The Drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Building something from nothing while mothering, being a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter, and an aunty. All while still becoming the woman you are carries a particular kind of challenge. One that is rarely seen, yet deeply felt.
When you become a mother, every relationship in your life shifts. Your child naturally becomes the centre of your world, and the people you love often move into different places around that centre. Being present as a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter, or an aunty suddenly requires far more intention than it once did. Time becomes fragmented, and so does your attention. There is a constant tension between wanting to show up fully for everyone while quietly recognising that, in this season, you simply can’t.
There is the practical uncertainty of entrepreneurship: the learning curve, the financial investment, and the countless decisions that rest entirely on your own judgement. But for me, the deeper challenge has been the emotional one building a brand rooted in vulnerability while navigating my own. Creating tools for women moving through profound identity shifts while still finding my own footing within that transition.
Those experiences haven’t made me doubt the purpose of RU’NAKO. They’ve deepened it. Every moment of uncertainty has reminded me exactly why spaces for reflection, emotional honesty, and self-understanding matter and why they’re so rarely offered to mothers.
The challenges have become part of the conviction.Some days, the founder in me is creating the very thing the woman in me still needs. And perhaps that’s what makes RU’NAKO what it is: it wasn’t created from the other side of the journey, but from within it.
For Better or Worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
The greatest privilege of building RU’NAKO is that it is entirely aligned with my values. Every decision, from what the journals contain to how they feel in your hands, and the language woven throughout them reflects something I genuinely believe in. That kind of integrity is rare, and I don’t take it lightly.
The weight of it is real, too. There are long hours, financial risks, and moments of uncertainty that don’t resolve quickly. There is no one else to make the final call. Building a business while raising a young family often means constantly navigating where my time, energy, and attention are needed most. Some weeks, the business asks more than I can give. Other weeks, motherhood does. Learning to hold both with grace has been one of the greatest lessons of this journey.
But I’ve come to understand that when the work is rooted in genuine purpose, the difficult parts don’t disappear they simply carry different meaning. They become part of the conviction behind what you’re building, rather than obstacles standing in its way. Every challenge has strengthened my belief that mothers deserve spaces where they can pause, reflect, and reconnect with themselves. If anything, this journey has only deepened my commitment to creating those spaces through RU’NAKO.
Hopes and Dreams: What next?
I hope RU’NAKO becomes more than a brand.
I hope it grows into a collective a place where women feel genuinely seen, understood, and supported as they navigate the many transitions that motherhood and life bring.
Through thoughtfully designed journals, affirmation cards, and intentional tools, I hope RU’NAKO helps women rediscover themselves. To recognise that they haven’t disappeared, they have evolved. Every season of life reveals something new about who we are. I hope RU’NAKO gives women the space to notice it, honour it, and carry it forward with confidence.
But this dream is also deeply personal.
I am building RU’NAKO for my son, my family, and the legacy I hope to leave them. But just as importantly, I am building it for myself. I want to know that I honoured the vision placed on my heart, had the courage to pursue it, made a meaningful difference in the lives of others, and left my mark on the world, no matter how big or small. If, along the way, my son sees that it’s possible to live with purpose and become the person you’re called to be, then that will be a legacy worth leaving.I hope that one day he looks back and sees that his mother chose to heal, dared to dream, and had the courage to build something meaningful in the middle of becoming. I want him to know that growth doesn’t always happen after life settles; sometimes it happens while you’re living through the uncertainty.
Because perhaps the greatest gift I can give my son isn’t a perfect life, but the example of a mother who dared to chase her vision, begin again when needed, and pursued work with purpose. In doing so, I hope to show him that it’s never too late to grow into who he is meant to be, to pursue what matters, live with purpose, carry himself with integrity and compassion, and leave the world better than he found it.
RU’NAKO exists to honour the woman within motherhood, not just the role she holds.
Find RU’NAKO Collective Journals at runakojournals.co.nz and follow them on Instagram @runakojournals. Their waitlist is now open. Step inside The Collective for early, exclusive access to the first edition of Milk, Tears & Matrescence and be the first to hold what was made for you.
