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A young overachiever who dropped out of high school and turned to drugs has rebounded in a few short years to become an author and passionate advocate for bridging the wealth gap.
Te Kahukura Boynton, 21, wrote Māori Millionaire, the first personal finance book by a Māori author.
Around 50 people, young and old, attended the book launch at at Terere Marae in Ōpōtiki where Boynton shared her story and read from her book on how to build better money habits.
“The rangatahi that came today," she reflected afterwards, "they’re just so inspired to start their journeys and achieve their goals and that means the world to me, to be for them what I really wished I had at their age.”
At their age, Boynton was deputy head girl and on her way to becoming dux.
“I was at high school and I was very depressed. I was a high achiever, always really loved studies and things like that, and I had really, really big goals but I was really struggling with my mental health.”
She said her studies were going well but inside she felt “like a mess” and a “failure” and ended up dropping out of high school to enrol into university without a plan or a strategy.
“It was there where I hit my rock bottom, my kind of breaking point.”
She struggled with drugs and her weight for a time before she came to a powerful realisation that would change her life for the better.
“Everything that I was navigating… I was the person who could change that, and I was the person who could get myself on track, and it wasn’t going to be easy, but as long as I stuck at it and as long as I just showed up every day and just did my best, I would see progress.”
Fast forward to now, it’s a new era for Boynton who has ditched the drugs; lost more than 75kg; founded a business focusing on empowering Māori to achieve financial independence; and published a book.
What’s important for her, though, is bringing her people alongside.
“To be able to have this book launch, something so big, not only for my iwi, for my whānau, but for Māori, it’s been so special to bring this kaupapa back [to Terere Marae] and to be surrounded by my whānau.”
Book launch at Terere Marae in Ōpōtiki (Source: Seven Sharp)
She said holding the event at the marae meant she could build on strengthening the link to her ancestral home, which was important for her whānau.
“My nan spent a lot of time at our marae and something I think growing up … I looked at kids who grew up at their marae and I felt like I was missing something in that way.”
Being on the marae also reminds her of the work she has in front of her, which includes reviving her reo.
Growing up fluent, she said she’s been out of practice for several years and has “lost so much” of her reo.
“For me, hei aha te pūtea (who cares about the money) if you’ve lost your reo, if you’ve lost your te ao Māori (Māori worldview).
"It doesn’t matter how much money you have or how much financial prosperity you build if you don’t have your whānau, if you don’t have your reo, if you don’t have your tikanga, and so for me it’s an opportunity for me to grow and to learn.”
The full report can be found on TVNZ+
