Kevin | Māngere Bridge
“My name is Kevin and I reside in South Auckland. I currently reside in Māngere Bridge, but I was raised in Ōtara. What keeps me up at night is worrying about whether my family’s economic needs are being met. What keeps me up at night is thinking about; is there a void of positive outlets for kids in the community? What keeps me up at night is am I going to achieve my own dreams? I think that’s about it.
So, I’m a hip-hop dancer from South Auckland. I’ve been dancing for well over 10 years and I’m heavily involved in the community of dance. I feel like dance saved me, and it was good to have a positive outlet growing up where I’m from because there are a lot of external influences in the community that could lead you astray.
I live with my uncle and my aunty, and my uncle’s sick at the moment, and it’s just us. We’ve had a lot of struggles in our family lately, a lot of losses, but I guess that brings a family together and we all get a bit stronger. My parents? So my mum currently lives in Rarotonga. She moved away from Auckland.
Well, I guess I really want to be a positive light for people like myself, for the kids. Where I can use my talents and my gifts to inspire people so that they can make it out of whatever they’re going through. I guess I’m a bit of an entrepreneur. I’ve got a few clothing businesses that I’m involved with. I currently work at Puma at Dress Smart. Come see me if you want a discount. Nah, jokes. My hopes and dreams; you’re probably going to see me on a big screen, some kind of screen. An entrepreneur showing the people in South Auckland and also the wider community that you can create something out of nothing, that you can build an asset column from nothing, and that you can develop financial literacy.
I feel like dance can help people get away from all the external influences that are going on around them and just help them to find an escape. Because when you’re moving and you’re dancing you’re not really worried about the world so much.”
