Her next job was at Te Oranganui Iwi Health Authority.
"I started off as the receptionist because I just wanted a job where I didn't really have to think. That was dumb, because the receptionist is the heart of the operation."
That job also broadened out to include IT and quality control. It lasted 10 years, during which she was sometimes called away on land issues which, in her current role, are her main focus.
"The land stuff is about who are the original hapū that connect to there?" Waitokia said.
"This land was stolen. We require a voice in how [the land] is protected and looked after.
"Whatever we need to do to make right the wrongs as best we can, in the sense of what I call 'stolen land' - to get as much land back as we can.
"We know there's never going to be justice in that area but our people have asked us to be a part of that."
She first got involved when the late Piripi Haami came to a meeting at her Atene Marae.
"He told us we needed to get to the table over this kaupapa, so I turned up at a hui and ended up with a job," she said.
For the Government, settling land claims in the lower Whanganui River is part of The Whanganui Inquiry. It divides the Whanganui region into four parts, and WLSNT is responsible for the southern part.
"For us there are no boundaries. The boundaries belong to the Crown. Our interest goes right from the mountain to the sea," Waitokia said.
She has whakapapa connections all the way from the mountain to sea. For her people the region is Te Whare Kaho o Whanganui - stretching from the top of Ruapehu right down to where the Waitōtara and Whangaehu rivers meet the Tasman Sea.
It links back to two tūpuna (ancestors), Ruatipua and Paerangi, who were here before the waka migration and who "lit the fires" of habitation.
Te Awa Tupua spans the inquiry area and its rūnanga (council) was formed in 1997. Around 2002 it met at the former Whanganui River Māori Trust Board building in Whanganui to decide how to proceed toward settlement.
The rūnanga agreed that some would take responsibility for the maunga (mountain) and some for the awa (river) and some for the whenua (land). They decided to ask the Waitangi Tribunal to investigate their claims, write a report and hold hearings.
The rūnanga meets about four times a year and provides updates on progress in each of the four inquiry areas.
The WLSNT signed an agreement in principle with the Crown in August 2019. It is likely to get to full agreement in 2022, Waitokia said. After that it must have a post settlement governance entity (PSGE) agreed by both its people and the Crown.
At the moment WLSNT's lead negotiator Ken Mair meets the Crown's lead negotiator Rick Barker for talks about every two weeks. Barker is backed by his Te Arawhiti team, and Waitokia and her team back Mair.
When all the Whanganui Inquiry settlements are finished there should be a total of five PSGEs - four for lands and Ngā Tāngata Tiaki for the river.
"That's because that's the way the Crown has set that. We don't have to stick with that," Waitokia said.
The WLSNT agreement in principle seeks to set a stronger platform for its people, based on their own values and world view. Those include integrity, the authority of the land and its people, and making sure the land can continue to sustain people, both physically and metaphysically.
"They're actually about the fundamental relationships with river, land and people that live within this tribal domain."
The values will be for everyone, not only for Māori, Waitokia said.
