Career advice from Rachel Taulelei - 'Say yes to almost everything'

As co-owner of the Tokomanawa Queens, Rachel Taulelei puts a lot of energy into the business of sport these days, but previously spent eight years in Los Angeles as a food trade commissioner and six years heading up the Māori food company, Kono.

To young people finding their way in the working world, she recommends exploring as many different job opportunities as possible - even those that might seem like a "sideways move" or not an "advancement".

"You have to say yes to almost everything, unless it's sort of highly dubious. Say yes to most things that come. I've found that saying yes to most things that come my way has served me very well," Taulelei tells RNZ's Summer Times.

Originally from Ōtaki, Rachel Taulelei and her younger sister and brother were raised in a high-energy Hutt Valley household by "yin and yang" parents, a Pākehā mum and Māori dad who were also business partners.

For 20 years, their family has holidayed in the Coromandel "haven" Wharekaho (aka Simpsons Beach). It's a "little-known fact", but if you're lucky enough to be heading to Wharekaho, live oysters can be purchased en route from the Moana Oysters NZ office, Taulelei says. (Her favourite way to eat them is freshly shucked with a tiny squeeze of lemon juice.)

As the founder of sustainable fishing company Yellow Brick Road and former chief executive of Kono - where she worked shifts at a mussel factory and joined a commercial fishing expedition - Taulelei made it her business to learn the realities of seafood production.

To help a business "fly higher and faster and better", a leader must understand every component of how it operates, she says.

Kiwis seeking to make business connections need to branch out from the idea that you have to be friends before you're "networked". Working with Americans - who are "black belts in the art" - she learnt that's not the order in which [networking] works best. 

"The more people you know, experiences you can accumulate, places you can find yourself, the better your ability to judge what fits you best, and the better seen you are, the more you might be considered by people who have opportunities [to offer]."

As a business leader, Kiwi-style humility won't hold you back, Taulelei says - it's actually essential to keep your ego in check.

"If there's not a humble bone in your body, you will not understand what it is to be of service. And the most good that I've ever been a part of comes from being of service."

Book: Uses for Obsession by New Zealand chef Ben Shewry, who has Attica - "one of the world's best restaurants" - in Melbourne.

Podcasts: The New York Times news podcast The Daily, local favourite Between Two Beers and when she needs to "take a breath," Tara Brach.

'As' by Stevie Wonder:

Because her parents started Petone's Chelsea Records, the family home was always chock-a-block full of vinyl records, she says.

"I distinctly recall Stevie Wonder songs and The Key of Life being the album that was thrashed."

'Never Too Much' by Luther Vandross:

Living in the States, you have access to amazing concerts, Taulelei says. The late soul singer Luther Vandross put on one of the best, if not the best, she's ever seen.

"The crowd participated in the songs. He's a brilliant artist."

'He Aha Te Aha' by Nikau Grace and Te Kapa Haka o Ngāti Whakaue:

"Nikau Grace has a beautiful voice, lovely and fresh. I think [this song] is a beautiful reminder that the way that we show internationally as Māori is really well accepted, and people love that aspect of us. It's a great reminder that we should try to find places and spaces and ways to be appreciated in that same way when we're at home, because that's essentially why people fought for Aotearoa."

'September' by Earth, Wind + Fire:

Taulelei likes this "fun" song partly because her birthday - the 21st of September - is in the lyrics.

"You put this on, and you can see people immediately tap their toes, move themselves."