About Ngākau Collective
My Why
Before Ngākau Collective existed, I spent a long time searching for something that would help me better understand myself.
I explored astrology, numerology, readings, courses and different ways of thinking and reflecting. Each gave me something — a different perspective, a question I hadn't considered, or another way of understanding my own experiences.
Over time, I began to recognise that what I valued wasn't necessarily finding the answer. It was what I discovered through the process of exploring, reflecting and making my own connections.
When my role was made redundant, I found myself with the space to consider what might come next. Rather than returning to what was familiar, I began creating from what I had learned through my own experiences and from the way I naturally connected with and supported others.
Ngākau Collective grew from there.
It continues to grow in much the same way — through lived experience, curiosity, creativity and a willingness to discover what might become possible.
The Ngākau Approach
Ngākau Collective is grounded in reflection, discovery, connection and lived experience.
The mahi is shaped by a belief that guidance doesn't always need to come with answers. It can create space to explore, consider different perspectives, make connections and discover what feels meaningful for ourselves.
What Ngākau Collective creates may take different forms, but the approach remains the same — to guide rather than instruct, encourage curiosity and create room for people to make their own discoveries.
About the Founder
Kia ora, I'm Verna Maihi, the wahine behind Ngākau Collective.
I bring together lived experience, creativity, reflection and the perspectives that have shaped the way I understand myself and the world around me.
My own path hasn't followed a straight line. I've explored different ways of understanding myself, questioned what I've been taught, changed perspective more than once, and learned that sometimes discovery begins simply by giving ourselves enough space to be curious.
My Māori identity and connection to Te Ao Māori are part of who I am and naturally influence the way I create, think and approach this mahi. So too do the ordinary experiences of life — relationships, change, uncertainty, humour, conversations, creativity and the things we notice along the way.
Ngākau Collective gives me a place to bring those things together and create from them.
Not to provide someone else's answers, but to offer something that might encourage reflection, connection, curiosity or a different way of seeing.
