Taonga Co. didn’t start in some calm, beautiful season. It actually came out of a really hard one!
We were living in our Caravan-home Frankie, that we renovated during lockdown, travelling Australia as a whānau… but truthfully, it was survival mode! Our marriage was struggling, life felt heavy, and we were just taking things day by day.
The very first farm we stayed on, was a Hemp and Almond farm. At the time it didn’t feel like anything special… but looking back, that’s where this all started!
Our youngest daughter, Jireh Manaakitia, had eczema and Mum didn't want to use unnatural creams. So she made a simple balm… Organic, 100% natural, simple & safe ingredients we felt okay putting on our baby.
No plan. No business idea. Just trying to sooth our Babygirl.
But then her skin actually started getting better, till it completely went!
So Mum started making more… right there in our Caravan, small batches, whipping them up as the kids slept, packing orders in between everyday life with the kids.
And honestly, it took off.
We were selling really well, mostly through Facebook groups. But here’s where we went wrong… we didn’t build anything outside of that. No real platform, no community we actually connected with. So when Facebook shadow banned our website, people stopped seeing our posts… everything dropped. Sales, reach, all of it.
At the same time, life was still hard. And it just became too much. So Mum gave up on Taonga co. Not because it didn’t work… but because the season we were in couldn’t hold it. But even then, the heart behind it never left.
And now, in a completely different season… Mum felt the called to revive, rebrand & basically rebirth something she once truly believed in, and knew it was adding so much value to so many lives!!!
This season. More grounded. More intentional.
We named it, Atawhai. Our eldest sons name Hone Atawhai. Which means Care, Kindness & the Grace of God. Which is so fitted for a Natural Skincare, that's made with so much aroha!
It was never just about skincare or just a business. Its about choosing better. Because our whānau are deserving of nothing less!
It started with our baby… and now it’s something we get to share with other whānau too 🤍
