"I do have a lot of non-Maori support as well, which I am grateful for."
Taking her place is newcomer Ana Apatu. With a career spanning both health and social work, she is chief executive of the U-Turn Trust which supports the wellbeing of Flaxmere families, based at Te Aranga Marae in Flaxmere. Originally a nurse, her previous role was senior population health adviser for the HBDHB.
Ms Apatu was already a member of the HBDHB Maori Relationship Board and chairs primary healthcare service Directions Youth Health Centre and the Hawke's Bay Youth Health Trust.
Another elected Maori boardmember members is incumbent Jacoby Poulain, also a Hastings District Councillor.
Ms Skipworth said she will miss being able to give her view on health issues at boardroom level "but I am sure Ana, Jacoby and a lot of the board members genuinely have their finger on Maori Health issues".
"I'm more sad that I can't share in the discussions."
She said she has no shortage of work organising multi-sport events and has an education project in mind.
"I want to create some kind of strategic plan along getting people to vote.
"People campaign on what they can do and what someone else might not have done, which I don't like, but we never talk to the people about why they should vote. We say they should but we never really say why they should vote.
Many voters did not understand "political speak" and when she personally encountered language she did not understand she was more likely to back off.
People sitting Around governance table start to speak a different lingo than many people that vote for them.
"If we just talk to them in plain English before we enter into the governance round they probably would understand what we are saying.
"As soon as you say democracy, it actually sounds quite scary even though they don't know what that word means."
I want to get together and work out a strategic plan explaining what politics is and what their votes can actually do for them, but do it in plain English.
"The more you talk about it, the more you normalise it."