Pacific entrepreneurs ‘injecting island flavour’ receive top honours at Lash Industry Awards

When Porirua’s Cook Islands eyelash educator, Tapu Elia, was named Educator of the Year at the Lash Industry Awards (LIA), she became the first Pacific person to receive the title.

The annual awards celebrate the outstanding talent and innovation across Aotearoa New Zealand’s growing eyelash and beauty industry.

From top salons to home studios, the LIA recognises those who make significant contributions through education, coaching, and community impact.

Speaking on Island Time, Elia says that the recognition is both humbling and deeply personal. “I think it was just like a godsend because I was like, there’s no way I’ll win it. There’s so many amazing educators out there.

“I actually dedicate my award to my mum, her being my first teacher in life. I’ve carried that on into my academy called the Polynesian Beauty Academy.”

The Educator of the Year category at the LIA honours individuals and academies at the forefront of training, those who go beyond technique to empower and uplift others.

Watch Tapu Elia's full interview below

Before opening her beauty salon and online store in 2019, Elia spent three years certifying herself in multiple disciplines: lash artistry, brow design, brow henna, makeup artistry, spray tanning, and beauty facials.

She founded the Polynesian Beauty Academy to teach Māori and Pacific entrepreneurs, mentoring students across Aotearoa and the Pacific through her inclusive and culturally grounded approach to beauty education.

“The industry is quite a Palagi-based world,” she explains. “Even when I started eight years ago, I didn’t see anyone that had a nose like mine, or skin like mine. I thought I’d wait to see that happen, and it turns out I was to be that person.”

Representation of a Pacific woman leading in a Western-dominated beauty scene is central to Elia’s mission.

Her academy not only trains lash artists but also connects cultural identity to empowerment, encouraging students to bring their full selves into their craft.

“We’ve got to inject island flavour into everything we do and just be really proud about it. I come in wearing my puletasi, wearing my Pacific arts dresses…and I’ve been really strong about that from the beginning.”

In 2023, LIA founder Sheree Miller partnered with Rauwhiro Kennedy, founder of the Aotearoa Lash Conference, to merge their events and uplift the standards of the industry in New Zealand.

Two Auckland-based Pacific lash artists were recognised at the event. Neenah Kints, of Neenah’s Lash Room, who won the Resilience Award for overcoming obstacles to achieve professional goals.

South Auckland’s Zanderlee Matene, founder and owner of Sister Lashes, received special recognition as the 2025 Taiea Award winner for outstanding and distinguished work.

Matene says on a social media post that the award is “proof that our voices, our culture, and our hard work deserve to be seen and celebrated.

“As Pacifica women, we often carry the weight of stereotypes, underrepresentation, and barriers that make it harder for us to be acknowledged in certain spaces. So to stand here and be recognized is not just for me, but for every brown girl who has been told she wasn’t good enough, for every Pacifica woman who has had to fight twice as hard to be taken seriously.

“This award represents my ancestors, whose strength runs through me, and my family, whose sacrifices have given me the opportunities they never had.”

In 2024, Elia became the first lash educator to teach at the University of the South Pacific in Rarotonga, and her Pacific Beauty Tour has already taken her to Sāmoa, Fiji, and the Cook Islands.

“We did our training, had our laughs, and then celebrated. In Sāmoa we’re doing a siva, in Fiji a meke, and in the Cooks we’re doing the ura,” she says.

“Celebrating in our Pacific way is unique, and I just want to encourage more people to style it your way, make it your way.”

Lashes by Neenahs Lash Room. Photo/Facebook

Winning the award has given Elia a new platform to pursue her vision of visibility, accessibility, and opportunity. She is already preparing for her Pacific Beauty Tour 2026, which will expand to Tonga and involve collaborations with other leading educators from around the region.

Her long-term dream is to establish something bigger and more permanent. “I’d love to work on celebrities, but I think for me the biggest dream is to actually have a beauty university that’s based in the Pacific.

“The demand is there, but I’m only one person. To set up a Pacific beauty university would be the ultimate goal for me.”