Photos: Robert Trathen
Anika Moa and Stacey Morrison have graced our airwaves and screens since they were teenagers. However, when they sit down to chat with the Weekly, the room quickly fills with laughter and banter. It’s easy to see these two are great mates.
“The first time we met, you interviewed me for [’90s television show] Mai Time,” Anika, 44, says to Stacey. “We were at a bar in the city, you had the camera crew with you and were so kind to me. You were lovely.” Grinning, she jokingly adds, “I was 19. I had just moved to Auckland, so you would have been about 50!”
Stacey, 51, is quick to retort that she’s been ageing in vampire years, as the pair descends into memories about attending rival Christchurch high schools.
Then, more seriously, Stacey adds, “My first impression of Anika was, ‘She’s so small and powerful, super-creative and an interesting energy.’ I felt really intrigued.”
Quips Anika, “I was crazy!”
Over the years, their friendship has grown as they became mothers, working together at radio stations The Hits and Flava, trading plenty of gossip and supporting one another through different seasons of life.
“Because I don’t know much te reo, Stace is my guide,” says Anika. “I text her and ring her for anything. She always helps me and it’s really gratefully received.”
Stacey adds, “It’s good because she knows I’ll try to make sure she’s safe. Kind of like big sister vibes.”
With a grin, Anika says, “Yeah, my much older sister.”
On September 29, they’ll join forces with friend Dame Hinewehi Mohi in an attempt to take back the Guinness World Record for the largest haka.
Both Stacey and Anika are delighted to be supporting the event celebrating our mighty haka, an icon of Māori culture. Particularly after both being raised largely disconnected to their heritage.
Te Reo Māori champion Stacey learned the language as an adult. Then, she and Te Karere presenter husband Scotty Morrison made a commitment to exclusively speak te reo with their children.
For Anika, it’s been an ongoing learning journey. It has sometimes been complicated by ADHD and the realities of her busy career, plus running a household as a single mother of four.
“I can’t sit still and I have to learn things practically,” she explains. “With music, I bring my guitar and every minute is different. But even though I went to university to study Māori, repetition doesn’t work for me.”
Says Stacey, “But then your hyper focus means you can nail some crazy, hard things super-fast too.”
Raised by her Pākehā mother Bernadette, Anika didn’t meet her father Tia, who passed away in 2007, aged 51, until she was 13 years old. Forever grateful to him for promoting a love of music and teaching her to play the guitar, he was never a steady figure in her life.
“My dad was Māori, but he wasn’t raised to whakapapa [ancestors] or kōrero [speak] Māori because my granddad, who hardly spoke English, was beaten for speaking te reo. So being Māori wasn’t even a topic of conversation for us because he didn’t know any better and neither did I.”
Stacey was also largely raised in a Pākehā world and, like Anika, lost a parent young when her mum Sue passed away in 2002 aged just 45 after battling breast cancer.
“I think my mum would be most happy about how she’s still spoken about in our whānau,” smiles Stacey. “Our kids made up the saying ‘Pono, Nana Sue’ if they want to verify whether someone’s telling the truth. It’s basically saying, ‘Do you swear on Nana Sue’s wairua [spirit]’ and then you can’t lie.
“Scotty and I both feel like our Pākehā mums were amazing at supporting us being who we are. As a mum, you just want your kids to feel good about themselves and all parts of themselves.”
With her own children, Hawaiki, 17, Kurawaka, 16, and Maiana, 11, growing up almost faster than Stacey can keep up with, family time is more important than ever, especially as her eldest prepares to leave home.
“Saturday sports are big for us. I actually really love driving them around and hearing their friends talk,” she admits. “I really miss when they were little, but I love all of the big stuff. Navigating driver’s licences and next stages are exciting too.”
For Anika, nothing beats the beach. She heads there every weekend with her children, twins Barry and Taane, 13, Soren, nine, and Marigold, five.
“I also love when we’re just around the table. I make pancakes, bacon and eggs – a mean feed – and we just crack each other up. It’s the best conversations.”
Anika left home at 17 “and never looked back”. She’s staunch about preparing her kids to follow in her footsteps.
“I’ve told all my kids as soon as they turn 18, they’re out. I’m teaching them how to cook and wash up because I want them to be super-confident, responsible and capable, treat their partners kindly and know how to live in the world.”
With seven children between them and careers that continue to go from strength to strength, the close-knit friends are busier than ever.
Stacey co-hosts the Flava Breakfast show, is a regular television host, and alongside husband Scotty has authored many Māori language books, soon to also be released as audiobooks, and is a te reo Māori teacher and advocate.
Meanwhile, Anika is halfway through recording the second season of her popular podcast, It’s Personal. She has also written and released her first children’s book, The Witch of Maketū, is on TV with new series Toi Time and is in rehearseals for the musical Peter Pan.
With so much on, both women are clear in their priorities, agreeing the goal is to make work sustainable around family.
“Now my son is moving away, I’m going to have to consider how I factor in travelling to see him,” shares Stacey. “But whatever I do for mahi [work], it feels really successful if I can manage to do it around the whānau.”
Anika adds, “I don’t think work is as important to me as it used to be. However, the work I’m doing now is really amazing because it’s on my time.
After some incredibly challenging recent years, which Anika has always spoken openly about, she’s excited to be thriving again.
In 2022, the double-platinum musician learned she has type 1 diabetes. It can be deadly and requires close management for life. She had initially believed it was the more manageable type 2 diabetes.
She was also diagnosed with ADHD last year and struggled to find the right treatment. The initial medication doctors prescribed her triggered debilitating panic attacks – all while experiencing perimenopause.
“It’s manageable now because I take time to look after myself instead of always running, being the last person to eat, the last person to sleep,” she explains. “I look after myself better.
“ADHD can be a fickle beast. But doctors have medicated me, so I turn up and do the mahi. I’ve actually been creating a lot more now that I’m on the good stuff.
“It’s a real superpower if I’m passionate about something. I’ll go to the end of the Earth to get it. But it’s also quite frustrating for the people who love me, especially my girlfriend,” says Anika. She prefers to keep other details of her relationship private.
Despite their busy lives, when Dame Hinewehi asked Anika and Stacey to support her in raising much-needed funds for the Rautakauri Music Therapy Trust with the Guinness World Record largest haka attempt, both happily made time to support the worthy cause.
Hinewehi’s daughter Hineraukatauri lives with cerebral palsy, is nonverbal and confined to a wheelchair. But music therapy, through the trust named in her honour, has been life-changing for her and so many others, allowing them to express themselves and experience true joy.
Stacey will be hosting the Eden Park event’s live television and online broadcast. Meanwhile, Anika will join a host of top Kiwi performers providing entertainment.
The number to beat is 4028 people performing iconic haka Ka Mate, composed by Te Rauparaha, chief of Ngāti Toa Rangatira. But they hope to fill the stadium with 10,000 participants.
“It’s really important to know it’s not just for people who already know how to haka,” says Stacey. “People can feel intimidated, but there are lots of instructional videos on YouTube. You’ll be safe and no one will be looking at you specifically.
“If you’ve never had that feeling of doing haka with others, you can’t miss this opportunity.
“We need you to do it. Honestly, it’ll be such a cool thing to look back and say, ‘We were there at the world record.’”
For more information about the world record attempt, visit hakarecord.co.nz
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