RUKUWAI TIPENE-ALLEN
POLITICAL REPORTER, MĀORI TELEVISION
It was a big week for Māori Television’s political reporter Rukuwai Tipene-Allen when she received her moko kauae five years ago.
She had just started her new job as a broadcast journalist at the indigenous channel and she was getting her moko kauae that very same week.
“I always knew that getting my moko kauae was a sure thing in my life, no matter what career path I was going to take,” says the 31-year-old. “There was some concern from my whānau about the possible backlash I might get and the fear of being treated differently in public. It was coming from a place of concern.”
Rukuwai says she had support from her bosses at Māori Television. They even encouraged her to wait a week before she filed her first story, so her TV broadcast debut as a reporter could also be the first time she revealed her brand new moko kauae in public.
“At the time, there was no one in the television industry in news and current affairs that
