Ko Taranaki tōku mounga
Ko Waitara tōku awa
Ko Te Āti Awa tōku iwi
Ko Ngāti Rāhiri tōku hapū
E noho ana ahau ki Onaero
Ko Pounamu Skelton ahau
You'll most often find Pounamu with her hands in the soil. She might be harvesting kai for the whānau table or gathering herbs from her māra to make into healing products.
Ko te kai he rongoā, ko te rongoā he kai.
Food is our medicine, and medicine is our food.
Pounamu was born in Waitara. Her journey took her around the world before the whenua called her home. She descends from Te Āti Awa, Taranaki Ngāti Ruanui and Ngāti Raukawa, and her bond with her cultural landscapes runs deep.
Today she is a speaker, a leader and a Hua Parakore kai grower, and she lives what she teaches. She has spent more than a decade teaching māra kai, and through that work she plants seeds of wellness across her community. Her work goes beyond the garden
Pounamu is also the formulator behind Maara o Rongo, her natural skincare range. Every product begins at her papakāinga, where she grows the ingredients herself. The herbs are hand-picked, dried and slowly infused, so each jar carries the mauri of the whenua it came from, from soil to skin.
Now Pounamu is adding to her kete. She is training as a Rise Global Indigenous Coach, a long-held dream, so she can walk alongside people who are ready to go deeper into their own growth.
Her invitation to you is simple:
You are the architect of your own life. Design it in a way that lights you up.