WOMEN IN SPORTS MEDIA - MELODIE ROBINSON & SYMONE TAFUNA'I

"We've had a really amazing type of person that's been in media for a long time but it's been the same type of person, so we go and find people from different places.

I like to look at the team and say 'New Zealand watching this (your audience) can see themselves in my team' - Melodie Robinson 

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Rugby World Cup winning Black Fern and former sports broadcaster Melodie Robinson is used to going up against the odds. 

But the self-confessed "tomboy" has not let the incessant challenges on the rugby field or in sports media stop her from breaking glass ceilings.

Going from the solo Maori woman reporting on the rugby sidelines to now being one of the most influential women in sports broadcasting in Aotearoa.

Robinson is removing barriers she once faced now that she's in a position of power as TVNZ's General Manager Sports & Events. 

Making the industry more accessible for aspiring women to get into sports media like Symone Tafuna'i - one of Aotearoa's fastest women on the track. 

Tafuna'i was an intern with Robinson but has another race in front of her as the new digital sports reporter for One News.

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Public Interest Journalism Fund Training Programme NZOA