I was fortunate to have a lot to do with the Māori community growing up, and it fostered a deep interest in our country's history and the Treaty of Waitangi, to the extent that I first came to Parliament as a teenager to interview an MP about its place in New Zealand. I also helped build small companies both in New Zealand and overseas, and experienced the challenges of building and managing teams, making sure that both staff and the bills got paid, all the while dealing with seemingly endless regulations while trying to make sure the job got done. That ultimately prompted me to study law, as I realised that law was, in effect, the DNA of our society. 