Meet the Designer Part 3: Anika Moa
On someone significant in my life…
Mandy Kadato was my Maori teacher. I'm grateful for her because she inspired me with Te Reo Maori and she made me stay at school and I ended up loving school. I ended up going to school every day, learning my language. She was also a sports role model, and I played a lot of sports - rugby, softball, touch. She was amazing, and she still is.
On surrounding yourself with supportive friends…
With Tami Neilson and Hollie Smith, we have a little coven – a witches coven. We're all very close and very supportive of each other. We tell each other about our shitty days. We tell each other our achievements: when one of us goes to number one when we release an album, we're all just like, "Yes!"
On coming together as a community…
I think community means support and love. There are a lot of people from different backgrounds in this country and if we can all do work together to support and love each other, then we can do shit. We can do things; many things. And I'm not just talking about a community in your area. I'm talking about politics, I'm talking about what's happening with COVID, sports, religion. If we can work together, no matter what our differences are, no matter what our backgrounds are, we can move forward, really awesomely as a country
On making progress in Aotearoa….
I was in Kansas City as part of a music festival. I was also on an indigenous panel and everyone went through their whakapapa and their pepeha like, “Oh, I'm blah, blah. I'm from this and our land was taken from us... there was no treaty, we were all killed.” And I realised how different our time was in the olden days. I think [Maori] have been involved a lot more with the Treaty of Waitangi compared to other ethnicities or cultures' involvement in their countries. It wasn't perfect and it's not perfect still, but at least we're moving forward.
On being grateful…
At 41, I'm really grateful for my health after being misdiagnosed and living with type two diabetes for a few years. I actually have type one diabetes which is a completely different ball game. An autoimmune disease, it’s for life.
On the importance of self-care…
For any person who's just doing too much? Slow down and be present. People often pride themselves on being busy. I’m one of those people – I feel like a bit of a failure if I don't work for two days. But our bodies cannot carry on under stress and how are you going to parent if you are burnt out? I learned that the hard way. I felt sick, but I was like “Oh well, just got to get on with life. Just got to parent, just got to get up and work. And I was running myself into the ground. So I have days off now so I can look after myself.
On a discipline that propels me forward…
I try to have a bit of downtime and self-care – this looks different to each person. One of my [current] disciplines is going for a run because it increases endorphins in your body. My self-care can mean getting a massage or going for a run or a walk or ringing a friend and whinging and moaning to them for like two hours. Also writing things down - journaling and being creative – helps.