Noeleen Tuala is a mum of five, nana of four and a business owner. Photo / Supplied
Noeleen Tuala is a mum of five, nana of four and a business owner. Photo / Supplied
South Auckland mum of five Noeleen Tuala had always dreamed of owning her own business one day.
“I always did look at business owners and just think to myself, ‘why can’t I do that?’” she tells the Herald.
“As a young Polynesian girl, there were very few Polynesian business owners, so I had nothing to compare to. We have this sort of humble mentality where you sort of think, you need a lot of money to run a business or it’s too hard, so why even start?”
Noeleen Tuala started her business PELE to sell Polynesian-designed baby mats and blankets. Photo / Supplied
It wasn’t until Tuala, also a nana to four - soon to be five - grandchildren, struggled to find a Polynesian-designed baby blanket for her grandson that she realised she could make that dream a reality.
The 38-year-old could only find what she was looking for on an Australian site, and when it arrived, she was “so disappointed” in the quality.
“I knew I could do better. And that was literally the defining moment for me,” she recalls.
“It was something that I knew I would be passionate about, being able to share the Polynesian designs in our culture and cater to babies at the same time.”
By December 2022, she was ready to launch her own collection of baby products under the name PELE, which in Tongan means “darling” and in Samoan means “dear”. It’s a fitting name as Tuala reveals the business is “like another baby” for her -”I’m fiercely passionate about it.”
Her playmats, “minkies” or blankets, and baby capsule covers come in pink, blue and brown shades with instantly recognisable Samoan and Tongan designs. Tuala herself is half Samoan and half Tongan, and found that creating the designs was a way for her to reconnect with her culture.
The playmats are PELE's bestseller. Photo / Supplied
“It’s actually brought me a lot closer to my roots and my heritage,” she shares.
“I feel this constant need to learn more about the kingdom of Tonga, which is where my mum is from, and Samoa, where my dad is from. It’s just made me want to learn more, which is amazing, because I never expected that. So I’m so grateful that PELE’s done that for me.”
The playmats are her best seller, and she says she “can’t get over the fact that people love them as much as I do”.
Tuala recalls one particularly poignant message from a customer that has stayed with her.
“She was looking for a minky, or a blanket - I call them a minky - for her unborn child, her unborn son. And she said that she decided on one of ours, and then she went on to say that she actually buried her son with one of our minkies,” she says, holding back tears.
“And she was just so grateful that he was able to represent his culture through our minky in his final days ... there really are no words.”
Tuala hopes to inspire her children and grandchildren to follow in her footsteps.
Another message that stood out to her simply said, “Finally, our culture’s being represented.
“And I felt that and it brought me to tears, because for so long we haven’t had it on the market.”
Each product is named for one of her grandchildren or for her youngest son, and she’s included a Psalms verse on each label in hopes of passing on a message of positivity to her customers.
“I have strangers reach out and tell me that I have inspired them to take a leap of faith, which is priceless for me,” Tuala says, adding that she’s happily shared her experience with others asking advice on starting their own businesses.
“We need to uplift each other, that is what it is all about - sharing what we know so others can succeed too. There is room for all of us.”
For now, Tuala runs PELE from a spare room in her Manurewa home, and she’s “counting down the days” until she can go full-time with it from a bigger space.
Currently working full-time as an executive assistant for a community housing provider, the mum of five admits that balancing it all is “exhausting.
“On my lunch breaks, when my youngest son is at dance practice, and when he goes to sleep, I’m all about PELE. I don’t remember the last time I had an eight-hour sleep because I’m up till early hours pretty much every night,” she admits.
“It’s not easy, it’s very tiring, but there’s that saying where if you do what you love, you don’t work a day in your life and it really is true when it comes to PELE.”
Watching her in action has encouraged her children to follow in her footsteps, she says. “My aiga, my family is so proud of me. I don’t think they realised how much PELE would take off.”
And she hopes that others will see what she’s achieved and “be inspired.
“And just know that with hard work, then anything is possible.”
