Educated at the Mangatuna Native School and Tolaga Bay Area School and brought up in an extended whanau with particular guidance from his grandmother.
After initial labouring, fencing and scrub cutting jobs in his teenage years, he worked in all aspects of the Newspaper Industry and qualified as a printer. He then worked as a shearer farm overseer and forestry and fencing contractor. From there he moved into a career path which eventually led him to become one of the country's most high ranking Maori public servants.
The first step came in 1982 when he oversaw Department of Labour (DoL) work schemes on the East Coast, Poverty Bay and Hawke's Bay regions before working as a Group Employment Liaison Scheme (GELS) field officer in the mid 1980s.
From there he moved into the corporate office of DoL and management positions with GELS. In 1988 he was appointed director of the department's Maori Perspective Unit and later managed the Community Employment Development Unit which merged with SCOPE and GELS in 1992 to become the Community Employment Group (CEG) with Parekura as its General Manager.
He was at the cutting edge of world-leading community development initiative's during his time as CEG's General Manager.
As well as his work as a public servant, he is a former chairperson of Ngati Porou, Te Kohanga Reo Trust Training Board, is a former Maori warden, former chairperson of Hatea Rangi Maori Council Executive and former Member of the Youth Advisory Board / New Zealand Lotteries Board and a member of several Maori organisations.
Parekura is a keen supporter of the East Coast rugby team and was himself a representative of the East Coast team in his early rugby days. He also enjoyed participating in many other sports in particular boxing.
His interests include gardening, travelling and listening to Jazz and Blues.
