Ineke Meredith was born in New Zealand to parents of mixed-Samoan heritage. She spent part of her childhood in Samoa but moved to New Zealand to study medicine. She is a general surgeon with a subspecialty interest in breast cancer and breast reconstruction who has published research articles in international peer-reviewed medical journals on breast cancer and reconstruction, cancer rates among Pacific peoples in New Zealand, and has participated in international collaboratives on cancer rates in diaspora. She is the founder and director of Fur Love, a canine skincare company, and lives and works between New Zealand and Paris.