New Zealand’s first 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 on Monday.
Auckland mother-of-4 said that this moment satisfied a lifelong goal and she hoped to become the first Maori woman to receive the news using traditional tattoos.
It’s very exciting. It’s really fun. It’s not a rush, but I am speaking clearly. Stuff told her she is proud of how far she’s come to be able anchor at 6pm.
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
A mother of four from Auckland stated that the moment had fulfilled a lifetime dream. She hoped to be the first Maori woman in the long line of Maori women who read the news wearing traditional tattoos.
Kaipara’s 2019 debut with face tats as a presenter of mainstream news while filling in for TVNZ’s midday broadcast made her headlines.
Due to her Maori marks, she is a popular packager for the main bulletin.
It’s certainly a big step in the right direction, as well as a huge step up. Anchoring primetime news would be my goal. That’s what she stated.
“We have a great team at Newshub. I no longer feel as pressured as when I started in journalism. It’s a matter of putting in the work and then realizing it. This is what makes journalism exciting.
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.
“I know that I’m first” [with moko kauae]To anchor a primetime news bulletin at six o’clock. She said.
“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.
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
Kaipara, 100 percent Moari, was revealed by a 2017 DNA test.
Māori facial and body tattooing, known as Tā moko, represents the wearer’s family heritage and social status.
For Māori women the moko was a rite of passage, marking the passage between girl and adulthood and symbolises a personal process of transformation.
Photos from social media show her with her family, while her tattooist inscribes her Moko Kauae.