Taylor-Rose Terekia: Kaiwāwāhi Matua of Te Pararē

Taylor-Rose Terekia is killing the game. She’s the writer, editor, and wordsmith of your dreams. She’s also the Kaiwāwāhi Matua (Editor) of Te Pararē, having been with the magazine since its inception in 2019, “from its baby days to what it is today”.  

Te Pararē is the student magazine of Te Mana Ākonga, the National Māori Tertiary Students Association. With Taylor-Rose at the helm, the magazine produces a range of incredible features, from the underfunding and overworking of Māori student leaders, to Māori podcasts to enjoy over lockdown. The pieces are funny, serious, heartfelt and intelligent. If you’re not already reading them, you need to. Over lockdown, Massive got the opportunity to chat with the formidable writer to talk everything from student media to K-pop.  

“Ko Te Aitanga-ā–Māhaki, Ngāti Porou, Ngāriki Kaipūtahi me Kāi Tahu ngā iwi, ko Taylor-Rose Terekia ahau.” 

The 24-year-old writer “hails from Gizzy with links to the South”, where she studied Indigenous Development, Film and Media Studies, and Marketing at Otago University. At Otago, Taylor-Rose also served as Tumuaki of Te Roopū Maori, an experience which she describes “as tough as it was rewarding”. 

“There is so much ground to make in order to best support Māori in tertiary institutions and sometimes the weight of that hits the tumuaki hard,” she obverses. “In the same breath I felt like I achieved a lot in a year and had a mean time doing it. I’m proud to have given my time in service to my Māori peers and teina coming through.” 

Nowadays, Taylor-Rose works as the Marketing and Comms Coordinator for Taki Rua Productions based in Pōneke, editing Te Pararē in her spare time. She prefers black coffee over tea, and is currently binging a K-pop survival show named Kingdom. Oh, and her go-to kai after a night out is “fried chicken every time”. Basically, I want to be her best friend. 

Te Pararē was established in 2019, originally intended to be an annual publication, a “one-off” print of works from Māori students across the country. However, in 2020, that idea shifted and evolved to become an online magazine. The move would “make it more accessible and produce frequent content across the year” according to Taylor-Rose. “We joined the club of student magazines that is ASPA, and have been slowly grounding the foundation of our kaupapa for the future!” 

A typical week editing Te Pararē looks like “jumping on socials and interacting with our friends (student groups and mags across the motu) and stirring conversation”. She admits if that something interesting comes up on the feed, or “a juicy idea stems from the kōrero, this might spark a story that will be written up and published online”. 

Her favourite piece she’s ever published is her first editorial. “I don’t have a lot of journalism experience, but when I wrote that editorial, I just expressed my honest thoughts and hopes for Te Pararē. I really believe in the kaupapa of Te Pararē, and it will be the piece that I’ll always look back as the starting point for the magazine.” 

As rewarding as the work is, it can be tiresome. “As a brand new magazine, we have zero funding, and sometimes working on aroha can be really draining. It’s been tricky finding tauira to contribute to Te Pararē, which is the challenge of being 1) a national magazine, 2) online, and 3) brand new,” she says. Taylor-Rose notes of the challenges she’s faced in the role, saying, “It’s harder to build relationships and trust straight away when you can’t meet people face to face.” 

The highlights, though, are the pieces she receives. “While I wish we could have more content to publish, what we do get have been amazing. It reaffirms for me the importance of our magazine, and encourages me to keep going,” Taylor-Rose says. 

In a time where magazines can seem outdated, archaic even, the student magazine lingers on. Taylor-Rose believes that students are in the “perfect position” to try anything and everything with little consequences, making mistakes and learning from them. “We’re full of opinions and ideas … I believe student media is a place that fosters and broadcasts that… We challenge the norms of society, and we come up with solutions.” 

“Speaking as a Māori, we have [a] society that needs to be challenged, and student media can support young voices to be heard in the way they want to be heard. We push boundaries and set examples for the mainstream.” 

If you’re keen to get involved, you can. It’s as easy as that. “We want to uplift and amplify Māori students’ voices across Aotearoa. Your experience in writing doesn’t matter, if you have an opinion or an idea, we want to hear about it,” Taylor-Rose summarises. “If it’s a fry bread recipe, an illustration or artwork, an investigation into racism at your uni, or a Māramataka column, there’s so many possibilities and we want tauira to know that their voice is important and worth sharing.” 

All tauira have to do is get in touch with Te Pararē and start a kōrero: “Kōrero mai, whakapā mai.” 

As for Taylor-Rose, her future is bright and blossoming. She’s likely to stay at Te Pararē next year, admitting, “I’m kind of scared that if I leave now, the magazine won’t be ready to stand on its own. So, I’ll potentially stay on but will be keeping my eyes peeled for anyone keen to lead the waka!” There’s still “plenty to achieve” with the magazine, from securing funding and paid roles to general admin tasks. 

If you want to check out the awesome mahi of Te Pararē, check out their Facebook page @teparare or Instagram @te.parare. You can also visit their website at www.temanaakonga.org.nz/teparare.