Raimona Peni
TŌKU REO is Raimona Peni's first major role on television.
Raimona is currently working as a Maori language scriptwriter for Pukoro Series 3 as part of the Kura Productions team.
He is a keen Kapa Haka exponent and formerly worked at Remuera Intermediate School taking their cultural group. He has provided private Māori language tuition and did relief teaching at UNITEC New Zealand. His teaching background and fluency in te reo Māori are vital to his role on TŌKU REO.
In 2007, Raimona worked on the television reality series The Amazing Race, as the person to welcome international contestants in both Māori and English. He was part of the panel of advisors on the programme Whatukura, and in 2006 was a Māori consultant on Kai Time on the Road .
A jack of all trades, Raimona has also been a sales representative for Rip Curl, a tomato picker, forklift driver, scaffolder, employer, sales manager for Te Puia and managing director of Te Manu Kaewa Cultural Group in Rotorua.
Involved in a number of stage productions, Māori and martial arts, acting, music and dance, Raimona brings a decade of performance and performance management experience to TŌKU REO.
Ultimately, he would like to pursue a career in television and continue motivating others to learn te reo Māori.
Raukura Huata
In addition to TŌKU REO, Raukura Huata is currently studying a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Auckland and works as an advertising account manager for Mai FM.
Raukura first worked as a production assistant/researcher for the series Arero in 2004. For a few months she also produced Mana Wahine documentaries at Radio Waatea.
Arero producer Kim Webby was impressed with Raukura's hard-working nature and invited her to work as a translator on the Marae DIY series.
In 2007, Raukura went on to do a second series of Marae DIY and worked as a Māori translator for Kiwi Productions' Kaitiaki.
It was that same year Raukura landed her current job at Mai FM. She also spent some time transcribing and translating for the show Lost in Translation and a second season of Kaitiaki.
TŌKU REO may be Raukura’s first presenting role but her extensive television credits, work experience and Māori language abilities have been invaluable.
