If sustainability were a flower blooming in Te Kahukura Boynton’s life, it would be a lily — beautiful, bold, and sensitive to care. Like the lily, sustainability to Te Kahukura is a living, evolving journey, not a destination. It needs nurturing. It reminds us that progress isn't about perfection but about choosing to try again — and again.

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Te Kahukura is the founder of Māori Millionaire, a movement and business born from a deeply personal story of transformation. At just 18, she began sharing her money journey online — raw, honest, and determined to break the cycles of poverty and exclusion that too often hold back Māori communities. That honesty resonated. Today, she is an award-winning speaker, author of the first personal finance book by a Māori author, and an influential voice for rangatahi across Aotearoa. Her accolades, including recognition from the United Nations and a Young New Zealander of the Year nomination, are testaments to a vision that goes far beyond dollars and cents.

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“This mission to bridge the wealth gap goes beyond money,” she says. “It’s about freedom, access, and restoring a sense of abundance and self-determination for our people.”

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But her path has not been without challenge. At one point in her life, Te Kahukura faced drug addiction and the crushing pain of chronic endometriosis. Her whare tapa whā — the four dimensions of Māori wellbeing — had collapsed. “I hit rock bottom,” she shares, “and realised the only person who could change my life was me. I chose to take radical responsibility for my future.”

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That choice began with small, consistent steps — a five-minute walk, a single social media post. Over time, those steps became a movement. Māori Millionaire is now a six-figure business and an educational force, created without any external funding or support. It’s proof that with grit, purpose, and whānau behind you, anything is possible.

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For Te Kahukura, leadership isn’t about standing above others — it’s about lifting everyone. She admires Indigenous worldviews that centre collective success, not individual gain. “You could have the best product in the world,” she says, “but if you don’t have a community backing it, it will never thrive.”

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Her biggest advice to young change-makers? Start. “If you have a goal, it’s because a future version of you has already achieved it. Your job is to take the action that brings that future into reality.”

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In a world that often overlooks Indigenous knowledge, Te Kahukura is clear: Aotearoa already holds the key to a sustainable future. “Kaitiakitanga is not new — it’s how our tipuna lived. The answers are in our whakapapa. We must remember who we are.”

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She champions fellow wāhine Māori like Aleisha Mitchell, whose dream to heat her pā using geothermal energy has been decades in the making. Stories like Aleisha’s remind us that community-led solutions already exist — they just need support to flourish.

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When asked what seed she’d plant for the future, her answer is simple but powerful: resilience. “The obstacles will come — but we must keep going. Ka whawhai tonu mātou. We will keep fighting.”

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Read her answers to BLOOMING Sustainability, and you’ll see that Te Kahukura’s legacy is flourishing—not just in wealth, but in wellness, connection, and the profound understanding that true transformation begins within.

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BLOOMING  Sustainability Questionnaire

Name: Te Kahukura Boynton

Company & Title: Maori Millionaire Founder & Director

Website & LinkedIn Profile: www.maorimillionaire.com https://nz.linkedin.com/in/te-kahukura-boynton-0226a0219

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​* Guiding Values | Kaupapa 

If sustainability were a flower blooming in your life, what would it look like? What nurtures it?  

 If sustainability were a flower blooming in my life - it would be a lily. Lilies die quickly when they’re not taken care of. This acts as a reminder that there is no ‘destination’ it is all just a journey of how we can improve, how we can be better. We may not always get it right, but we can try again, we can keep going.

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A quote, personal motto or whakataukī that reflects your vision:  

“This mission to bridge the wealth gap goes beyond money. This work sees more minorities getting better access to healthcare, justice, education, and reducing all disparities in outcomes”

 

Having a vision backed with a strong mission or why is so important. There are too many challenges along the way that are more than enough to quit - but the mission is why you won't. The mission is why you get up on the days when you don’t feel like it. The mission is what keeps you going.

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If you could mentor a rising change-maker in Aotearoa, what advice would you share?  

My biggest piece of advice for rangatahi wanting to create change in their communities is to just do it. If you have a goal, or a vision - it’s because a future version of you has already achieved this. So, it is your responsibility to take the necessary action steps to make it happen.

 

So many of us overcomplicate what we need to do in order to grow, or get to where we want to go. I think about when I was a drug addict, struggling to find the will to live, struggling with a myriad of challenges - I felt burdened by all of the things that I needed to do in my life. How I moved through this and got to where we are today is by being 1% better every day. I lost 75kg by starting off with a 5 minute hikoi a day. I grew a 6-figure business by starting with just a post per day. People underestimate the potential of starting small, but it works because these results just compound over time.

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* Leading Change | Arataki

A key moment in your journey that shaped your path:  

At rock bottom, suffering from a drug addiction, 10/10 pain from chronic endometriosis - I felt like my whare tapa whā had completely collapsed. I realised then, that the only person who could change my life was me. I couldn’t blame anyone anymore - I had to take radical responsibility for the actions I was making that were not leading me towards the life I desired.

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What’s the main challenge you face in driving sustainability within your sector?  

I started my business with probably $30 on a wix subscription (I can’t remember exactly), a $9 email and a domain name. All up this would have been less than $100 and to be honest - I didn’t even need these things. But, I grew my company to allow me to quit my job by using what I had to grow it. It’s been hard to do it this way, to build sustainably without any financial support but I’m proud that I did this and I know that the challenges I’ve encountered doing this have only made me more resilient.

 

A challenge I’m experiencing now is this next chapter of business and where I’m headed. How best to use what I’ve grown to grow more, to create bigger and better impact within my community.

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An area you need more support with:  

I need support to create the impact I know my community needs. Support can look like sharing my content to those who you think it will resonate with, tagging a friend in the comments or simply liking a post. It all goes a long way to getting my content pushed out to the people who need it - and the people who can support me to create an even bigger impact in the world.

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An Indigenous perspective you admire and want people to be mindful of:  

I really love the concept of community success as opposed to singular success. I think it’s so important to make mention of this because this is what I believe actually creates success. No one can succeed without their community. You could have the most incredible product in the world, but no one will buy it if you don’t have a community backing it.

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What do you think is Aotearoa’s superpower in creating a sustainable future?  

Our superpower in Aotearoa for creating a sustainable future is that the life of our tipuna embodies sustainability. Kaitiakitanga is sustainable living. We have all of the answers in our whakapapa, in our tipuna to create a sustainable future. We must learn from the past in order to move forward.

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​ * Surfing the Green Wave | Kakariki

A sustainable initiative or project in Aotearoa that deserves more attention:

I met Aleisha Mitchell at an event and she shared her mission to heat her pā with geothermal, a dream that her whanau have had for 50+ years. She’s done so much alongside her whanau such as doing a feasibility study - but she hasn’t received the support she deserves in order to create the impact she desires.

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If your work could plant one seed of change for the future, what would it be?

I’d love to plant a seed of resilience. To act as a reminder that nothing worth having will be easy to get. As change makers and trailblazers - there will always be obstacles put before us - but we must learn to be resilient. When we have every reason to give up, we must keep going. Ka whawhai tonu matou.

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The leader(s) you endorse for a future edition of Blooming Sustainability:

• Aleisha Mitchell

• Elisha Tamasi - The Polynesian Life Coach

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* One actionable takeaway for our readers to make a change today for a brighter tomorrow:

Decide what you want, and reverse engineer how you’re going to get there. There is no point in saying that you have a dream if you aren’t going to do what’s required to get there. Take small steps towards it, don’t overwhelm yourself by going all in - ease your way in, build momentum as you go. Surround yourself with those who have what you want so that you can learn from them. Most of all, kia kaha. Kia manawanui.