Puawai Cairns is from Tauranga Moana (Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui), and works as the Director of Audience and Insight at Te Papa Tongarewa. She has worked as a curator specialising in Māori social history and has co-authored two books - Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of resistance, persistence and defiance (2019 Ockham book award for Best Illustrated Non-fiction), and Gallipoli: the scale of our war (2022, Te Papa Press). She has one daughter and lives with her partner in Wellington.