Breaking the brunch rules
Pāpāmoa influencer Makaia Carr is taking on the big business of beverages headfirst.
Pāpāmoa influencer Makaia Carr is taking on the big business of beverages headfirst.
Words Catherine Sylvester | Photos Erin Cave
Known to some as one of the first social media influencers in Aotearoa, and to others as the founder of the charity Kura Kai, Makaia has her sights set on bringing the humble mimosa out of the brunch-only routine and into our lunches, picnics, BBQs and beyond.
“I’m solely responsible for my life now,” the 44-year-old says, referring to her newly single status. “I knew this was the year to create something that will be exciting, enduring, and allow me to leave something for my kids.”
Brainstorming with friends in early January, the genesis of her new venture, Henlee, was born.
“I realised the drinks industry would be a good option,” explains Makaia. “I thought that having a mimosa in a can would be fun, convenient and would reduce wastage.”
By February, meetings with a local bottling plant were underway, and by March the designers were at work. By late August, Henlee went to market and has been gathering momentum since.
“It’s such a strong New Zealand product,” she says. “We use Hawke’s Bay sparkling wine and Gisborne orange juice. It’s low sugar and low calorie and you’re guaranteed the same great blend every time.
Having made Pāpāmoa home since moving from Auckland a few years ago, Makaia was conscious of working and engaging with people and businesses in the region. She worked locally to create the perfect mimosa formula, with it being bottled in and distributed from the Mount. For brand design and packaging, she worked with the
Woods Agency, a local mainstay.
Makaia credits her 20 years of retail experience with giving her the skills necessary to successfully run a business.
“Those were my ‘university’ years,” she says, smiling. “I learned so much from old-school retailers about marketing plans, budgets, managing and leading teams. I was able to firstly apply that to my career in social media, and now to Henlee
and the beverage industry.”
With demand from Australia for the new mimosa in a can, and bars and retailers around the country stocking Henlee, it’s only a matter of time until an international market comes calling.
Makaia acknowledges that New Zealand wine has such great renown overseas but is happy to take things one considered step at a time.
“I’m not going to rush things,” she adds. “For now, it’s all about focusing on making our mark. When people think mimosa, they’ll think Henlee.”
And if her track record and current momentum is anything to go by, it will play out exactly the way she has planned.
Food for thought
Local food charity Kura Kai is bringing whānau and the wider community together.
Local food charity Kura Kai is bringing whānau and the wider community together.
words Nicky Adams / photos Salina Galvan + align creative
Marie, Makaia and Anna cook up a recipe for teen success.
Makaia Carr seems to be someone who sees an opportunity, an opening, or a need and gets in there and plugs that gap. A successful early social media influencer, in May 2020 she saw the opportunity to use her platform to make a difference. Now, together with Marie Paterson, Anna Watkins and a team of volunteers, she uses her position in the online space to spearhead social change in the form of charitable trust Kura Kai.
The charity is making such a big impact in the Bay that it caught the attention of Farmer Autovillage. The car dealership, based in Mount Maunganui, recently celebrated 30 years in business, and to thank the community for its support in achieving this milestone, chose a number of local charities to invest in, one of which is Kura Kai. Farmer Autovillage generously donated a long-lease Nissan Qashqai, which allows staff to stay mobile and connected. As managing director Mike Farmer says, “Kura Kai is an organisation that has all the values that we support, that works within our community as well as the wider community, so is very valid and worthwhile getting behind.”
Kura Kai is a volunteer-driven service designed to support whānau across New Zealand. Funds are raised to donate chest freezers to high schools, which are then filled with food that can be accessed by the students. With social needs putting added pressure on our youth, Kura Kai sees this as a multifaceted way to help our teenagers. Makaia herself is passionate about keeping our kids in school. “My drive has always been helping rangatahi and getting in at that age of teenagers and high schools. Purely because I left high school early. I was a teenage mum and I understand the struggle to get through education.” This backdrop drew Makaia into a space of promoting female self-belief and empowerment. As her public profile grew as an influencer, along with her thousands of followers came an increased desire to find ways in which her influencing could be used for greater good. “I was asking myself how we could all be better using our platforms – something that came with age and self-assessment.”
It was the first lockdown of March 2020 that bought things into focus. “People were losing jobs, whānau were struggling – students were being sent home from school to look after kids, leaving school to get jobs to support their whānau – all that stuff was really coming to the forefront. I was open to looking at ways I could use my social media to help.” At this stage Makaia and her family were living in Auckland when Gemma, a follower from Tauranga, messaged asking if Makaia could put a shout out to her followers for meal contributions to the compassion freezer at Otumoetai Primary School. This Makaia did, and within a week 80 meals had arrived.
The more Makaia found out about the system, the more she liked what she heard. “I loved how it was really grassroots, that it was direct with kai going straight to the whānau. I think there’s such a beauty in that way to help. Especially in a Maori whānau, where showing up with kai is such a beautiful way to show love and manaakitanga.” She looked for a way that she could develop her support into a more cohesive concept. Via her social media she was able to, not only raise awareness, but also fundraise. Buying more freezers for more schools was a start point, followed by accruing volunteers to cook and coordinators to organise. Quickly the dots were joined, and Kura Kai was born. Makaia and her family moved to Pāpāmoa, and the Bay became the heart of the national charity.
Then Makaia’s personal life nose-dived. Her marriage fell apart, and she was floored. During this time what she found was that all she wanted to do was cook, cook and cook some more, so it made sense to reach out and find a team who could take over the other operational aspects of the charity. In June 2021, Marie Paterson joined initially as admin/fundraising manager, then general manager. “I’ve worked with volunteers for over 20 years, and I love this sort of mahi.” With fresh eyes Marie could see the vast opportunities that could grow from the amazing seed Makaia had planted. “I wanted to focus on making Kura Kai more sustainable, relying less on volunteers.” With Anna then joining as brand manager, the focus is now the future. Marie and Makaia identified it was important for the charity to become more student led. The pilot programme being rolled out sees the students cook to provide the meals for the charity.
The beauty of this concept is that the rangatahi themselves become empowered by being a part of it. As Makaia says, “one of the messages we want to push to our rangatahi who are teenagers
is that they can contribute to society and do something positive, looking out for whānau or neighbours. It’s a resource they can pull from.” Marie’s focus has been how to make Kura Kai more sustainable by relying less on the volunteers, and importantly, Marie says “youth help youth”.
Of course, there is still a drive for additional help to meet the need. Along with more volunteer coordinators, the next step is to encourage businesses to engage in ‘corporate cook ups.’
The ultimate goal is to fund a commercial kitchen, which would allow groups to come in and create, but importantly volunteers could cook and distribute to the areas where the communities themselves are unable to afford to fill the freezers. Now, with the help of the new team and Farmer Autovillage, increased brand awareness will hopefully bring volunteers flooding to the table.