{"id":710,"date":"2023-11-02T14:25:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T14:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/inclusionisinnovation\/?post_type=features&p=710"},"modified":"2025-02-10T18:40:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T18:40:04","slug":"a-path-with-many-lanes","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/codeofus\/features\/a-path-with-many-lanes\/","title":{"rendered":"A path with many lanes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Through years of juggling her studies, part-time jobs, and motherhood, Customer Success Account Manager Tash managed to find her place in tech\u2014and has made it her mission to help other women do the same. <\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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I\u2019m M\u0101ori on both sides. Both of my parents have M\u0101ori mothers and European fathers. Where the identity crisis arises is from other people based on M\u0101ori stereotypes and my outward appearance. But it\u2019s an identity crisis I\u2019ve consciously chosen not to own. Because I\u2019m very fair-skinned, I\u2019ve had people ask \u201cHow are you M\u0101ori?\u201d or comment, \u201cYou don’t look M\u0101ori at all.\u201d They haven\u2019t yet grasped that we all come in many different shades. I\u2019ve come to realize there will always be people who say, \u201cYou are not M\u0101ori because you look like this,\u201d or because you don\u2019t fit a certain stereotype that people have created about our people.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to family, they’re the ones who understand all the unique ingredients that make up who you are, and that’s the most important part. My family is a very mixed family with Tongan, Welsh, and Mexican culture mixed in with M\u0101ori, and we embrace the beauty of all those cultures.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve been here in Grey Lynn, a suburb near inner Auckland\u2019s beaches and harbor, for three generations. When I was a kid, it was predominantly M\u0101ori and Pasifika. Now, we\u2019re one of the few original families remaining, as it\u2019s become more gentrified.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our wh\u0101nau<\/em> home still stands here and holds memories and photographs of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who\u2019ve shared meals, holidays, and birthdays. Every Christmas, we\u2019d build h\u0101ng\u012b <\/em>pits in our backyard; that\u2019s a traditional way of cooking on heated rocks just beneath the ground. Nowadays, we use h\u0101ng\u012b<\/em> cookers, huge silver pots that you place on a grill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grey Lynn is a place with a rich and complicated history dating back to colonial days. It\u2019s a place where my family\u2019s roots run deep. Back in the seventies, the New Zealand government brought over many Pasifika people to Grey Lynn and neighboring towns for labor jobs, but after the work was done, they wanted them gone. In what was known as the \u201cdawn raids.\u201d The police targeted Pasifika, raiding their homes to try and drive them out. Those with even a hint of brown in their skin were stopped, passports checked, and threatened with deportation. My dad and our extended family went through the dawn raids. They\u2019d often get questioned and told to go back to where they came from, but they’d always say, “We’re M\u0101ori. We belong here.\u201d It\u2019s a painful piece of history that many M\u0101ori and Pasifika are still recovering from.  <\/p>\n\n<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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