Tui Gilling is from Te Whānau ā Apanui, Eastern Bay of Plenty. If you have seen the movie ‘Boy’ that’s where she comes from.
Ko Tihirau te maunga
Ko Whangaparāoa te awa
Ko Te Moana ā Toi te moana
Ko Tauira mai Tawhiti te waka
Ko Kauaetangohia, Pararaki, Maruhaeremuri oku hapū
Ko Te Whānau ā Apanui te iwi
Ko Tui Gilling ahau
Tui is passionate about elevating Māori in what she does and making their aspirations a reality. While her mahi can be political, a reality of working in the sector, she is resilient having developed a strong backbone and work ethic. And after working in treaty settlements and negotiations for many years, both for the Crown and her own Iwi, she has developed some astute facilitation and negotiation skills.
Tui provides advice to local and central government and increasingly the private sector, mostly in the strategy, framework and policy space, and on strategic partnerships with iwi. She also specialises in engaging with hapū and iwi and growing cultural intelligence in agencies.
For me it’s all about relationships with Māori, understanding Te Tiriti o Waitangi and what role people have in advancing the aspirations of hapū and iwi.
Tui’s strength is her ability to bridge both the Māori and non-Māori worlds and she considers her strongest value to be pono, being true. Authenticity and integrity is important to ensure policies and strategies for Māori are genuine and effective, making sure he tangata (people) and Te Ao (the planet) are considered in a holistic way that is pono.
Partnership will be hard to achieve if there is an absence of a genuine, authentic and enabling approach.
She enjoys working in the innovation space, particularly in renewable energy such as solar and microgrids and framing this up with partners. She would like to see programmes of microgrids in marae and papakāinga particularly in rural areas like where she is from.
Our tribe has always used the sun to dry kahawai which is stored and used later. It’s part of being a kaitiaki and using the sun in everyday life through new technology as a tool to self-sufficiency and employment.
Tui is involved in tribal and hapū matters and supports the aspirations of her hapū where she is a trustee. She was a whānau delegate for the Māori immersion stream on the board at Kowhai Intermediate. Tui has a teenage son Waiarikinui and they both share a passion for travel that can be done in an authentic and sustainable way.
Tui always had a dream of being a photo-journalist, and is interested in telling authentic stories about people, their experiences and identity. In 2020 she hopes to pursue this through travel blogging. Her wellbeing is balanced by pilates and Tahitian hula that she does in her community.