Professor Margaret Mutu is of Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa and Ngāti Whātua and Scottish descent. She has three adult children, five grandchildren, and heaps of nieces, nephews and other mokopuna. She is the Professor and Head of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland, and the chairperson of her tribal parliament, Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu, in the Far North and her two marae, Karikari in the Far North and Kapehu in the Kaipara. She represents Ngāti Kahu on the National Iwi Chairs’ Forum.