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Sunita Torrance grew up in the rural Taranaki town of Stratford feeling largely distant from her Indian heritage.
The 46-year-old was born into one of the oldest Indian families in the country, but her parents didn't seem to cling to their South Asian heritage.
"My family ... were the only Indian family in Taranaki through most of my life up until I was about 20," Torrance said.
"My mum and I didn't necessarily embrace our Indian heritage all that much and we were very Western."
Torrance's family originally hails from the Indian state of Gujarat, and she spoke Gujarati as a child.
However, Torrance found identity to be confusing growing up in a place where differences stood out.
"I thought I was MΔori [when I was a young child] but [I had] a weird name, and [later] found out that I was Indian," she said.
"It took a little bit of time to figure out my
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