22/02/2024
If you haven’t already head over to The Collective United Studios and follow our new beauty page here’s one of our intros go have a read ☺️
Ko wai au?
Ko Hikurangi te maunga
Ko Te raparapa te awa
Ko Ngatokimatawhaorua te waka
Ko Matawaia te marae
Ko Ngati Hine te hapu
Ko Ngapuhi me Te Arawa nga iwi.
Ko Tutiyana tōku ingoa.
Kia ora whanau and friend the last intro for today I am Tutiyana and just wanted to tell you a bit about myself and how I got started with the beautiful ‘Collective Team’ where we have an awesome studio here in my hometown.
I am a mother of my beautiful five-year-old daughter ‘Te Ataraupo’. She has been with me on this journey as my determination comes from building a life for us both.
In 2019, I knew I wanted to be in business for myself. I knew nothing about how to start, what to do so as me I started asking everyone what I was going to do and if they knew anything about how to start and manage a business.
On this journey, it was really hard to get established, to get people to trust me as you are dealing with a person body. I paid for training myself, by saving and yes it was tough to the point sometimes I couldn’t even pay for nappies for my baby, which brought my family in to help me. With the support of family and friends I would get the determination and desire to make it in this world, which sometimes at every corner would try to bring me down. I tried going to support agencies like WINZ, but it felt I had to stay where I am otherwise, I would get penalised for trying to open a business so that I could support myself and my daughter. So, with very little in the pocket I had to think of ways that would get me off the ground.
For a year and a half, I looked at employment to better my finances and saving, but it never worked, either time was a factor, because of the day-to-day care of my baby or the pay was just not able to enough for our living needs and saving. So, with the help of my grandparents, I was able to just save enough to pay for training to obtain a certificate, yes, I could have gone to a training institution but then I would be in debt, and I knew I didn’t want that. I had to cut out the outings with friends, take-aways etc. Then finally, I got the money together and travelled to Hamilton to do my course.
Once, I became a qualified lash technician I came home and opened up as the name “Naughty brows and lashes’ in our small studio at home with just a normal single bed to start with 😂. I gradually established a clientele, then started training other ladies who wanted to join this industry. The money I made, would go straight back into more knowledge, supplies, anything towards the business I was trying to establish.
Months went by and one client asked me ‘why I started to lash?’, ha-ha I had to sit back and think as I never thought of it since starting this journey. I then remembered why? I told her why and the purpose was and it was to make me financially stabled for myself and daughter. Over time i then grew my passion to make people feel beautiful in their own skin, making them laugh and smile and to go home everyday to my daughter knowing I was helping others in my business.
I then decided to change the business name to ‘Mama’s time out’, because I wanted the name to be associated with more of wanting to help woman, who like me never got to spoil myself or felt like I mattered, and it was ok to feel like a woman again after looking after everyone else.
Remember when I said, I had to think of ways to create money out of nothing, well I was looking through Facebook and other social media and found people were excited and wanting to create an awesome way to have their event stand out above the rest.
So, there I STARTED learning designs, and crafts that was taught from my great grandmother Winifred Watson. I then started doing events called ‘TRT Party Hire’, which every time people were loving and expressing their thanks on how it would turn out.
So now, it got to the stage I needed to start learning the paperwork side, which was even harder to understand, as being brought up im Te Ao Māori, I had to start thinking Pakeha for the business financial side. I asked my grandmother, but she would say ‘You must learn and do it yourself by researching, asking because by learning myself no one could take advantage of books in my business.
So, with guidance from other business people I knew, I was more confident in branching out. And by researching and knowing my hometown needed some positivity, and creativity I found three other beautiful woman and co-owned ‘The Collective United Studio’.
Naku nā Tuti 😚
