Ko wai au?
Kia ora e hoa mā,
Ko Taranaki te maunga,
Ko Waiaua te awa,
Ko Aotea te waka,
Ko Ngāti Awa, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Hine ōku iwi
Ko Ngāti Tamarongo te hapū
Ko Ōrimopiko te marae
Nō Aotearoa me Hōrana hoki ahau
Ko Francesca tōku ingoa
Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.About Francesca
Francesca is the founder of Hiwa Collective and a certified CliftonStrengths coach based in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Her coaching practice sits at the intersection of Indigenous wisdom and strengths-based methodology - a space she has carved out because she believes the world needs leaders who lead from who they truly are, not who they think they should be.
Francesca works with individuals, wāhine, leadership teams, and organisations across Aotearoa and globally - helping them reclaim their mana, understand their strengths, and build lives and organisations grounded in hauora.
Ko koe te taonga. He ara ō kaha. You are the treasure. Your strengths are the path.
Kia ora e te whānau,
Nau mai, haere mai ki Hiwa Collective!
Ko Francesca ahau - I am a certified CliftonStrengths coach and the founder of Hiwa Collective - a Māori-led coaching practice working with tāngata, teams and organisations to discover and lead from with their strengths.
My practice is grounded in kaupapa Māori - holding space for people to show up as their full selves, to know their own mana, and to uplift the mana of those around them. I coach with aroha, manaakitanga and hononga in every coaching relationship, whether working one-on-one or alongside leadership teams.
I have spent 10+ years in leadership roles trying to fit a mould - shrinking my strengths to suit spaces that weren't created for me. It wasn't until I trained in CliftonStrengths that I finally understood myself clearly, felt the freedom to lead with my own mana, and found the framework to help others do the same.
Ko koe te taonga. He ara ō kaha.
You are the treasure. Your strengths are the path.
Taku kōrero - my story
Hiwa Collective exists because of a simple whakaaro - that no one should have to navigate a workplace, a boardroom, or a leadership haerenga feeling like who they are is the problem. Environments where belonging was conditional, a quiet erosion of identity, the weight of constantly adapting - these are real experiences that leave real marks. Hiwa Collective was built from experiential knowledge and determination to change the narrative. Every person who comes through this kaupapa deserves to be seen, to be supported, and to leave knowing the value of themselves and their strengths.
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata.
Ko wai a Hiwa Collective?
Hiwa Collective takes its name from Hiwa i te rangi - the youngest star in the Matariki cluster. She is the whetū we turn to with our hopes, our moemoeā, and our intentions for the year ahead.
In te ao Māori, Matariki is a time of remembrance, reflection, and renewal. Each star carries its own kaupapa and its own mana. Hiwa-i-te-rangi holds something special for us - she brings possibility and reminds us that after all that has been endured, there is still something beautiful waiting.
The name is an ode to the aspirations Hiwa can quietly draw out of people. They had them all along but through different sets of barriers, may not have had the courage or opportunity to voice them out loud and give themselves permission to dream. The ‘collective’ are all the people that Hiwa Collective has walked alongside during their haerenga as well as those that have walked with us to help make this pakihi a reality.
What we believe
Most leadership development tells people what they're missing.
We start somewhere different.
At Hiwa Collective, we begin with what's already there - the taonga, the strengths, the innate capabilities that each person carries. In te ao Māori, we understand that who you are is inseparable from where you come from. Whakapapa tells us that your gifts, your tendencies, your ways of being in the world are not accidents - they are inherited, carried in you across generations and worlds.
CliftonStrengths speaks to the same truth. It is built on the understanding that you were born with certain innate talents - not skills you learned, but who you fundamentally are. Your strengths are your whakapapa made visible.
When these two frameworks meet, something powerful happens. Leaders stop trying to fix their weaknesses and start leading from the depth of who they actually are - grounded in their identity, their whakapapa and their innate strengths.
We integrate CliftonStrengths methodology with Indigenous frameworks - Te Whare Tapa Whā, Mauri and Whakamana - to create a coaching experience that is both authentic and human-centric.
This is not generic leadership training. This is coaching that sees the whole person.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Send us a quick karere through the form, and we’ll get back to you - let’s start building your success story together.