A New Zealand journalist made history as the first broadcaster with a traditional face tattoo to anchor a primetime show, CNN reported Thursday.
Oriini Kaipara described the opportunity to host the 6 p.m. bulletin for Newshub, a primetime show, on TV channel Three to CNN as a “huge honor,” adding that she was “over the moon.”
Kaipara received her marking in 2019 as a way to stay connected to her Māori identity, soon becoming the first television presenter with Māori facial markings to conduct a mainstream news show at TVNZ.
“I’m very much aware that I’m the first [with moko kauae] to anchor a six o’clock primetime news bulletin,” Oriini Kaipara told local media pic.twitter.com/5OZB4vMGP2
— Telegraph World News (@TelegraphWorld) December 29, 2021
The traditional Māori facial marking, called moko kauae for women, is tattooed on the chin. Men receive a marking known as the mataora tattooed over most of the face, CNN reported.
Kaipara told CNN that seeing her “reflection in the mirror, I’m not just looking at myself” and that she’s looking at “all, the other women, Māori girls out there and it empowers me.”
The anchor is also known for incorporating traditional Māori phrases such as “Ū tonu mai” meaning “stay with us” and “Taihoa e haere” meaning “don’t go just yet” on the air, according to the CNN.
The Māori language was “beaten out my grandmother’s generation,” Kaipara, who hopes more people will speak the language, told CNN.
Kaipara added that people “still haven’t addressed a lot of intergenerational traumas and colonization and for Maori, that’s very, very pertinent and poignant.” (RELATED: Soccer Team’s ‘All Whites’ Nickname Under Diversity Review In New Zealand)
The anchor told CNN that she aims to inspire young Māori girls, asking “that they see the beauty in being Māori and they embrace it and acknowledge that and do what they can with it for positive change.”
Boxer Mike Tyson and British singer Kelsy Karter both received face tattoos while musician Post Malone had a skull tattooed on his head.