Mana Wahine were at the forefront of discussions at the annual FOMA Huihuinga Wāhine, where female leaders and entrepreneurs discussed key topics affecting wāhine today.
The leadership summit is a special event that aims to empower Māori women.
The Federation of Māori Authorities (FOMA) chairperson, Tracy Houpapa, says "Huihuinga Wahine is a safe place for Māori women, leaders and emerging leaders, would be's and want to be's to get involved with leadership and to better understand whether it's actually for them."
The conference opens doors for Māori women to share experiences, network and to better understand success and failure.
"It is about enterprising women and giving them connections to things like lawyers, accountants, banks and all those positive things that you sometimes just need a door opened," says Liz Mellish, FOMA Deputy Chair.
Speakers at the event are Māori women excelling at their work and embodying the qualities of mana wahine.
Kiwi Ferns captain Honey Hireme is one of the speakers who shared her story.
"I think it's a great opportunity for wāhine Māori to draw inspiration from everyone's different journeys, different struggles and just be able to take a lot of key messages and continue to strive for success."
Huihuinga Wahine is now in its eighth year and continues to promote the success of Māori women.
Ngatiriti Eparama Hautapu has attended the conference for the last two years and this year she returned to share her story in the hope that it would resonate with someone in the audience.
"It just gives you this kind of refresh and a sense of commitment and reminds you of why being a wahine Māori is such an important role, and what an amazing influence you can have. And it doesn't matter what job you are doing, we all do little bits in our own community, in our own whānau."
There have been many rewards for the wāhine who attend these conferences and Eparaima-Hautapu says the most rewarding part for her is the many connections she's made.
"Everyone will take something away different and that's probably one of the most amazing things about this hui, but for me its definitely been the relationships that I've made and the amazing women that I've met across the motu."
A key focus of the conferences is to get more women into prominent leadership roles.