Moana belongs to Ngaati Hako, Ngaati Mahanga tribes of Aotearoa New Zealand. Moana is an Associate professor in the School of Māori and Pacific Development at the University of Waikato. She is a past president of the New Zealand Psychological Society and the Co-convenor of the He Paiaka Totara, the Māori Psychologists Network. Moana is a founding member of the Asia Pacific Psychology Alliance. She is the co-editor of the first Māori psychology textbook Te manu kai i te mātauranga, Indigenous psychology in Aotearoa. She is a recipient of the Royal Society, New Zealand, Apārangi Te Puāwaitanga Research Excellence Award for her distinctive contribution to psychology.
