We're super lucky to have the lovely Synthia with us as our Pasifika Principal Advisor. Synthia's role is broad - she ensures te ao Pasifika and matāuranga Pasifika are woven into the te ao Tauiwi hull of our Waka Hourua and into how we work every day. This includes embedding our Uputāua Pasifika Engagement Framework and the Tango Mou Cultural Competency Framework, guiding teams through Uputāua trainings and supervisions, and offering cultural advice, frontline practice support and case consultation across the organisation.
She works closely alongside our Pasifika Matua Council, offers frontline practice support across Kia Puāwai and helps raise the profile of our organisation through the nurturing of strong relationships with Pasifika leaders, sector providers, and our Pacific communities.
Read on to find out more about Synthia and why she loves what she does.
What makes your job special and enjoyable?
My role touches all levels of our organisation and connects deeply to my WHY, ensuring our people receive the support they need, and that when they engage with services and complete intervention pathways, it leads to the better outcomes they deserve.
This role draws on my strengths: my qualifications in social services, youth work, psychology and public health, and years of experience working across mental health, disability, addiction and workforce development in both frontline and back-of-house roles within government and NGO services. It is also grounded in my own lived experiences of being supported by services and navigating systems myself. All of these layers of knowledge, service and lived understanding shape and strengthen the mahi I do today.
What makes this mahi truly special is the people, I love working alongside our Pasifika tamariki, whānau, communities and the kaimahi who serve them. The talanoa, the humour, the vulnerability, and seeing our teams grow in their cultural humility and confidence, creating better treatment outcomes for our Pasifika clients - that’s the heart of the work.
Who do you admire?
I admire people who are servant leaders, those who serve to lead and lead from the heart, those who rise from adversity, and stand strong in their truth. I am inspired by those who steer their waka with purpose, dignity and humility, grounded in the strength of their whakapapa and committed to uplifting their people.
I think of courageous leaders such as Dame Whina Cooper, Dame Jacinda Ardern, and Professor Siautu Alefaio-Tugia, Nelson Mandela – leaders whose compassion and courage challenged injustice, strengthened communities, and helped shape systemic transformation.
I am also deeply moved by the rising generation of wāhine toa, including mana whenua – Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hone i te po and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke. They are leading their people out of despair, giving voice to those who have been silenced, and breaking through societal barriers and racism.
Their leadership is about reviving sovereignty, restoring self-determination, and standing firm when forces of power try to suppress or diminish their tino rangatiratanga. Their courage to honour their whakapapa, confront adversity, and drive transformational change across systems and service practice gives me immense hope for the future of our communities.
Tell us something we might not know about you.
I’m fascinated by art history and the Mediterranean – the landscapes, the culture, the food. And if life allowed it (and I wasn’t juggling a village!), I’d happily be picking grapes in Italy or mangoes on the warm southern coast of Spain soaking up inspiration and living my life-of-leisure-and-discovery dreams. But knowing me, even while doing that, I’d still be working in a social service somewhere there, doing exactly what I do here: serving communities, supporting people, and helping shape pathways for better wellbeing and futures for everyone.
And despite the roles I hold, I’m actually quite shy, I just push through because our people matter.