānau to the world in the way whānau want to be seen.
“Tahi is important for us - sometimes the good whānau stories get lost. We’ve got to start owning some of that. We want
our people to see ourselves in spaces often void of Māori faces. We’re hoping that our people collect our stories, hold
them in their hands and see themselves in it,” Tipene says.
She hopes Tahi represents a feeling of connection to people and community “that we’d rather be part of and what we’re
trying to capture”. The $10 magazine will be on sale from 28 October at the InnoNative Market, the InnoNative pop-up
store nearby and online. The first edition honours all those that have been part of the InnoNative Economy for the last
3 years and those that have supported it Tipene told the audience.
“Here we talk about paying it back all the time, finding ways to be capable, successful, productive citizens. The
InnoNative economy is all about empowering whānau, looking for ways to improve both our local and whānau economies,”
Tipene says.
In the last 3 years of the InnoNative Base setting up it’s ventured into tourism, more recently land development and
organics, digital technology with the Provincial Growth Fund $900k boost of its NGEN Room, and obviously into retail
with the InnoNative Pop-up store. “We have big dreams in moving this out beyond Te Tai Tokerau - we’re hoping to go
global.”
ENDS