Miraka Davies is a force of nature.

She’s been described as the love-child of Brené Brown and P!nk, with a touch of Deadpool thrown in for good measure. She is a walking embodiment of stepping into power.

A proud wahine Māori, Miraka brings her vast lived experiences to the stage with equal parts of vulnerability and humour, making it simply impossible to look away. At age 37, Miraka walked away from her family’s five-generation commitment to a conservative Christian religion and started forging her own path, beginning a journey - both back to her tūpuna and forward into her own joy. Known previously as Shelly Davies, part of that reclamation is the reclaiming of her great great grandmother’s Māori name, Miraka.

Miraka’s talent for connecting with every person in the room is not a coincidence. Her journey has seen her parent serious mental health conditions, addiction, and suicide, tackle her own obesity and weight loss surgery, neurodiversity, being widowed young, and single parenting. She now uses her hard-won lessons to inspire audiences around Aotearoa, galvanising listeners to become unstuck, educating crowds in the Māori language and culture, and engaging attendees with cheekiness and manaakitanga.

Ultimately, Miraka’s ability to create a sense of āhurutanga – a safe space – is what stands out during her keynote and MC roles. That, and an exceptionally well-placed F-bomb!

Miraka has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Brigham Young University, and is the author of Lessons in Badassery (2022) and Engaging with Māori for Success in Business (2018).

She splits her time between Rotorua with her partner, renowned carver Michael Matchitt, and her ancestral home on Aotea (Great Barrier Island).