Steph Paranihi-Simon

He uri mokopuna tēnei o Te Kāhui Maunga, o Ngāti Tuwharetoa, o Kai Tahu, o Ngā Puhi hoki.

I tipu mai au ki ngā rekereke o Matua Te Mana, tau ana ki Te Awa Tupua o Whanganui ki Kaiwhāiki.

Ko Steph Paranihi-Simon tōku ingoa

Ko Kahurangi Simon tōku hoa tāne

Tokotoru a māua tamariki, ko Aimee, Kahu Jnr rātou ko Ruia Te Koa

Tokorua āku hunaonga ko Jacob rāua ko Mani

Tokowha a māua mokopuna, ko Te Ngaruru, ko Te Manawa-Kura, ko Kaea Te Oka rātou ko Taitan.

I love what I do here at Whakauae, but I don’t like talking about myself.

So, here’s three quick things about me.

1. I’m great at three things, organising, planning and time management.
2. I live on the banks of the beautiful Awa o Whanganui at Kaiwhāiki Pa where I enjoy part time candid photography and eating cake for breakfast.
3. I love plants. Plants don’t love me. My plant shelf at home is slowly being referred to as a ‘Plant Hospice’.

I joined the Whakauae team in September 2023, with a background in administration spanning 25 years. I am a former School Librarian and also worked for an Iwi health organisation as an Executive Assistant to the CEO. Most recently, I worked at the National Library within the Preserving the Nations Memory Project which involved cataloguing and rehousing over 70,000 artefacts and taonga into storage facilities around Aotearoa.

My initial administration position at Whakauae has transformed into the role of Records and Information Officer.

I am tasked with making data storage and retrieval available to our team and to provide a service for researchers to help support them in their work. My main purpose is to oversee the ongoing data lifecycle of Whakauae Research Services and design and implement efficient data management strategies and execute basic data migration.

I think I’ve found my calling

“Moea tō poi, moea tō taiaha”

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