Joanna Mafi, who was awarded the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) “Sailor of the Year”, was described as a tremendous asset to RNZN, and is of Tongan descent.

“Her diligence, tenacity and utterly infectious enthusiasm are something to behold,” said her former Commanding Officer, Commander Andy Dowling, who described her as a “tremendous asset”, during a 14-month posting to the Maritime Training Group, the Navy’s sea training specialists.

“The RNZN would find no finer ambassador than Leading Writer Mafi.”

She accepted her award during a ceremony last month, at the HMNZS Philomel, at Auckland, the New Zealand Defence Force reported.

 Her mother, Salome, and sister Paulie attended the ceremony.

Leading Writer Mafi was born and raised in Auckland, and attended McAuley High School.

She joined the RNZN in February 2019, completing Basic Branch Training and Branch Training, before posting to the Fleet Personnel Training Organization (FPTO) as an Ordinary Writer.

On completion of her training, Leading Writer Mafi was posted to FPTO in the documents office, before briefly posting to HMNZS Canterbury and then back to FPTO.

Navy writers are the operational administrators aboard ships, handling payroll, customer service, document management, and personnel management.

In 2020, she posted to Wellington where she gained promotion to Able Writer, in March of that year.

LWTR Mafi then posted back to FPTO, during the COVID Pandemic where she was employed at the Managed Isolation Facilities.

Later that year Leading Writer Mafi got a short notice posting overseas where she joined HMNZS TE KAHA during her upgrade in Canada.

In 2022 she completed her Leading Writers Professional Course before returning to HMNZS TE KAHA until August of that year. She then posted to the Maritime Training Group (MTG) (formerly MOET) in an administration role, stated the NZDF.

During 2023, Leading Writer Mafi completed her Leading Rates Development Course and her Damage Control Team Leaders Course, before posting back to MTG, and gaining her promotion to Leading Writer in March. In August, she posted to her next sea posting in HMNZS Manawanui.

Her citation, based on her posting at MTG, says Leading Writer Mafi excels at all she does.

“Meticulous in her attention to detail, tenacious in her approach to challenges as well as being relentlessly cheerful she is simply a fantastic member of our organisation. Always willing to go out of her way in order to facilitate the often dynamic nature of MTG and to deploy to provide shore support to the team.”

“Leading Writer Mafi has demonstrated that she can work well in a very demanding role with a smile on her face and a constant willingness to do the best that she can in all she turns her hand to,” the RNZN reported.