A new career at 71! YVONNE'S FIRNESS REVOLUTION

The Zumba-loving gran got a new lease if life-and a dedicated TV following-after being made redundant

- Aroha Awarau

At 71, fitness guru Yvonne Edwards A has become like the Richard Simmons of New Zealand and has proven that you're never to old to become a TV personality.

The Auckland grandmother stars in her very own TV fitness show, Oranga Ngākau, on Whakaata Māori (formerly Māori Television), a lifestyle series which she hosts and conducts exercise classes for kaumatua (elders) to focus on their health and wellbeing.

She is thrilled to have reinvented herself during her senior years, especially when she was made redundant from her job three years ago.

"I never thought I'd ever be on TV doing anything, let alone doing something that I really enjoy like encouraging our kaumatua to exercise," says Yvonne.

"I've got people who keep telling me that I've become a celebrity. I don't look at it like that at all because I would never class myself in that category. I just love that people are watching my show, having some fun and that it's helping them to keep fit and healthy."

Known as Whaea Zumba (whaea meaning aunty), Yvonne has always loved Zumba and taught it ever since the Latin-inspired fitness craze first spread across the world in 2001.