​Pacific Island women encouraged to step up to leadership

More Pacific Island women need to set their sights on leadership positions, according to a group of successful women from the community.

The PACIFICA Auckland ‘Fearless Leadership’ event at AUT last night was attended by approximately 100 people.

Guest speaker Fale Haulangi, a broadcaster and Service & Food Workers Union organiser, had a clear message for the audience.

“We need more Pacific Island women as leaders,” said Ms Haulangi, who was born in Tuvalu and raised in Nauru.

However, she said succeeding in a “Palagi system” could be difficult for women who have a Pacifica way of thinking.

“[Because of this] Every day is a challenge for us. Everything we deal with day in and day out, is a challenge.”

Lana West, the Head of People and Customer Fulfillment at BNZ, told the crowd she is the only Pacific woman out of 100 bank managers.

Her advice for young Pacific women coming into the workplace was to look for mentor opportunities,

“Take the opportunity to seek out mentors,” said Ms West. “It is not something that this generation has invented. It is respecting and listening to your elders.”

Event organiser Sina Wendt-Moore, told the women who attended the event to step up and make their success known in the community.

“I know we are leading in places, we just don’t hear about it,” said Ms Wendt-Moore.

“We don’t see them on the TV news or read it in the paper, but we are here.”

Audience member Seini Manuopangai is in her third year studying medicine at the University of Auckland, and said she came to the event to be inspired.

“I thought I might learn off other Pacific women like myself who have succeeded,” she said.

“I just wanted to learn something that I could take away and do.”