[1] She was raised at Rātana Pā by her grandmother, dress designer and tailor Amiria Henrici Solomon.

[2] Educated at Rangiora High School[3] and Wellington East Girls' College, she excelled in dancing, winning the New Zealand amateur Latin American ballroom dancing championship with her Australian partner Kevin Mansfield, and was also accomplished in fencing, becoming one of the top four female fencers in the country.

When their father Sir Eruera Tirikatene died in 1967 many expected Te Rino to succeed him as MP for Southern Maori.

As Te Rino was part-Maori and entitled to choose between being on the Maori and European electoral rolls, at the time of the by-election he was registered on the European roll in Rangiora where he had to remain under the electoral act until the next general election, which made it unlikely he would be eligible as a candidate in Southern Maori.

With her brother effectively ruled out, attention turned to Tirikatene (studying in Australia at the time) as the likely Labour candidate for the seat.

[21] Tirikatene-Sullivan was particularly known for her style of dress, often wearing fashionable outfits rather than the suits many professional women wore at the time.

[22][23][24] As Minister of Tourism, she took her unique style to locations such as Australia's Sydney Opera House, where she exhibited her Tania evening gown featuring a kowhaiwhai motif on a global stage.