I’m Qiane Matata-Sipu: a vibrant, disruptive, change-making Māori-Pasifika wahine empowered and driven by my tūpuna.

My whakapapa interweaves the waters of the Pacific; from Te Waiohua (Te Ahiwaru, Te Ākitai), Waikato, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Pikiao in Aotearoa, to the islands of Rarotonga and Mangaia, some 3000 kilometres away. 

I’m a thought-leader, cultural commentator and entrepreneur, a mobiliser of communities and the founder and creator of the trailblazing multimedia movement NUKU, platforming Indigenous women’s voices across print, digital and events. 

As a best-selling author and an authority on story sovereignty, I’m all about inspiring a return to Indigenous values and helping unlock ways of thinking about ourselves, so no potential goes unrealised. 

I’m grateful to live on my ancestral land in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) with my husband and tamariki. My papakāinga, at Ihumātao, is the stomping ground for some of my most fierce activism, and a place my whānau have called home for more than 800 years. 

My tamariki are the embodiment of ancestral mana. They’re multi-lingual and deeply connected to their whenua. While they may look more like their dad, whom I’ve been with for more than 20 years, their boldness and fierceness is a direct reflection of their māmā. 

Storytelling is a gift handed down to me by my ancestors, and I’ve had a multi-faceted career as a journalist, public speaker, author, strategist, marketing and communications specialist, photographer, activist and entrepreneur. 

There is more than one way to look at the world and I help challenge thinking to get us out of our business as usual mindset, weaving creativity and culture to navigate us towards a thriving future.  

P.S. Unsure how to pronounce my name? No worries, you’re not the first! It’s ‘Key-Ah-Ne’.