Mihi Blake - Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Awa, Ngai Tūhoe, Ngāti Maniapoto

Mihi Blake is an award-winning strategist and PR practitioner with over 20 years in the Aotearoa New Zealand media, communications, and advertising industries. Combining a te ao Māori world-view with sharp commercial instincts and a relentless commitment to kaupapa (purpose), she brings the credibility of lived experience and strategic excellence to her work.

As Founder and Managing Director of Māia, she leads a team dedicated to using communications for social impact, embedding cultural intelligence, inclusivity, and equity into the heart of every brief.

Mihi and her team deliver campaigns that shift narratives and systems, improving social outcomes for underserved communities.

Her mahi has helped Māori and Pacific whānau reconnect with whenua (land) through homeownership (Tāmaki Regeneration’s OWN IT campaign), lifted vaccination rates (Ngāti Kuri - Hīkoi To 100 campaign), supported New Zealand’s first Rare Disorders Strategy, and made pay gap transparency a national conversation through the MindTheGap collective. This body of work has earned Golds, Silvers, and Bronze medals across the Effie, Pressie, and PRINZ Awards. But most importantly, has delivered tangible impact for the communities served.

Mihi is a fierce advocate for bringing more diversity to the advertising industry. She is a founding member of Kia Whakatinana Kia Whakamanawa - a rōpū (group) of Māori leaders supported by the Comms Council of New Zealand - who are dedicated to shaping an industry that reflects the true face of Aotearoa. The work Mihi and her peers do, whether supporting Māori creatives, pushing for systemic change, or building pathways for rangatahi (youth), is creating a step-change in the way Māori are viewed, valued, and included in the industry in Aotearoa.

Based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Mihi maintains strong ties to her hapū in Waitahanui, Taupō, is an avid golfer, and a calm, deliberate force driving change for mokopuna of the future.