Bridgette Tapsell February 11, 2024

I always remember a script writing tutor telling me that a brilliant pitch for a movie was this. “It’s called Twins. One actor is Danny De Vito, the other is Arnold Schwarzenegger.” Badaboom – of course nuts, but draws you in. To sum me up using this format in relation to my whakapapa. “I am the eldest child, of the youngest child of 22 Māori kids.”

I was fortunate to have a father who was very traditional, we regularly ate a Māori diet or fried bread, paua, pipi, muttonbirds and boil up. He worked at Te Māori Exhibition, and at 14, I worked there too as a guide.

After University, I was lucky enough to be offered a job at North & South Magazine and PR job, I choose the latter and embarked on a bit of a rough ride initially with a stint in a Devil’s Wear Prada agency, graduating to two wonderful agencies before launching Village PR 15 years ago.

Whare PR is now a full circle for me, a chance for me to connect up my culture with my mahi.