Meet the first ‘Woman of Influence’
Top woolhandler and wool classer Tia Potae has won the inaugural Primary Industries award at the 2021 New Zealand Women of Influence Awards.
The awards celebrate high-achieving wahine who are making a difference in the lives of Kiwis.
Potae has just moved to the Coromandel Peninusla but was in Milton, south Otago, as a Whanau Ora navigator at Tokomairiro Waiora in South Otago and won the award for supporting shearers and their families through the challenges of Covid-19.
During the 2020 lockdown, she developed an online programme for wool, forestry and fishing industry workers who found it difficult to access services after hours. She also helped workers access the Wage Subsidy Scheme.
“On the first day of the level 4 lockdown in 2020, I got a call asking if I would be happy to help people during the Covid pandemic,” Potae told The Country’s Jamie Mackay. “Of course, it was such a great opportunity that I jumped at the chance.”
This led to two years working with the Ministry for Primary Industries along with “other organisations that are passionate about agricultural jobs”, she said.
As a rural navigator for a Maori health service, Potae ran a programme was a response to a 2019 survey of wool harvesters which found they needed better access to health and social services.
Potae has been in the shearing industry all her life, representing New Zealand in woolhandling in 2005 and 2013. She also has a small business, Taki Toru Woolshed Services, where she runs her own training programme.
In 2018, she wrote a training booklet, and over the years has been contracted to Elite Wool Industry Training and WOMOlife.
While balancing woolhandling and wool classing with her Whanau Ora work was difficult, Potae had great support from her base in Milton. “[They] allowed me to continue to follow my passion with the wool classing and go away for eight weeks over the wintertime and so that made it much easier to continue that side of the work.
“And just with my rural navigation job in Milton, it helped me to assess funding and start wananga so that we could start training young people up to get ready for work in agricultural industries.”
The Potae name was well known in shearing circles and the family was proud of their background, she said.
“We are always very encouraging of getting new people involved and teaching them as best we can so they’re ready for work when they join the shearing crews.”
Potae has moved from Milton to the Coromandel, where she hoped to connect with farmers and start up a few training days for “some of our young people that haven’t yet found themselves a career to chase”.
It wasn’t all about sheep either.
“There’s lots of fishing and barge work and mussel farm and oyster farm work that goes on up here, so encouraging that side of the agricultural business will be a big part of our next step in this mahi as well.”
While shearing and wool handling was “hard work”, it was worth it if you were willing to put in the effort, Potae said.
“As long as you’re in the right frame of mind and you’re willing to get up every day at 5am and put in the hard yards and, if you’re okay with a bit of banter at work and some loud music playing, it’s definitely a great lifestyle.
“You get to travel all over New Zealand and hopefully soon we’ll be able to travel all around the world again.”