Te Aomihia Te Huia

Hearing Te Aomihia Te Huia's heart-breaking story of losing her mother recently, you would never imagine you would be looking at such a happy, contented and smiling face. But Te Aomihia, or Te Ao to her friends, has a beautiful way of looking at the world and never happier than when she is singing or making people laugh. She is an inspiration and seems far older and wiser than her 16 years. Te Ao is a shy teenager, not comfortable with putting herself out there or blowing her own trumpet, which is why she did not enter the television show New Zealand's Got Talent. Not until last week, that is, when she was finally persuaded by her friends to enter the wildcard competition, Head and Shoulders Above the Rest. Te Ao has been singing since she was a little girl, and is still singing now! Her mother Bessie, a teacher, always pushed Te Ao to do well in everything, whether she liked it or not, and she has her mother to thank for encouraging the singing. "I never really liked singing when I was little. I only did it because my Mum told me to." After Bessie was diagnosed with breast cancer when Te Ao was 10, Te Ao stopped singing. But three years later, she slowly and quietly began to find her voice again. "I would sit in the car while my Mum was shopping, with the windows up, quietly singing. "Then last year I pushed myself to put a video up on Facebook and all my friends started pushing me to enter," she said. Her mother, who lost her battle with cancer in March, loved to hear her sing, and was overjoyed to hear her video on Facebook, even though she was not well enough to open her eyes or speak. Through her singing, Te Ao is managing to find the strength to push herself, and bring back happy memories of her mum, and she loves to sing and play guitar with her little brothers, Sterling, 5, and Quinn, nearly 3. Listening to Te Ao sing, it is clear she has the talent to go far. She comes from a musical background: her mother was a kapa haka teacher and her dad Aiden hits the stage at the Strawberry Tree's weekly jam night. Te Ao performed the huttons shearwater street party last weekend, and it is things like this which she hopes will give her the self-belief to push her further . Her first foray into public singing since she was little was when Kaikoura High School teacher Marcello Cecchi asked her to perform at his leaving assembly earlier this year.. Once she had done that, she began carrying her guitar around more often and singing around school, and ended up with the nickname Jeff the Maori, after the bro'Town character. "Mum always used to say I liked to be the centre of attention, but I really don't, I hate it. But hopefully this will be good for my confidence." Now Te Ao has entered the wildcard competition, she is kicking herself that she didn't do it sooner. "I was way too chicken to go for New Zealand's Got Talent! But now I wish I had done it, and I will definitely audition next year if I don't get through this time." Te Ao is a very shy sweet person , she may not be that confident about everything but she always gives things a try! She is a very kind and caring person and an amazing friend , she will never let you down .