She's been involved with dramas, documentaries, reality series and short films, and has coached and mentored many. She is on the boards of Māori Television, Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision and Te Puna Ataata (the New Zealand Film Heritage Trust).
She's not ruling out her continued involvement, despite her new job. All media are one now, she said, with no firm lines between theatre, film, television and radio.
Fala Media is still going, and making a documentary about the Taki Rua Theatre.
She is also loving her job at Awa FM, and finding lots of talent that doesn't have a platform.
"It's figuring out how to find places for all of these wonderful people, mainly rangatahi, but I'm not disregarding kaumātua. My little eyes are gleaming," she said.
Her citation says Fala is infused with wairua auaha, the creative spirit, and that she has burst through glass ceilings.
She has done it all "with a joy for life, a sharp intellect, an acerbic sense of humour, and a great love for people," the writer said.
"She encapsulates everything that is Mana Wāhine."
The award is for Māori women in film and television who work to support Māori culture, te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and the welfare and stories of Māori women. It was initiated in 2011 by Wairoa Māori Film Festival director Leo Koziol and his mother Huia Koziol.
