Natasha Doherty grew up in Samoa and New Zealand. From the age of 13 onwards Natasha lived  in Whāngarei completing high school, then went on to study at Massey University in Palmerston North. “I got to experience the best of both worlds,” she says.

Prior to joining Healthy Families South Auckland, Natasha worked in the Maori health sector at Turuki Health.  Natasha says she hopes to contribute to making a positive change to lives of the people who live in South Auckland by improving their health and wellbeing.

Current Role
“I am a Project Coordinator, my role is to provide coordination and administration support to the Healthy Families team around the different initiatives they are running.”

Current projects
“I provide support across all of the Healthy Families projects and work with our Lead Systems Innovators in their respective initiatives.”

What is your vision for health and wellbeing in South Auckland?
“That the people of South Auckland are no longer making up the stat figures as the unhealthiest people.”

What is one funny/quirky/interesting thing that no-one knows about you?
“No one ever guesses I’m Samoan … I’ve been mistaken for Northern Indian, Italian, Fijian, Papua New Guinean, Colombian, Mexican, Argentinian, Hawaiian and South African.”

Who is your favourite Superhero and why?
“The man of steel Superman because he is the OG superhero. He comes across as a regular guy who just happens to have superpowers and uses them for good.”

Plus, I grew up watching superman movies with Christopher Reeves and then watching the Lois and Clark TV show.”

What is your superpower?
“The power of observation. I don’t have x-ray vision like Superman, but I think I have pretty good eye for detail, the ability to step back and analyse a situation, then respond to the evidence and bring order.”