Abigail McClutchie: Living her best Mahi Rangatira life

At high school in Manurewa in 1980, 15-year-old Abigail McClutchie (Te Rarawa, Ngāti Porou) was awarded the school prize for human biology. Soon after, she visited the careers counsellor to discuss her options.

“I told them, ‘I want to be a teacher or a doctor’. But the response was, ‘Oh, why don't you just become a hairdresser like your friends?’”

Despite the discouragement, she went on to achieve her goals, becoming both a teacher and a doctor, though not the medical kind she initially imagined.

On May 6, 2026, Dr Abigail McClutchie crossed the stage to receive her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Māori entrepreneurship after ten years of effort, during which she split her time between research, whānau, and her full-time Kaiārahi role at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.

“My doctoral work has been my hardest and most rewarding,” she says.

“I'm proud of the findings and indebted to my supervisors and the kaupapa-driven entrepreneurs I interviewed. I would not have a doctorate without my community, MAI ki Waipapa, KIN, my whānau and friends. When someone succeeds at something, especially Māori, everybody succeeds.”

Her doctoral research explores mahi rangatira and utu: a strategic, ethical, and operational system that enables rangatira (leaders) to negotiate, innovate, lead and sustain collective wellbeing. Her findings see utu (ethical relational exchange) emerge not just as an economic or revenge concept, but as the foundational relational system underpinning Māori leadership and ethical entrepreneurial practice.

In a historic first, Abigail was the first ever doctoral candidate to defend her PhD thesis at the University’s Ngā Tauira Marae on the city campus. Breaking from convention, she introduced her work through a whakatau, bringing academia and te ao Māori together.

“Bringing mahi rangatira into our perspective empowers Māori and Indigenous people to find their own versions of it,” she says.

“I want Māori and kaupapa-driven entrepreneurs to reclaim and practise the principles of mahi rangatira, creating vision through whakaaro rangatira, standing proud through tū rangatira, and activating Māori ways of working for themselves, their whānau and collectives.” 

In 1987 when she was 21, Abigail’s interest in her culture deepened during a four-year overseas experience.

“At that time in Aotearoa, being Māori basically wasn’t exciting to anyone. I went over to London and found really great work opportunities and a very strong interest in Māori culture. Many of the people I travelled with and met had degrees, and they inspired me. So, I came back to New Zealand in 1990 with two goals: learn te reo and tikanga and go to university.”

She began at AUT, joining a te reo Māori night class where she formed lasting connections.

“I was in the class with our Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Te Kawehau Hoskins and other influential people who have grown into leaders.”

Together, a small group from that class helped establish the full-immersion Te Wānanga Reo Rūmaki, travelling the country during school holidays and semester breaks.

“Learning te reo, I didn’t initially think of it as being political. We were all reclaiming the language together. This conscientisation led me and many of our reo mates to Waipapa Taumata Rau and Māori activism."

From activism to revitalisation

In the mid-1990s, her reo group was leaked a document outlining the fiscal envelope and they formed the group Te Kawau Māro to share information and mobilise public awareness.

The fiscal envelope was a controversial 1994 proposal by the National government that sought to cap all historical Treaty of Waitangi settlements at $1 billion over 10 years. It was widely rejected, sparking protests across the country before being scrapped after the 1996 general election.

Abigail’s activism didn’t stop there.

She continued to seek proactive ways to support te reo Māori revitalisation, thinking not only about how people could learn the language, but how they could use it in everyday life. 

Abigail joined Waipapa Taumata Rau in 2012 as the He Tuākana manager. Since then, she’s progressed in a range of roles, always with a focus on empowering Māori students and staff to realise tino rangatiratanga (self-determination, independence, sovereignty).

In 2024, alongside a dedicated team, she co-founded the University of Auckland’s ReoSpace in Te Tumu Herenga, Library and Learning Services, where staff and students can practise speaking te reo Māori.

“ReoSpace acknowledges that in the revitalisation of te reo, we have places to learn te reo, but we also need places on campus to practise it and normalise conversational reo in public spaces.”

“It’s for all levels,” she says. “Whether you’re a beginner or fluent.”

Mahi rangatira begins at home

“I was always interested in my Māori culture, but it wasn’t actively encouraged when I was younger,” says Abigail.

“Both sides of my family were very humble and hardworking. Our people have been through so much in terms of what it means to stick your neck out and be Māori publicly and stand up for Māori things – but that wasn't really the way we were brought up. Coming to university though, I started to understand the process of colonisation.

“University was very impactful to me, because I literally found my people, my tribe, as they say.”

Her upbringing also shaped her thinking in other ways.

Abigail’s dad grew up speaking te reo; her mum also spoke and understood the language, though it was rarely used at home.

“I remember my dad, when he was trying to convey something that he didn't want us to know, he would tell my mum in te reo, but they had very big dialectical differences!

“My family are quite entrepreneurial and innovative thinkers. As Māori, when say, our income might be lower, it fosters innovation. It makes you very resourceful. And I'd say these family characteristics led through to my doctorate and my mission to advance and empower Māori students and staff to realise tino rangatiratanga and to achieve sustainable kaupapa-driven futures.”

Today, she carries that kaupapa into all aspects of her work. Abigail is a multi-award-winning employee whose work has been recognised through Vice-Chancellor’s awards in 2022, 2023, and 2024. In 2025, she received the Indigenous Leader Award Aotearoa through the Council of Australasian University Librarians. She’s also the coordinator of MAI ki Waipapa, a professional network supporting Māori and Indigenous doctoral candidates.

“I want to use my doctorate in a meaningful way, including commercialising the knowledge I’ve developed. I believe it can contribute to Māori and Indigenous communities, particularly in entrepreneurship.

“My biggest takeaway from my studies is that if you’re going to talk about mahi rangatira, it can’t just be an intellectual exercise. You have to adopt it and practise it. I can say that I’ve been on that journey of living my best mahi rangatira life.”