She moved on to Tokoroa High School and then to university, where she began to speak the language more fluently, while obtaining a master's in social sciences.

In 2016, she began a new series, called Ōpaki, which used a range of language-learning techniques, games, music and other activities to teach te reo Māori.

She has been a member of the Waikato Tainui Reo Advisory Group, working to implement the Waikato-Tainui iwi's (tribe's) language strategy.

[5] In 2019, the broadcaster Miriama Kamo and her husband Michael Dreaver approached Papa with a plan to publish a hundred books in Māori over the next twenty-five years.

[9] In 2021 it was announced that Papa would be a member of the faculty for a new two-year master's degree course at the indigenous tertiary education provider, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

[10] In the 2023 New Year Honours, Papa was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori language education and broadcasting.

[11] Papa has translated eight books for children into the Māori language, including several in the Kuwi the Kiwi series, written by Kat Merewether (née Quin).