About BesideYou
Built from lived experience.
Navigating death in New Zealand is harder than it should be. BesideYou exists to change that.
Our story
Every whānau deserves better guidance.
BesideYou was founded by a Māori New Zealander who has navigated both worlds — sitting beside the tūpāpaku on the marae through a three-day tangihanga, and standing at the graveside of a loved one in a small-town chapel funeral home.
Both were deeply meaningful. Both were hard. And both were made harder by not knowing what to expect, what was needed, or who to ask.
On the marae, there was tikanga to follow — protocols that carry generations of meaning — but nowhere to look them up when you’re exhausted and just trying to do right by your person. At the funeral home, there were decisions to make about costs and caskets and catering, but no independent voice to help make sense of them.
“Because whānau shouldn’t have to wing it.”
This platform exists because of that experience. Because every community — Māori, Pākehā, Pasifika, and everyone in between — deserves clear, warm, honest guidance through one of life’s hardest moments.
What we believe
The BesideYou principles.
Free, always
Guidance through grief should never come with a price tag. Everything on this site is free to access, with no paywalls.
No jargon
We write in plain New Zealand English. If a word needs explaining, we explain it — but we try to avoid them altogether.
No rush
There is no right pace for grief. This site is here when you need it, at whatever speed feels right.
NZ-specific
Every piece of guidance is written for New Zealand — our laws, our services, our processes, our culture.
Bicultural by design
Tangihanga and funeral. Te reo and English. Māori and Pākehā. Both are treated with equal care and equal depth.
Our bicultural commitment
He aha te mea nui o te ao?
What is the greatest thing in the world?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
It is people, it is people, it is people.
BesideYou is built to serve all New Zealanders. Our tangihanga guidance is written with care and reviewed for cultural accuracy. Our funeral content is written with the same respect. Neither is an afterthought.
Te reo Māori appears throughout this site not as decoration, but because it belongs here. These are words that carry meaning that English cannot always hold.
We acknowledge that tangihanga is a taonga — a treasure of te ao Māori — and we approach it with humility and gratitude.
A note on how we sustain ourselves
Transparency first.
BesideYou is free because we believe it should be. To keep it running, we sometimes recommend trusted New Zealand services — insurers, will writers, legal services — where they are genuinely helpful.
When you use one of those links, we may earn a small commission. This never influences what we write or recommend. If a service isn’t good, we won’t recommend it, regardless of whether it pays us.
“Our guidance is editorial, independent, and written for you — not for any business.”
Have a question, a correction, or want to work with us?