Humans Of The Islands - Nastajia Bourke

I've had the odd people think I'm Maori, South American...I've had Samoan..but yeah, when I smile and you see my gold teeth, then you know I'm tongan (laughs). My Dad's Tongan/Irish and my mum's Tongan/English so I have a bit of a Tongan/European background. I was born and raised in Auckland, the youngest of five children. I was raised in South Auckland but schooled in Remuera my whole life. I went to Barradine College and then in my last year of school, I moved to Japan by myself. I got a scholarship to study Anthropology and Japanese Linguistics at a private Japanese Women's university in Nara, Japan. I was out of 20 applicants in New Zealand being interviewed for the scholarship and I remember being the only Pacific Islander in the line up of interviewees. I decided to place chopsticks in my hair thinking it might be a good thing - it did kind of give me an advantage because one of the Japanese guys interviewing me said "Why the hell are you sticking our eating utensils in your hair!" He probably thought, 'we need to bring this girl over and teach her something!' (laughs).

It was really daunting but I knew I had to do it because the rest of my siblings were doing really well. And I remember the last thing my Dad said to me as I was getting ready to hop on the plane was "Go and don't come back until you become somebody." After two years I graduated but because my Dad had planted that seed in my head I knew I couldn't go back home just yet. I stayed in Japan for 10 years.

I'm a Sommelier and I do marketing for Destiny Bay Vineyard. So I do a lot of trade tastings and I host quite a few corporate tastings in the city. I also do a lot of work promoting my personal brand as a Polynesian sommelier. I tend to stick out a lot locally as well as globally. I'll go to a tasting for a Master class and I'll be the only Pacific Islander there. I go to a lot of tastings and there'll be wine makers and they'll say to me "Oh so do you like wine?" and I'll start talking about the wine and they'll look at me and go "Oh so you're in the trade? So did you grow up with wine?" and I'll be like "No! I didn't grow up with anything to do with Alcohol." We weren't encouraged to drink when we were young. We didn't see our parents drink. If the adults were ever drinking, we weren't allowed to be around it.

When I moved back I was working in a luxury boutique hotel in Auckland called Mollies. Mollies is a relais and chateux run by my Sister, my Mother and my Brother. I was helping out there and just doing different things, house keeping, washing dishes and then I ended up working as the operations manager. I started helping out at the restaurant and the exposure to wine had a significant impact on me. I knew there was red and white and then New Zealand classics but then I didn't know anything else about wine. And one day, I was trying to sell a wine to an in-house guest and they were asking me all these random questions and I couldn't answer and I felt quite handicapped because I couldn't say anything about it. And then later I started drinking with in-house guests because they would want you to sit down and talk with them about New Zealand and so on, and it would be over a glass of wine. So I'd be drinking but I didn't know what I was drinking. And then I met a few famous wine-makers and they're the ones that got me into thinking about being a 'Som'. One of them said 'You should become a Sommelier. I've never met someone with a pallet like yours." So I quit working full-time and went and studied to become a Sommelier and now here I am in the wine industry, making a lot of noise.

When I told my parents that I wanted to become a Sommelier, they couldn't even say the word, they were calling me a Somalian. 'Why do you want to be a Somalian? and I said "No, no, - it's Sommelier" them - "Somalian?". I think they were surprised because I've never had an interest in Alcohol. I've never really gone out to parties or be out getting drunk. I wasn't a Socialite. So there was a lot of confusion in my family. My siblings were like - 'Why do you want to become a Sommelier?' But I wanted to do it because I knew I had a passion for wine, for alcohol - and it was something that I could call my own. So then I looked into it and I realized that there were no other Polynesians heard of in the wine industry. The background of most Sommeliers is like they come from a wine-drinking background. Either they grew up with it when they were children or their families owned a vineyard. So when I started matching fine wines to KFC and you know every other Polynesian cooking, my parents were like "oh ok"....now you just like to eat and drink, that's what it's about (laughs). Yeah maybe you can say that but it's about embracing Polynesian cuisine on a luxury forefront. I'm a Polynesian 'Som' trying to embrace Poly cuisine and fine wine as a culture.

Leading and hosting people. I was fortunate to personally host and look after Prince Harry when he was here in Auckland and I've hosted and looked after the Princess of Tonga. So when you are a 'Som' and you get to look after notable people because of what you do, then you know you're doing something right. And when you're looking after A-listers when they come to New Zealand  just because of your wine knowledge....that's what I enjoy. Sharing the stories and the passion and the drive for what I do. 

Being a minority is challenging. Because you're basically up against other Europeans where they have a drinking culture but whereas Pacific Islanders have a drinking culture but there are all these negative connotations that go with it. So being a poly 'Som' there'a always these assumptions like "Oh so you come from a drinking background? Did you grow up with Polynesian parents drinking? There's always a negative image behind it. It's one thing to be up against only Europeans, but also it's challenging just being a female! Because the wine industry is a man's world. When I was studying Single malt - i would go to a lot of Whiskey tastings and be the only woman under 40 and then to top it off, i wasn't even white. I was having whisky tastings with all these lawyers and they're all looking at me going "Oh who are you with? have you come with this guy?" And I'd be like "I am no mistress! I am actually an aficionado. I am here because I know my s*#%." You always kind of need to prove yourself and stand your ground especially when you're going to tastings. but people know who i am now.