TKW Newsletter : Fashion, funds and healing the past

Kia ora e hoa 👋

If you were anywhere near social media last week, it would have been hard to miss the excitement and wonder that was NZ Fashion Week 23: Kahuria.

A really memorable moment for Māori was having Kiri Nathan officially open NZ Fashion Week, with a celebration and history of Māori dress from the 1600’s to ‘the future’.

Then on Friday, we were on the edges of our seats, celebrating Johana Te Momo of Momo Aotearoa, one of the participants in our TKW six-month business development programme, who had the opportunity to send her work down the runway, as part of the Pacific Fusion show, previewing to a follow up event in December.

Kia whakanui ki a koutou katoa! Congratulations to all the Māori and Pacific designers who were a part of NZ Fashion Week 23.

In this newsletter we’ve got:

• Spotlight: Sustainable fashion and individuality with Momo Aotearoa

• Meet: PledgeMe - Helping Kiwis fund the things they care about

• Spotlight: New Episodes now live on TKW Podcast

• Quick Stats: One month of newsletters down!

🎧🎙 Spotlight: Sustainable fashion and individuality with Momo Aotearoa

💸 Meet: PledgeMe - Helping Kiwis fund the things they care about

We are really grateful to have a long list of supporters and connectors who work with our wāhine in the six-month business development programme here at Te Kāinga Wāhine.

Last week, we had Anna Guenther and Saara Tawha join us to kōrero on all things crowdfunding through PledgeMe.

We’ve known Saara for years, having worked alongside her through Kōkiri - the kaupapa Māori Business Accelerator, so we know when she’s backing something, it’s a high chance it’s a good thing.

PledgeMe allows people to call on their crowds, and use the power of everyone chipping a little bit in, to get projects and equity raises across the line.

One of the things we can pride ourselves on as Māori, is our connections, our whānau, our networks. And when the call for help is put out, you can be sure we all rally together to tautoko one another. Just think - how many times have you purchased a raffle ticket for a rangatahi heading off to big sports events? Me too!

If you’ve got a project that you need help getting to the next stage, drop us a message and we’d be more than happy to connect you with PledgeMe, and utilise our Te Kāinga Wāhine community to all chip a little bit in too.

🎧🎙 Spotlight: New Episodes now live on Te Kāinga Wāhine - The Podcast

🗞️ Quick Stats: One month of newsletters down!

It’s been a month of newsletters here at Te Kāinga Wāhine, and we thought it’d be cool to share the stats with you - because we want you to stay on this haerenga with us.

Since Newsletter #1 we have:

🔢 Grown our email list by 22%
🔢 Had an average open rate of 37.3%
🔢 Had an average click rate of 12.5%

Why are these numbers important?

It helps us to know if what we’re sharing is landing for you, both in your inbox and in your zone of interest. Thanks to the platform we use, Beehiiv we can keep track of what you’re engaging in most, and share more of that!

We’re on a mission to grow to 10,000 subscribers by the end of 2024.

Imagine being able to spotlight the amazing work that is being done with and by Wāhine Māori across that many inboxes - we can’t help but get excited by the possibility of connections, collaborations, and good news stories that can come from that.

Wondering what you can do?

We would love if you can share our newsletter, on social media or by sending it to a friend. We’ve made it nice and easy, here’s a handy link that you can share with others and encourage them to join the haerenga to 10,000 with us too.

Ngā manaakitanga,
Amy from Te Kāinga Wāhine