Anika Moa

Meet the Designer Part 1: Anika Moa

Photography and video by Stephen Tilley Video edit by Jacket Productions

Meet the Designer Part 3: How Anika Moa is Great Full

On finding your passion…

I've never, ever believed my music is work... it's fun to wake up every day and be able to sing for people – to make people happy and to make people feel emotion. So it's not really a job, not a job to me anyway, because I feel passionate about it.

I discovered my creativity at a young age – I had a passion for music and songwriting, hearing melodies, creating music. And earlier today I thought about how I used to write songs when I was like 10 and 11. And it felt really good. Being creative is a good tool for you to feel good, for those endorphins and for your mental health.  Some people are like, “Oh, I don't have a creative bone in my body.” No, you do. Everything we do is creating.

On being inspired…

Lately? I'm inspired by my kids' ability to adapt to things. I live for my kids. I love them. They're just so brilliant at accepting things – not being too grumpy, just living life. They live in the present. A lot of people don't do that. Understandably. There's bills to pay, mortgage or rent to pay... life is hard. It's never, ever, ever meant to be easy. But my kids with their whole mentality of. "Oh well, let's get into this day”? Inspiring!

On the inspiration behind the Super Cloud artwork…

I instantly knew that my 10 year-old son Barry would be up for collaborating on this project. Barry's an extremely gifted artist. He makes his own stories and sells his own comic books at the markets. We took inspiration from one of Barry’s Super Cloud comic book series characters: Cloud Man. He’s a superhero, but he's also in your dreams. It’s like sleeping on a cloud or your head's in the clouds.

On supporting children’s health through Cure Kids…

Cure Kids is all about the children. I've got four children of my own. Like Whitney Houston (who I love), said: they're our future. Some children are born with disabilities, cancers –it's awful and horrible. I think children are really innocent and they're beautiful. And I need to support them as much as I can. People, we've got each other in Aotearoa. We support each other, especially when it comes to children.

On collaborating with Great Full on ‘Jams’ to support Cure Kids...

Buying these jams? It's the least we can do for the amazing children in our lives. They need us and we need them. One of them might be the next Prime Minister!  The next Dame Val Adams, or the next Inga the Winger. The next Dan Carter or the next Siouxsie Wiles, or the next Anika Moa.