Honey Ellis shares her journey in reconnecting to te ao Māori through TikTok

Honey Ellis shares her journey through TikTok. Photo / Whakaata Maori

By Mana Wikaire-Lewis of Whakaata Maori

With Mahuru Māori underway for 2022, one wahine has decided to share her journey to learning te reo Māori on TikTok - and has received thousands of views and likes on the popular social media platform.

Honey Ellis (Waikato, Tainui, Ngāti Kahungunu) decided to share her journey, where she, her husband and her whanau are enrolled into a reo Māori course, not only for accountability but also to have a bit of fun with content creation.

"When I first started in the course that I'm doing, which I would say is the beginning of my reo Māori journey, I don't really know why it was important to me at that time. It was more of, I felt a call back to my reo and to connect back to te ao Māori."

Ellis says her nan has been a big influence in learning te reo rangatira, being heavily involved in te ao Māori herself.

"Since starting my journey I have a bit more clarity over why it is important to me, and that's got a lot to do with the question: ko wai koe? Ko wai au?"

She first made content on TikTok dedicated to finance tips and advice for whānau. This came after a financial loss she suffered during the pandemic when she and her husband had to sell their home in Rotorua after some unfortunate events.

"I have no idea how we lost all this mahi. It really drove me to learn more about te ao pūtea, learn more about how money works."

The response from ngāi Māori, especially from wāhine Māori to Ellis sharing her financial tips and advice has been great.

"I feel like they can relate to me because I'm not in a really great financial position so we can be in the same place and grow together."