Whānau values inspire Wellingtonian of the Year Teresea Olsen

Whānau values drilled into by her parents, growing up in Wainuiomata, provided the motivation that saw Teresea Olsen crowned Wellingtonian of The Year.

On Thursday, the 69-year-old won the Community Services category and then the supreme award, at the Wellingtonian of the Year Awards, for overseeing a Covid-19 vaccination programme in vulnerable communities in the Hutt Valley.
On Friday Olsen said she was “overwhelmed” to be recognised with such a significant award and her first thought was how pleased her parents, Ralph and Keriana​would be. “I could just see Mum sitting on my shoulder and saying ‘what are you going to do now?.”
Proud of what she achieved, she, however, downplayed her contribution to one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the country.
I want to accept this award on behalf of all those who worked hard to rid our community of Covid...to all of those who stood beside me, working seven days a week, to all the doctors and
nurses still working hard now, to rid our community of Covid.”

As well as the vaccination programme, Olsen played a significant role supporting foodbanks across the region, as well as successfully standing her ground when protesters threatened the Wainuiomata Marae. Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the award was well deserved.
“Teresea Olsen is an absolute force of nature, one of those people in the community, who gets
things happening...it is people like Teresea that mean we have had such a positive Covid experience
as a country.”
Of Ngāti Porou descent, Olsen is based at the Kōkiri Marae in Seaview, where she leads a large team of social and health workers. Her family moved to Wainuiomata when she was a youngster, and their garage quickly became the centre of the Māori community. Ralph and Keriana installed a strong sense of whānau that was at the core of everything she did, she said.
They played a leading role in building the Wainuiomata Marae and serving the community, has been her mission all her adult life.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/128572384/whnau-values-inspire-wellingtonian-of-the-year- teresea-olsen