Atawhai (Ata) was named after her aunty Atawhai Hetet who died from tuberculosis aged 18. The name Atawhai is a tupuna name, descending from the daughter of Rangituatahi and Louis Hetet.

Ata was raised at the Oparure homestead, attended Oparure School and Te Kuiti High School. School started well for Ata with a new teacher Gertrude Mihaka boarding at the homestead for a few months . Aunty Rora Paki was the reading teacher and encouraged creative writing She would later give Ata the name for the TU MAI magazine which she established in 1999. By her own admission, High School was less successful, but enjoyed for all her best friends were cousins and they were all more interested in boys and money, in no particular order. After a couple of short stints in Te Kuiti Farmers and a haberdashery store Mason & Dobson’s, At 17, Ata moved to Wellington on a whim when her older brother Mahina returned from Wellington for a long weekend. She moved in with Kohi, Doreen, Tina, Huia and Kohi-Boy in Porirua before moving into a flat with total strangers. She worked initially as a telephonist for Porirua Taxis and then a Jewish-owned manufacturing boutique in Wellington, called Simone Garments.

Ata met Doug Putaranui  (Ngāti Pahauwera, Ngāti Porou) in 1972 and married in 1974. They lived in Porirua when Armagh Kihareka was born in 1975 before moving to Te Kuiti in 1976. Ata was in Te Kuiti at Nanna Rangimarie’s home when she went into labour with Armagh Kihareka. Unbeknown to Ata, Nanna Rangimarie and Aunty Dolly Anderson were midwives for the wider whanau of Te Kuiti.

Haylee Miria Roanne came along in 1978 and is named after her father’s aunt who raised him as well as Aunty Benny and cousin Roanne Hepi (nee Martin) on Ata’s side. In 1980, Nikki Te Rau Aroha was born. Sadly she passed away a week later from intestinal bowel complications, associated with Downs Syndrome. Cooper Te Akonga was born in 1982 after the family bought their first home in Hospital Rd, Te Kuiti. Te Akonga is named after his dad’s half-brother Duke Te Akonga Keefe.

Ata worked for a local pharmacy in Te Kuiti, then the Waitomo News before the family moved to Waipukurau, Central Hawkes Bay in 1982, where the family bought their second home. Ata worked remotely for the Maniapoto Trust Board’s tribal publication Kia Hiwa Ra. In 1986, the family moved from Hawkes Bay to Hamilton. In 1999, Ata established TU MAI magazine as an independent publisher.

In 2008, sAta moved back to Wellington and continued as a self-employed editor and director of TU MAI magazine until 2013. Ata then worked for Generosity New Zealand where she re-branded the organisation from The NZ Funding Information Service as a significant body of work for the then 20-year-old organisation. In 2008, Ata founded MIROMODA, the Indigenous Māori Fashion Apparel Board and events company, with its first show at NZ Fashion Week in 2009. In 2018, Ata was appointed to Ronald McDonald House NZ, a global Charity in 62 countries, and was sent to Chicago (RMHC Global HQ) for trustee training. This happened just prior to Ata moving onto the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) where she currently works as a Senior Communications Adviser and Matauranga Māori Engagement Specialist.