our Story |how wellness riders (manaakifit) came to be

☀️ Creating a space for wāhine to SHINE through boardsports has been a dream, here is a bit about how it all came to be... ☀️​

In 2016 ManaakiFit Ltd was started from our co-founder Gina's desire to have a lifestyle designed around board sports and having more wāhine to do them with. She was previously a snowboard instructor and had just become a personal trainer so was looking for a way to combine all the things she loved into something she could do everyday. The business set out to teach more wāhine to skateboard, surfboard and snowboard to improve their fitness. 

In 2018 Wellness Riders was started from our co-founder Sarinah's desire to connect her wellbeing knowledge as a naturopath with physical activity as she felt a lot of the common health problems she was seeing in her practise would be helped through increasing peoples sense of connection and physical activity. Wellness Riders was started as a social wellbeing group that provided a space for social connection & being active. 

Gina and Sarinah met at Snow Planet at the start of the ManaakiFit journey in 2016 and their friendship led to them working together to run a womens skateboard therapy programme that involved skateboarding lessons taught by Gina and womens wellbeing sessions led by Sarinah. They loved working together and this was the programme that showed them the magic of combining their joint experiences.  

As their friendship continued and their shared passion for boardsports and using them as a tool to enhance wellbeing grew, they decided to create a combined vision, one that incorporated ManaakiFit and Wellness Riders together.

It was a perfect fit for them.  Gina with her coaching/sports background and Sarinah with her wellbeing knowledge to create a holistic approach that felt right to them. Their friendship and caring one another is the foundation of all the mahi they do to together. 

The co-founders decided to trade under the named of Wellness Riders and keep ManaakiFit as the Maori name for the business as well as the legal name of the business. ManaakiFit remains an very important name as it represents the Maori roots of the business as well as our mission to bring Te Ao Maori practices into our mahi (work). 

Wellness Riders represents the ethos around our mahi as we ride boards for our wellbeing to feel connected to ourselves, others and the environment.

Manaaki means cherish in Maori, ManaakiFit represents looking after ourselves, others and the environment through broadsports. 

Since 2018 Wellness Riders has been privileged to welcome in the talents and good vibes of other awesome wāhine. 
"Manaakitanga" is our guiding principle - to cherish & look after.

As a crew we look to cherish ourselves through living a life that is true to us, we look to cherish each other through prioritising friendship and supporting one another and cherishing the environment through maintaining our connection through board sports. ​

Check Out Our Crews Personal Journeys in the About Us page. 

Gina Reed

Co-Founder Wellness Riders
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Snowboard & Skateboard Instructor. Qualified Personal Trainer and Yoga Instructor. Gina is passionate about creating opportunities for wāhine to SHINE through boardsports - Surf, Skate, Snow!