New Zealand’s first traditional-style face tattooed newsreader anchors a television news bulletin.
Oriini Kaipara, 37, who has a moko kauae, a traditional lower chin tattoo worn by Māori women, read Newshub Live’s 6pm news bulletin in New Zealand on Monday.
The mother-of-four from Auckland discovered she was 100 per cent Māori after taking a DNA test in 2017.
Oriini Kaipara, 37, who has a moko kauae, a traditional lower chin tattoo worn by Māori women, read Newshub Live’s 6pm news bulletin on Monday
Auckland mother-of-4 said that this moment was fulfilling a lifelong goal and she hoped she would be among the many Maori women to read the news in traditional tattoos.
The newsreader then decided to adopt the Māori tattoo in 2019 in a process known as Tā moko, which represents family heritage and social status.
For Māori women the moko was a rite of passage, marking the passage between girl and adulthood and symbolises transformation.
Kaipara stated that Kaipara presented the primetime bulletin fulfilled a lifelong dream and said she hoped she was the first in a long line of Māori women reading the news with traditional tattoos.
“It is really thrilling. It’s really fun. It’s not a rush, but I amn’t speechless. Stuff told her she is proud of the accomplishments in being able anchor at 6 p.m.
Kaipara was the face of TVNZ’s 2019 midday show fill-in when Kaipara became the first to have a tattoo on her forehead.
Due to her Maori marks, she is a popular packager for the main bulletin.
Oriini Kaipara hosts the Newshub Live 6pm Bulletin this week
Kaipara is bilingual and of Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Rangitihi descent, something she proudly displays while working as a prominent journalist
Oriini Kaipara, 37, has a moko kauae, a traditional lower chin tattoo worn by Māori women
“It’s certainly a step up, and it’s a positive step.” She stated that if there were a goal, it would have been anchoring prime-time news.
“We have a strong team at Newshub so I don’t feel the same pressure that I did when I was first starting out in journalism. That comes from putting in the effort and, when you finally realize it, it’s really thrilling.
Kaipara is bilingual and of Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Rangitihi descent, something she proudly displays while working as a prominent journalist.
“I am very aware of the fact that I am first.” [with moko kauae]She said she would anchor the primetime six-o clock news bulletin. She said.
Nanaia Mahuta, New Zealand’s foreign minister (pictured), also wears a moko kauae. She is the first female parliamentarian to do so.
“That’s always in my head, so that each step is like breaking through the glass ceiling.
‘It’s breaking new ground for us as Māori, but also for people of colour. No matter whether you own a maoko kauae.
New Zealand’s foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta also has a moko kauae, becoming the first female MP to wear one in parliament.
The politician has links to Māori royalty, with her father the adopted son of King Korokī.
She got the tattoo in 2016 and said it offers ‘positive ways to enable cultural expression and pride in being Māori.