Te Kāinga Wāhine was born from the idea, that we were never meant to do this thing called life alone.
At the heart of our mahi, is our village. Our community. Our people.
We are passionate about growing and developing wāhine because we know the ripple effect that comes from this mahi, creates a much wider impact.
We believe everyone has leadership within them. We focus on drawing out those leadership ways of being and doing, supporting wāhine to step into their potential.
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
He Kaiwhakahaere - Amy McLean
Ko Pirongia te maunga
Ko Waipa te awa
Ko Tainui te waka
Ko Waikato te iwi
Ko Ngāti Māhanga te hapū
Ko te Te Papa o Rotu te marae
Ko Amy McLean tōku ingoa
We’re driven by growth
As an ICF certified Professional Coach, I am deeply passionate about creating spaces of courage, connection and commitment. I know that what works best for wāhine, is a space that has been curated for wāhine, by wāhine.
Why?
Because growth is challenging, and vulnerable and unknown at the best of times. But doing it in a space where you don’t have to explain your cultural ways of being, or you can interchange between te reo Pākehā and te reo Māori, or people in the room just get it, makes it just a little bit easier to be courageous.
As a Māmā of two daughters, I am driven by the idea of them living in a world where they can courageously step into their potential, without the barriers that wāhine before them have faced. We’re doing the hard work for our mokopuna.
Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua
The journey that lead me here has been made up of many learning moments, many pivots and a lot of self-awareness.
Before becoming a māmā and an entrepreneur, I was a dedicated career gal, working in the Fitness Industry. Prior to that, whilst studying my Bachelor of Business, I worked in Accounting for five years.
Accounting. A "smart" choice. Good money, practical, respectable.
Also - boring as heck. It took me all of those five years to realise that I'm a creative and energetic person, and sitting at a desk in silence, navigating numbers and rules and regulations... Great experience nonetheless.
Moving on, I fell into the fitness industry, and it's where I stayed for eight years because I loved the culture and the people.
Fast forward through marriage, kids, and a few home moves, and I was presented with an opportunity to learn. What I thought was some great professional development, ended up being a pivotal point in my career that launched me out of my comfort zone, and into the business world!
So here we are. I have two wonderful girls and a husband who has stuck by me through all the crazy dreams, elaborate plans (and sometimes lack of plans!), life-changing decisions and more. It's been a journey of 20+ years with this guy, and I couldn't ask for a better supporter in my corner!
Before jumping into business my 13 years of corporate life saw me work in leadership, people management, communication, marketing and sales, and accounting, which has given me a unique foundation of what it is like for wāhine navigating the corporate space and juggling the many responsibilities that sit alongside their mahi. In recent years, I have built strong connections in the Māori Start Up Community, having supported and delivered on kaupapa Māori Business Accelerators for the past five years, and delivered a number of different programmes to Māori founders, entrepreneurs and leaders.