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The Transformation Issue | Idealog.co.nz
Maru Nihoniho remembers the
moment she was prepared to throw it
all in on her career. She was sitting in
a bland hotel room in San Francisco,
scanning a menu for room service. As
she surveyed the empty words on the list,
her heart sank, tears fell with abandon and
a mountain of emotions collided in her head.
She was running on empty, emotionally, physically and
financially, her and her husband’s credit cards were maxed
out, and funding was further away than she could imagine.
“I felt so sad, it hit me all at once. I felt like I was
wasting my time, my money and all I could think was ‘this
is such a stupid idea’ and that I had failed. The tears kept
falling, and it was at that moment that I thought I couldn’t
go on and couldn’t do this anymore.”
The feeling remained until she boarded her flight back
to New Zealand. Her inner critic screamed louder as the
journey progressed, ‘You should have stayed at school’ and
‘You should have stayed at work’.
“Maybe the teachers were right; maybe I should just
go back to waitressing even if it isn’t my passion. I was
lonely and sad, I felt guilty about eating up our savings and
leaving my husband to run a business and take care of our
children,” Nihoniho says. “These feelings were bombarding
me. It was so hard. But, somewhere at this moment, I found
the strength to change. I knew I had to change my thinking
and my approach to make this succeed.”
Her persistence paid off. By the time she landed, she
had the idea for the game that would become the first
product she had gained investment in.
That was more than 15 years ago, and since then
Nihoniho has gone on to become one of the foremost
founders and developers in the New Zealand gaming
industry, leading
the way with her
pioneering and
award-winning
company Metia
Interactive.
In addition to
creating games
that support young
people with their
mental health, she
is on a mission to create games that educate, inspire and
change the world.
These games include SPARX, an interactive game
which was designed to help rangatahi (youth) with
depression that won the 2011 United National World
Summit Awards and the 2013 Unesco Netexplo Award
in 2013, and Takaro, which aims to get more young people
into STEM.
In 2016, Nihoniho was honoured with a New Zealand
Order of Merit and later named in the Forbes Top 50Maru Nihoniho,
founder of Metia Interactive
Women in Tech 2018 and Maori
Entrepreneur of the Year 2018.
Nihoniho left school during sixth
form, much to the disappointment
of her mother and teachers who
implored her to stick it out and told
her it’s hard for women, but even
harder for Maori women. Despite
this, she jumped at every opportunity
a 16-year-old could grab, even working a
short-lived stint helping a friend on the milk run.
While volunteering in an op-shop, she discovered
a passion for helping people, and this kicked off a 14-year
stint in hospitality, which culminated in eventually
owning a restaurant with her husband. Life was
comfortable: a stable career, a beautiful home, a growing
family. But underneath the surface, a familiar itchiness
was simmering.
“It didn’t take me very long to figure out what was
bothering me, I knew it was games and gaming. I had been
playing since I was a kid and that’s how I knew; it was
driving my curiosity and desire to explore,” Nihoniho says.
“The decision happened overnight, and I knew it was time
for a change. I had to do something about it – I didn’t want
to be a waitress all my life.”
This instant change in mindset can be a gift for some
people, but for others, it is a shock to the system, including
Nihoniho’s husband, who had to make adjustments to
both work and family life to support and accommodate
Nihoniho’s return to school and trips overseas to
conferences and other industry events.
‘Without the support of my whanau, I wouldn’t have
been able to do this. I had to step away from the business
and leave it to him – it was a lot of task management, and
it was hard.”
Her complete dedication and all-or-nothing approach
enabled her to navigate the change she was experiencing,
including the constant learning curve that comes with
building gaming prototypes.
With little experience in pitching or investment,
her ideas remained on paper and didn’t gain the traction
she was hoping for until the moment in the hotel room
changed her outlook on what she’d given up, and what she
had achieved.
“Wahine were not taken seriously when I started out
in the industry. It was a tough environment, there was not
enough support, education, information or even respect,”
Nihoniho says. “It’s better now, but there is still work to be
done. I experienced gender bias and sexism, and I was told
‘girls don’t make games,’ but I dealt with it, and I didn’t give
a shit. Comments like that just didn’t compute, as all the
people I played with were girls.”
Nihoniho says she is still working with and for
people, much like she did in hospitality, but she is
communicating differently.
“I found my ‘this is it’ – this is what I was looking for.
For every milestone I’d hit in my previous life, I was thinking,
is this it? Now I’m at this point, and it’s meant to be.”I experienced gender bias and
sexism, and I was told ‘girls don’t
make games,’ but I dealt with it,
and I didn’t give a shit. Comments
like that just didn’t compute, as all
the people I played with were girls.