Emeline Afeaki-Mafile'o | |
---|---|
Born | c.1976 Tonga |
Nationality | New Zealand |
Education | Massey University |
Emeline Afeaki-Mafile'o (c.1976 - ) OM is a New Zealand activist for Pasifika people in Auckland.
Afeaki-Mafile'o was born in Tonga to Pat and Edith Afeaki. She said that she never read a book until she was nineteen [1] however she later attended Massey University where she graduated and then took a master's degree in philosophy. [2]
In 2001 at the age of 25 [1] she was running her own mentoring service. [2] The service went on to employ 100 people to deliver support to 5,000 Pasifika young people in Auckland. [2]
She runs a community café in the Auckland suburb of Ōtāhuhu. She and her family own a coffee factory in Tonga and the coffee is sent to New Zealand to support her work. [2]
In 2006 she was given a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award. [3]
In 2013 she won the Community Service and Social Enterprise category of the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards. [4]
In 2016 she was awarded an Order of Merit for her work with the Pacific communities as part of the New Year Honours. [3]
Luamanuvao Dame Winifred Alexandra Laban is a former New Zealand politician. She served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Mana electorate, representing the Labour Party, and was the Labour Party's spokesperson for Pacific Island Affairs and for interfaith dialogue. Laban is the Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika) at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and is a respected leader in the local Pasifika community.
Fatu Akelei Feu'u is a noted Samoan painter from the village of Poutasi in the district of Falealili in Samoa. He has established a reputation as the elder statesman of Pacific art in New Zealand.
Karlo Estelle Mila is a New Zealand writer and poet of Tongan, Pālagi and Samoan descent. Her first collection, Dream Fish Floating, received the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry in 2006 at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. She has subsequently published two further poetry collections, A Well Written Body (2008) and Goddess Muscle (2020), the latter of which was longlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry.
Selina Tusitala Marsh is a New Zealand poet, academic and illustrator, and was the New Zealand Poet Laureate for 2017–2019.
Nina Nawalowalo is a New Zealand theatre director and co-founder of the contemporary Pacific theatre company The Conch. She is known for directing the stage plays Vula and The White Guitar. The first film she directed A Boy Called Piano - The Story of Fa'amoana John Luafutu (2021) won 2022 Montreal Independent Film Festival Best Feature Documentary.
Rosanna Marie Raymond is a New Zealand artist, poet, and cultural commentator and Raymond was recognised for "Pasifika artists practicing contemporary and heritage art forms in Aotearoa," winning the Senior Pacific Artist Award Winner of 2018, at the Arts Pasifika Awards through Creative New Zealand.
Margaret Ellen Fairbairn-Dunlop is a Samoan-New Zealand academic. She is the first person in New Zealand to hold a chair in Pacific studies.
Tupou Neiufi is a New Zealand para-swimmer who represented her country at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She won a silver medal at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships and gold at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.
Dame Judith Helen McGregor is a New Zealand lawyer, journalist, public servant and academic. She is currently a full professor at Auckland University of Technology and chairs the Waitematā District Health Board.
Lindah Aaron Lepou is a New Zealand-Samoan fashion designer. Her work is included in the permanent collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
Phylesha Brown-Acton is a Niuean fakafifine LGBTQ+ rights activist. In 2019, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit to recognize her work with LGBTQ+ communities from the Pacific countries.
Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai is a Tongan curator and writer, whose work explores the role of craft in Tongan society. In the 2022 New Year Honours, Māhina-Tuai was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to cultures and the arts.
Kulimoe'anga Stone Maka, is an interdisciplinary artist of Tongan heritage who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2011, he was awarded the Emerging Pasifika Artist Award from Creative New Zealand. Maka's work has been exhibited in museums and art galleries in New Zealand, Hawai'i Australia and Tonga. In 2020 he was selected to represent New Zealand at the 22nd Biennale in Sydney.
Edith Amituanai is a New Zealand photographic artist. In 2007, she was the inaugural recipient of the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award. Examples of her work are held in the collections of Te Papa, Auckland Art Gallery, and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.
Misa Emma Kesha is a Samoan master weaver based in Dunedin, New Zealand, who has received awards for her contribution to the arts, Pacific communities and weaving in New Zealand.
Amanaki Lelei Prescott-Faletau is an actor, writer, dancer, choreographer, producer and director of Tongan descent, living in New Zealand. As a playwright, she became the first fakaleitī to have her work published in New Zealand with Inky Pinky Ponky. This play was awarded Best Teenage Script (2015) by New Zealand Playmarket. As an actor, she was awarded best performance at the 2015 Auckland Fringe Festival for Victor Rodger's Girl on the Corner. Her acting credits include The Breaker Upperers (2018), SIS (2020), The Panthers (2021), The Pact (2021) and Sui Generis (2022), in which she is also a writer for the TV series. Faletau competed as a dancer in the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in 2011 and has been a judge at the National Hip Hop Championships in New Zealand over several years.
Gina Annette Cole is a New Zealand writer and lawyer. Her writing is inspired by her experiences as a queer Fijian woman. Her short story collection Black Ice Matter received the award for best first book of fiction at the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Her first novel Na Viro was published in July 2022.
Nina Tonga is an Art Historian and Curator of Contemporary Art. She specializes in contemporary Pacific art and visual culture, with a particular focus on gender, representation, and the connections and intercultural relationships between Pacific Island nations and diaspora communities within a local and global context.
Camille Elizabeth Anne Nakhid is a professor of social science and public policy at Auckland University of Technology. In 2018 she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to ethnic communities and education.
Charmaine 'Ilaiū Talei is an academic and registered architect from Aotearoa New Zealand. She teaches at the University of Auckland, and as an architect has worked on many buildings within the Pacific region including the refurbishment of the Fua'amotu International Airport in Tonga. She started working in the architectural profession in 2009.