“A theme that’s coming through a lot in our generation now is that the youth aren’t settling for a 9 – 5 job, going through school or going to uni.” Instead, just as Jonique Purcell has done – start her own music and culture website – youth are using the internet to commandeer their own futures and represent themselves. The bedroom producer/ dancer-choreographer and blog director begun Nah Zone as a personal passion in October 2017. It’s grown so fast that today she has a team with her and works a separate day job so she can keep building the community that’s formed around her website. She also does this with interviews of local artists, weekly top 5 playlists with local music makers and a section called ‘Keep It Real’ where people write in about personal experiences from losing a baby or dating someone who is suicidal.

Speaking of a theater show she danced in at the end of 2017 called Ave, Jonique says:

“Auckland is my home but even here you don’t have a real belonging so you’re kind of in-between and that’s what was really cool from that whole experience I got to bond with other people who also felt the same.” Directed by Tia Sagapolutele, the piece looked at six young women finding their identity as Kiwi-born Samoan living in Auckland city.

Purcell says: I was very honored to be a part of that but it was also very emotional for me personally just discovering more things about my history because I don’t know that much about my Samoan history.

..You don’t really have a sense of belonging when you go back to Samoa because the people that live there, they’re still there and they’ll see you as a stranger, they’ll call you like Palagi.

Listen to the audio interview HERE.

Nah Zone are also going to host their first event at Neck of The Woods on May 25th check it out HERE.

Below is a video from the first event they did, You’re Welcome: