August 10, 2025 • 7 mins
We stick with the red meat theme and ask Beef + Lamb NZ’s ambassador about her love of red meat and why it’s so important to her as a high-performing female athlete.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
She is the Beef and Lamb New Zealand Ambassador, or
one of them. Her name is Stacy Waka and of
course Stacy is heading to a big sporting event in
England later this month. Surprise surprise, she'll be wearing black.
But that's all I can say about that at the moment, Stacy,
I want to talk to you about your connection with
Beef and Lamb New Zealand. How did it come about?
(00:21):
Did you or do you have a farming background?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, it was actually really cool. My agents thought it
about and they kind of reached out. And first of all,
I love Beef and Lamb and I always have my
whole life growing up on a farm rurally and Uatuki.
It's that's my hometown where my mom and dad still
currently live, and I love I love going back there.
It's a nice piece for relaxing place. So we did
grow up on a farm. We didn't actually do the
(00:47):
farming itself, but we did have a lot of animals
and did small parts back there, and I loved that.
I loved growing up with those people doing like we
had calves and chickens and goats lambs, So it was fun.
It was real fun as a kid for my childhood
growing up, And it's cool now that I've just recently
(01:09):
purchased my own farm in Totonga and I get to
kind of share that with my people who come over
here with the men.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, how bigs your farm if you don't mind me asking?
Stations five and a.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Half acres, so it's not small, but it's not massive.
So we've got three sets off addics. At the moment,
I've got five cards, two lambs, and ten chickens, but
we'll probably get more one day when we can kind
of handle the load. Now.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Does that add that Beef and Lamb New Zealand ran
with the cute little girl there, who was you? Obviously
when you were a kid, Does that bear any resemblance
to how you grew up?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah? One, Like I mean, growing up, for me, playing
sport was kind of like my fun get away from everything,
and I loved it. I'm a very competitive person. I
did love my food, and you know, just having that
background and lifestyle is probably a reflection of who I
(02:07):
am today, which I'm really grateful for.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
You're following in some big footsteps with Beef and Lamb
New Zealand. You're an ambassador or that's your title these days, Stacey.
But I go back to the Iron Maidens, you know,
Sarah Olmer, the Everswindele Twins. More recently, Lisa Carrington, Sophie Pasco,
Sarah Walker, Eliza McCartney, some wonderful female athletes representing the brand.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, it makes me feel a little bit catfish. I'm like, oh,
they're all global stars and I'm just the rugby player
who you know, I'm grateful, I'm extremely grateful, but I
try my best to help out the team and I'm
just probably honored, I guess to be alongside them, and
you know know that what they did for our country
(02:53):
in their sports was absolutely amazing and it was cool
to kind of see that growing up and now to
be kind of one of them, I'm like, wow, this
is really cool.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
How important is the protein and particularly the likes of
the iron are important for your diet when you're a
female athlete.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah, look, it's obviously there's lots of research out there
about it, and I know, being a female, extremely active female,
that we kind of need more in our systems with
how our body works.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
So yeah, always have always loved meat. You didn't really
know the importance of it as a kid, though, you know,
you enjoy it because you love the taste. But the
more I've played professional sport, the more I've kind of
actually learned the science behind it, and you know, all
your iron levels and protein levels of what you kind
of need fuel yourself to be a better athlete on
the field. It's been a real interesting journey. But you know,
(03:45):
I've never studied it at school. You just kind of
learn this thing through being a high performance athlete. And
I'm real grateful and love that because we learn lots
of things playing playing sports for our country. So yeah,
just very lucky.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
As a beef and Land ambassador, obviously, you have to
sample some of the product. I love a good steak,
but if I had to pick one out of the
entire stable, Stacy, this is just me. I'm going with
the lamb wreck. What are you going with?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Oh that's a hard one. I love a lamb toop,
but that's my lamb. If I to do the beef,
I love the siraloon cut on a steak like that's
my absolute favorite. And it has to be cooked Blake.
