L to R: Scott Patterson, Litiana Lase.
One of our core strength’s for supporting Aotearoa’s COVID-19 response is our people. Meet Litiana Lase, Auckland Regional Manager and Fiji Rugby midfielder. Litiana manages six collection sites and staff in Whangarei and Auckland, creating an atmosphere for easy and stress-free testing.
“I was one of the ‘Originals’, that’s the name we call the first five employees. My job was setting up the very first collection site at the Auckland International Airport. It was a very busy time during the peak of COVID-19, we would have up to 900 people testing a day. People were curious as saliva testing was all very new to them and a weird thing to drool in a tube,” she says.
Today, Rako Science has grown to over 100 staff and 15 collection sites from Whangarei to Queenstown. “I’ve seen every Rako Science site open around the country and met so many amazing colleagues and clients.”
“I grew up on the North Shore after my parents moved here from Fiji. I was surrounded by a big family who all played rugby union. I didn’t start playing rugby until year 7 as my dad was worried about me getting hurt. I got a concussion in my first game and my dad was like, this is why I didn’t want you to play rugby!.”
L to R: Edith (Sister), Litiana, Alanieta (Mother), Talei (Niece), Myra (Sister)
Litiana’s love for the game has taken her overseas to play club rugby in Japan, and for the Fiji national women’s team.
As the Auckland Regional manager, she trains and manages staff, ensures each site is fully stocked, and that the layout has the right floor plan and space management.
The Mie Pearls team in Japan
The Fiji Women’s Rugby Team 2020
“Working with a great group of people, and meeting clients working on international films or heading overseas has been awesome. Rako Science has grown as a team and I’m excited to see what happens next,” she says.