Choosing to live authentically
Kia Ora, Halo Olgeta! I'm Rosalie Norton, a New Zealander of Pacific Island descent, my nana coming from the beautiful island of Ureparapara in Vanuatu. I am an active member of my community, an artist, creative, authentic storyteller and a rangatahi advocate. At 16 became TEDxRuakura's youngest TEDx Speaker, and since then I have gone onto speaking and mcing at events across the motu, releasing an album called ‘Growing Pains’ in last year, and am always working on new creative projects that explore themes of identity, belonging and how we can weave our culture into our art and advocacy.
By expressing myself I hope to bring you along my journey through self growth and discovery, and allow you to do the same. I hope to share times of true happiness and joy, times full of confusion and feeling lost, and every other moment in between that are a little harder to understand.
Why I share...
Throughout my life I've found myself putting limits and barriers up, stopping me from reaching my full potential. Being able to express myself through music and writing has helped me work through challenging times. It has given me space to find joy in my small wins, as well as reflecting on mistakes I've made in the past and how to navigate my way through them now.
I exist now to make someone else feel less alone and to be inspired to find their own unique inner beauty, and let it shine.
A performer and musician
I love to write and perform my own music, as well as perform covers, perform in local theatre productions and have taught myself to express who I am through my voice and different instruments.
I used to think that to be a successful musician or artist I had to have money or the right training, but I have learnt that all you have to be is confident enough to put yourself out there and express yourself whatever way is true to you.
