Tui Katene is a writer, storyteller and motivational speaker who uses honest storytelling to explore resilience, leadership, and identity.
Tui’s work draws on lived experience in high-performance sport, loss, transition, and the moments that demand growth. She speaks and writes for people who have carried responsibility early, faced adversity quietly, and kept going when life asked more of them. No hype. No clichés. Just clarity, challenge, and reflection — the kind that stays with people long after the room is quiet.
Champions Are Made in the Dark is an inspiring story of loss, strength and becoming. Through sport, adversity and life’s toughest moments, Tui Katene shares a deeply personal journey of resilience, self-belief and finding the courage to keep moving forward, even when the path ahead is uncertain.
Champions Are Made in the Dark is a raw and deeply personal story of loss, strength, resilience and becoming.
Tui Katene shares a journey shaped by adversity, family, sport, heartbreak and the moments that test us when no one else is watching. From navigating difficult beginnings to finding strength through challenge, this is a story about learning to keep moving forward even when life does not unfold as planned.
Honest, reflective and ultimately hopeful, Champions Are Made in the Dark explores the many ways strength can show up — not always loudly, and not always perfectly. It is about getting back up, finding your own path, and recognising that some of the most important growth happens in the moments the world never sees.
For anyone who has experienced loss, faced adversity, questioned their own strength or simply needed a reason to keep going, this book is a reminder that where you begin does not have to determine where you finish.
Tui’s books are available from Wheelers, Amazon, and direct from the author at tuikatene.com