Follow Your Heart

Rawinia Buchanan, an alumna of St Cuthbert’s College, has built a successful career in the wellness industry and is now the General Manager at Parohe Island Retreat. Rawinia’s journey to finding her true passion began after completing Year 13 in 2004. During her time at St Cuthbert's she exceled in subjects, achieving excellences across the board. However, upon finishing school, Rawinia felt lost.

"When you have a broad aptitude for learning, it can be overwhelming and difficult to find your true purpose," Rawinia said.

Rawinia decided to take a gap year, during which she worked in hospitality. This experience taught her the art of human connection and helped her realise that her true passion lay in helping people. Rawinia's deep sense of compassion for people led her to start health sciences at university, with the intention of becoming a doctor, and satisfying her parents. However, a well-timed phone call from a friend inviting her to work in a luxury day spa, changed the course of her life.

Rawinia saw firsthand how people were carrying a great deal of stress and how spa treatments could help them relax and feel rejuvenated, to the point where they were almost levitating when they left the facility. This inspired her to leave university and pursue a career in the wellness space.

Rawinia managed day spas and health clubs, was flown out to private super yachts to deliver treatments, and even worked as a personal therapist to royalty. We weren’t allowed to say who though… Rawinia was involved in the set up and launch of SO/ Auckland, where she managed a team of experts in thalassotherapy, detox, traditional Chinese medicine, naturopathy, and rehabilitation, and has consulted on the development of Auckland’s Mondrian hotel, the sister hotel to SO/ Auckland.

With a Diploma in Yoga from Wellpark College of Natural Therapies and a Diploma in Spa Therapies from Elite International, Rawinia’s success in the wellness industry is a testament to her ability to connect with people and her commitment to finding the best practitioners in the field. “Finding wellbeing practitioners who are better than me,” she says.

She has a specific memory from Year 10, where her Social Studies teacher asked her to come to the front of the class to read the Te Tiriti o Waitangi Treaty of Waitangi aloud. As a shy teenager, with little Te Reo knowledge, she is eternally grateful to a classmate from Great Barrier Island, who helped her with the pronunciation, and completing the task. As an adult, Rawinia has reconnected with her iwi in Hawkes Bay – Ngāti Kahungunu, and has since studied traditional Māori Healing in Rotorua.

Rawinia's current role as General Manager at Parohe Island Retreat, has been a rewarding experience. She was working on the development of Parohe Island Retreat a year before the first customer stepped foot on the island. The retreat boasts truly organic gardens and fruit trees, using natural permaculture techniques. The retreat has received only five-star reviews since opening, a direct result of Rawinia's hands-on management style and her ability to find and employ the best wellness practitioners.

To date, Parohe has successfully hosted a range of events including weddings and corporate events, with their first Mother and Daughter Retreat scheduled for July — a wholesome escape to inspire deepening connection, learning, and a mental and physical reset. Rawinia is not the only St Cuthbert’s link to Parohe Retreat. The retreat is owned by Kerry Knight and Jacq KnightKlisser, another alumna of St Cuthbert’s. One amusing work memory relates to the third night of a four-night Matariki Retreat, when her chef was called away, leaving Rawinia to make the dinner for the retreat's guests. Fortunately, she'd completed a

Culinary Arts paper at university and managed to produce a dinner worthy of their chef, without their guests realising. One of her most stressful moments in her career, and one she’s not that keen to repeat!

Named after her aunt Rawinia Matthews (the mother of fellow St Cuthbert's Old Girl Te Rere Cleveland), Rawinia Buchanan's journey exemplifies the importance of finding one's passion, following one's heart, and pursuing what one loves. And Rawinia's advice to young women today is to follow their hearts and pursue their passions.

Enriching other people's lives is a noble pursuit and one that is deeply rewarding, and she believes that success can be in any avenue one chooses to pour oneself into.

“The benefit of St Cuthbert's College is that the College teaches that one can be successful in any area one chooses,” Rawinia said.

With so many fabulous opportunities to travel and experience the world behind her, Aotearoa New Zealand is where Rawinia's heart is now, and she is actively engaging with other genuine Kiwi businesses to showcase the whole of New Zealand as a wellness destination.

Rawinia's journey has been shaped by her experiences at St Cuthbert's College, where the College's motto, By Love Serve, instilled in her an authentic sense of human connection, which has been instrumental in her success.