Dunedin toy fan's dream comes true

Maya Satake's love of Barbie dolls and Lego will come in handy for her new role as a toy-tester....
Maya Satake's love of Barbie dolls and Lego will come in handy for her new role as a toy-tester. Photo by Linda Robertson.
Maya Satake is perhaps the luckiest child in Dunedin.

Every month for the next year she will be sent a cache of toys from The Warehouse, as one of four official toy-testers for the company.

The 6-year-old also won a $15,000 trip to Disneyland in the United States, as did the other toy-testers from Wellington, Porirua and Auckland.

Maya, who attends George Street Normal School, entered a competition last month to be selected as a tester.

She made a video about why she would be a good choice, explaining she had years of experience with toys.

''I have plastic toys, stuffed toys, all kinds. I also organise my toys and I'm good at looking after my toys,'' she said.

About 400 children aged between 5 and 10 entered.

Maya's father Brian said he was surprised to receive a call about her selection.

''It happened really fast and all of a sudden we were flown up to Auckland for a photo shoot with the other toy-testers. I guess Maya's charm shone through. We are really excited.''

The only child will share her monthly toy consignment with her cousins ''but they are boys and very good at breaking things, so I'll have to make sure they don't break my toys,'' she said.

Another Dunedin child was one of four toy-testers selected last August by The Warehouse. Tom Gold, who was aged 10 at the time, ended his year-long stint in the role recently.

This year's other toy-testers are Frances Williams (5), of Wellington, Casper Prescott (9), of Porirua, and Jahkeal Evalu (10), of Auckland.

 

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