Meet our journos: Vaimoana Tapāleao

On the job, kind of: Journalist Vaimoana Tapāleao snaps a selfie with Backstreet Boys singer Kevin Richardson in Auckland in 2015. Photo / Dean Purcell

Name: Vaimoana Tapāleao.

Job: Journalist - Pasifika affairs, people and general news.

Location: Auckland.

Number of years as a journalist: 10.

A story that impacted you: All sorts of stories remain with me even years later. One that got to me very early on was the story of Jayden Andrews-Howland, who died in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake a day before his 15th birthday.
Jayden was an only child, like I am, and his grandfather said something about him that I'll never forget: "He never bought himself McDonald's without buying something for his mother."

The one that got away: Not a very serious one, but a few years ago I went out to an interview near the Sky Tower. As I was walking past, there was a bit of a commotion around the Sky Jump. I walked over just as one of the Backstreet Boys, Kevin Richardson, was walking down the stairs. Awestruck, I managed to get a selfie before he left, which was when I thought: 'Oh, crap. I should've asked him a question'. A photographer happened to capture the moment and the boss never knew about it - until now. Awkward.

Career highlight: Covering the Samoan tsunami in 2009, where more than 180 people were killed. Even today, I can still remember the scenes so vividly, the smell of death in the air and the sound of people crying. Indescribably sad and terrifying, but I was honoured to share the stories of my people.

I love journalism because: It gives an insight into someone else's life, journey, circumstance or tragedy. You could be sitting on the train to work - reading the paper - and suddenly break a smile, shed a tear or be impacted by someone else's story.

But if I couldn't be a journalist, I'd... Probably be a lawyer. The day I was going to accept a spot at Auckland University's law programme, an acceptance letter from AUT's communications school arrived in the mail. Other than that, as a kid I used to dream about being a professional sprinter, astronaut, artist, someone who worked at a museum, librarian and even a Hogwarts professor.