Katareina Kaiwai was awarded the King's Service Medal for services to women and the civil construction industry Photo: Connexis
Katareina Kaiwai almost deleted the email telling her she was the recipient of a King's Birthday Honour because she thought it was a prank.
Now that she has had time for the shock to wear off, Kaiwai told RNZ's King's Birthday Morning with Paddy Gower show she was proud and humbled.
Kaiwai, from the East Coast, received the King's Service Medal for services to women and the civil construction industry. She worked in the roading industry before starting her own firm, Tairāwhiti Contractors in 2021.
Kaiwai (Ngāti Porou, Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga) has advocated for better working conditions for women in construction, and a third of Tairāwhiti Contractors employees are women.
Through Te Puni Kōkiri's Cadetship programme, Kaiwai actively supported the development of Māori into higher-skilled roles, she helped the community in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, and led an initiative which provided hundreds of healthy lunches to East Coast school children each day.
Kaiwai said she got into civil engineering because she loved being outdoors and growing up her family didn't have gender-specific roles.
"If I was at netball or touch, and you know the cooking had to be done or whatever, then my brothers just had to do whatever we had to do, so cook tea, bring the washing in off the line, all of that. If my brothers were at golf or badminton, then I'd have to do the lawns."
It wasn't until she moved into management roles she realised what a rarity she was. And things have come a long way.
"You'd go to the toilet close the door, there's magazines next to you, close the door and there's a calendar girl on the door."
There was a real sense of pride to see other women following in her footsteps, Kaiwai said.
"It's really cool driving down State Highway 35 now and seeing some of those young women and just how comfortable they are, how well they fit in ... It's like a mummy moment when you see all these young girls."
'You have to be a service to your people'
While Cyclone Gabrielle was one of the most publicised events, East Coasters were experts in navigating access and weather, Kaiwai said.
"We've been through that for years prior to Cyclone Gabrielle ... people say that we're resilient, yeah I mean I suppose you could say that, but it's also been a way of life for us, having to live like that.
"The implications of people not being able to get to the doctors, people who have appointments and they've been on waiting lists for 11 months and then all of a sudden if they don't make it they're going to have to wait for another 11 months, people that have babies, you've got the school kids, you've got people that need to get to their jobs, you've got businesses that rely on you, you've got services that have come from out of town and they might have travelled three hours to reinstate power on particular road and if you don't get that road open then you've wasted their three hours."
That was the "big picture of why you do what you do whether you like it or not", Kaiwai said.
"You have to be a service to your people, because you think ok, for the one person I am, and I'm tired, but you think about everyone else that's going to be affected by this if you don't do what you do, it far outweighs your one self."
Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said Kaiwai's devotion to improving the lives of the people in her community was an inspiration.
"Katareina's innovation is a testament to the strength of wāhine Māori taking leadership roles in driving the growth key to rebuilding our economy," he said.