I'm kind of a medium person. It has to be
cooked at are really good. I'm fucking now A this
is just I shouldn't be but I love it. I
(04:32):
love my meat.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Last time you played in a big sporting event in
a black jersey at Eden Park and was fifteen of
you on the paddock. I've got to be so careful
what I say here, Stacy. You scored a cracker of
a try and I loved that game of rugby and
I thought you were the player of the match in
that game. Wearing a black jersey bring back fond memories
(04:54):
and are you how how much are you looking forward
to playing rugby with fourteen other women At the time
in England, I thought.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
That was going to be my last time wearing the
black jersey with that team, just because it was cool,
it was fun, we kind of won, and I had
all these other dreams and it was like, like you said,
there was lots of moments in there where we probably
shouldn't have one, but we always found a way. And
that's what I think is special about where the black
(05:25):
jersey is. The camaraderie, the connections not only on the
field but off the field is weird. All starts. So
a few five thoughts now and thinking back, oh I'm
back here again, then we've got another big pinnacle events
to prepare for. I'm hugely on it. It's usually grateful.
Twenty nine years old and you know, going going again
for another tournament. It's real cool, it's real special. I'm
(05:47):
looking forward to it. I mean, England is a long
way away. We're ready, We've gone all the money, we've
done everything we possibly can this year, and now we've
just got to try and take it game by game
until we get to the big final and hopefully win it.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Stacey Waker with us, who is of course the Beef
and Lamb New Zealand Ambassador. We've got lots of great
players rugby players in this country, male and female. Do
you know what I reckon, Stacy? I reckon the best
of the lot is Georgia Miller.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
What so you?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Honestly? She you know what, we were just talking. We
had a training session out in the rain today and
we got absolutely flogged out on the grass. Then on
the bike man me and the girls talking about it.
I think she's going to make a bit of history
of this year. She's one seventh Player of the Year already.
I honestly think she's going to be the fifteens player
of the year. I just she's that type of person.
(06:38):
She has so much skill, flair, she's fit, fast, wrong,
she's so deceptive and so hard to tackle if you're
training to every day and it's still I still lose
half the time. But it's just I think the way
she runs is like really deceiving to be there. My
my nephews actually just asked me today, children will are
(06:59):
not that she actually calculates as one of the slower
ones in our team. But she looks fast because she
can hold her pace and she's extremely fit, So I
don't know what's going on there. She is absolute and
an absolute machine, and I'm so glad that she's on
our team and not on the opposition.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Stacy Waker, thank you very much for your time. Good
luck in England with that big sporting event coming up
later in the month and you're wearing black. Thanks for
your time, No Ra, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Hopefully we can bring it home.
She is the Beef and Lamb New Zealand Ambassador, or
one of them. Her name is Stacy Waka and of
course Stacy is heading to a big sporting event in
England later this month. Surprise surprise, she'll be wearing black.
But that's all I can say about that at the moment, Stacy,
I want to talk to you about your connection with
Beef and Lamb New Zealand. How did it come about?
(00:21):
Did you or do you have a farming background?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, it was actually really cool. My agents thought it
about and they kind of reached out. And first of all,
I love Beef and Lamb and I always have my
whole life growing up on a farm rurally and Uatuki.
It's that's my hometown where my mom and dad still
currently live, and I love I love going back there.
It's a nice piece for relaxing place. So we did
grow up on a farm. We didn't actually do the
(00:47):
farming itself, but we did have a lot of animals
and did small parts back there, and I loved that.
I loved growing up with those people doing like we
had calves and chickens and goats lambs, So it was fun.
It was real fun as a kid for my childhood
growing up, And it's cool now that I've just recently
(01:09):
purchased my own farm in Totonga and I get to
kind of share that with my people who come over
here with the men.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, how bigs your farm if you don't mind me asking?
Stations five and a.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Half acres, so it's not small, but it's not massive.
So we've got three sets off addics. At the moment,
I've got five cards, two lambs, and ten chickens, but
we'll probably get more one day when we can kind
of handle the load. Now.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Does that add that Beef and Lamb New Zealand ran
with the cute little girl there, who was you? Obviously
when you were a kid, Does that bear any resemblance
to how you grew up?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah? One, Like I mean, growing up, for me, playing
sport was kind of like my fun get away from everything,
and I loved it. I'm a very competitive person. I
did love my food, and you know, just having that
background and lifestyle is probably a reflection of who I
(02:07):
am today, which I'm really grateful for.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
You're following in some big footsteps with Beef and Lamb
New Zealand. You're an ambassador or that's your title these days, Stacey.
