Nackie Fiso-Moli

“Being of Pasifika decent has made me who I am because we are prideful people and at the same time humble. I know that when I walk into a place, I am representing my family – my grandmother, my mother, my father and so on. The struggles my parents and Grandparents went through to get us here is not taken lightly. I don’t always make the right decision and I fall on my face but because my parents I bounce back quickly.  

I am a survivor of many things this life has thrown at me but if not for the example my ancestors set forth don’t think I could have made it. My grandmother, Masele was a nurse in 1940’s and she had to take the canoe with her sister, Feiloaina who was also a nurse to villages to help nurse people back to health.  My mother told me one night when she was young a High Chief came to my grandmother’s door and said his wife had been ill and he needed help. My grandmother left with him and stayed at his home with his family until his wife was healthy. He was so grateful that he gifted her acres of land in Tafuna, American Samoa. Tafuna is the first village after the American Samoa airport. The High Chief said whoever enters the Island will pass through Tafuna and be touched by an angel.  One of my favorite stories that has been handed down my family. This is why I love that are so many Pacific Islanders in media telling stories – our own stories. I always say that this is a great time to be a Pacific Islander.”

What advice do you have for the upcoming Polynesian generations?

“Live your truth. Be who you are supposed to be. What are you passionate about? Do that. Fight to do that and work hard and when you get to where you are, help someone get to where they need to be.”