I came from the Cook Islands. I graduated from Brigham Young University of Hawaii with undegraduate degree in Health and Physical Education and minor in psychology. I went to graduate school at the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus. There I graduated in Masters of Science in Recreation and Development of Youth. I was a teacher at Sunset Elementary School before I came to New Zealand. I worked at University of Otago as research assistant and then moved to Auckland to study PhD in Education.