But I go back to the Iron Maidens, you know,
Sarah Olmer, the Everswindele Twins. More recently, Lisa Carrington, Sophie Pasco,
Sarah Walker, Eliza McCartney, some wonderful female athletes representing the brand.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, it makes me feel a little bit catfish. I'm like, oh,
they're all global stars and I'm just the rugby player
who you know, I'm grateful, I'm extremely grateful, but I
try my best to help out the team and I'm
just probably honored, I guess to be alongside them, and
you know know that what they did for our country
(02:53):
in their sports was absolutely amazing and it was cool
to kind of see that growing up and now to
be kind of one of them, I'm like, wow, this
is really cool.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
How important is the protein and particularly the likes of
the iron are important for your diet when you're a
female athlete.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah, look, it's obviously there's lots of research out there
about it, and I know, being a female, extremely active female,
that we kind of need more in our systems with
how our body works.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
So yeah, always have always loved meat. You didn't really
know the importance of it as a kid, though, you know,
you enjoy it because you love the taste. But the
more I've played professional sport, the more I've kind of
actually learned the science behind it, and you know, all
your iron levels and protein levels of what you kind
of need fuel yourself to be a better athlete on
the field. It's been a real interesting journey. But you know,
(03:45):
I've never studied it at school. You just kind of
learn this thing through being a high performance athlete. And
I'm real grateful and love that because we learn lots
of things playing playing sports for our country. So yeah,
just very lucky.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
As a beef and Land ambassador, obviously, you have to
sample some of the product. I love a good steak,
but if I had to pick one out of the
entire stable, Stacy, this is just me. I'm going with
the lamb wreck. What are you going with?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Oh that's a hard one. I love a lamb toop,
but that's my lamb. If I to do the beef,
I love the siraloon cut on a steak like that's
my absolute favorite. And it has to be cooked Blake.
I'm kind of a medium person. It has to be
cooked at are really good. I'm fucking now A this
is just I shouldn't be but I love it. I
(04:32):
love my meat.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Last time you played in a big sporting event in
a black jersey at Eden Park and was fifteen of
you on the paddock. I've got to be so careful
what I say here, Stacy. You scored a cracker of
a try and I loved that game of rugby and
I thought you were the player of the match in
that game. Wearing a black jersey bring back fond memories
(04:54):
and are you how how much are you looking forward
to playing rugby with fourteen other women At the time
in England, I thought.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
That was going to be my last time wearing the
black jersey with that team, just because it was cool,
it was fun, we kind of won, and I had
all these other dreams and it was like, like you said,
there was lots of moments in there where we probably
shouldn't have one, but we always found a way. And
that's what I think is special about where the black
(05:25):
jersey is. The camaraderie, the connections not only on the
field but off the field is weird. All starts. So
a few five thoughts now and thinking back, oh I'm
back here again, then we've got another big pinnacle events
to prepare for. I'm hugely on it. It's usually grateful.
Twenty nine years old and you know, going going again
for another tournament. It's real cool, it's real special. I'm
(05:47):
looking forward to it. I mean, England is a long
way away. We're ready, We've gone all the money, we've
done everything we possibly can this year, and now we've
just got to try and take it game by game
until we get to the big final and hopefully win it.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Stacey Waker with us, who is of course the Beef
and Lamb New Zealand Ambassador. We've got lots of great
players rugby players in this country, male and female. Do
you know what I reckon, Stacy? I reckon the best
of the lot is Georgia Miller.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
What so you?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Honestly? She you know what, we were just talking. We
had a training session out in the rain today and
we got absolutely flogged out on the grass. Then on
the bike man me and the girls talking about it.
I think she's going to make a bit of history
of this year. She's one seventh Player of the Year already.
I honestly think she's going to be the fifteens player
of the year. I just she's that type of person.
(06:38):
She has so much skill, flair, she's fit, fast, wrong,
she's so deceptive and so hard to tackle if you're
training to every day and it's still I still lose
half the time. But it's just I think the way
she runs is like really deceiving to be there. My
my nephews actually just asked me today, children will are
(06:59):
not that she actually calculates as one of the slower
ones in our team. But she looks fast because she
can hold her pace and she's extremely fit, So I
don't know what's going on there. She is absolute and
an absolute machine, and I'm so glad that she's on
our team and not on the opposition.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Stacy Waker, thank you very much for your time. Good
luck in England with that big sporting event coming up
later in the month and you're wearing black. Thanks for
your time, No Ra, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Hopefully we can bring it home.
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