Maria Jessie

Entreprenuer 

Cook Islander

My name is Maria Jessie, I'm of Cook Island & Maori decent & I'm the founder of 'Intuitive Hands'.

A little bit about yourself? 

Well here's a little. I was was brought up by my mother in Herne Bay/Ponsonby, in what I like to refer to as "the glue pot era". She came over to Auckland as a late teenager from Aitutaki, the most beautiful atoll in the pacific. Met a rather dashing Scottsman, (whom like many other papaa at that time had a rather strong fetish for Duski maidens) and voila... Here I am.

What inspired you to start massaging?

I was so fortunate to spend a couple of years living at home with my grandparents in Aitutaki as a young child.  And that is where I believe I was passed on the gift from my grandmother to help others through massage. She was a natural healer through medicinal plants and would treat everyone in our family and all over the island for many things.

Something special happened to me while I was in her care.…more

Celina Sosefina Yandall 

Entrepreneur / Personal Trainer / Radio Host

Samoan

My name is Celina Sosefina Yandall. I’m a Samoan girl born and raised in Long Beach, California.  I’m a personal trainer, a radio host for Island Block Radio, a singer and aspiring actress, and the baker and owner of Sweet Nina’s Cookies. 

How did your business Sweet Nina's Cookies start? 

2008. I was a junior at a private high school when I started baking cookies.  I was playing volleyball year round and private school was already expensive, so my mom made up a cookie recipe for me because she wanted me to sell cookies to sort of help out with the funds for school and volleyball.…more

Gina Keali'inohomoku Bowes

VOICE ACTRESS

Tahiti/ Tonga/Hawai'i

Talofa! My name is Gina Keali'inohomoku Bowes. I am a voice actress based in Los Angeles. My Pasifika heritage hails from Tahiti, Tonga, and Hawai'i.

UFC Fighters Tyson Pedro & Tai Tuivasa host their own podcast - the 'Halfcast Podcast' and have a special guest with them on their 3rd episode.

They talk to Mate Ma'a Tonga Prop Andrew Fifita about his decision to play for Tonga, his younger days growing up in West Sydney, gold teeth, KFC & that infamous disallowed try! 

The boys had another interview with him again more recently where they discussed their fights, Andrews first couple games this season with Cronulla, annoying media harassment and his decision to stick with Tonga for the remainder of his playing career!  Check it out in the video below .....

For more of the Halfcast Podcast interviews click here 

* PG recommended - coarse language 

Australian Rock Band 'Gang of Youths' received the most nominations at this years ARIA awards in Australia last week - 8 nominations in total - and they came away with 4 for Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Rock Album and Producer of the Year.

Two of the band are Pacific Island!  Lead Singer David Le'aupepe is Samoan/Jewish and guitarist Joji Malani is Fijian!

In his acceptance speech David said ...

"This country was built on a strong Indigenous people and on the backs of immigrants, to be heralded in the cultural and entertainment landscape in Australia is quite something.  

"The presumption of Pacific islanders is they play footy, do security or play R'n'B and that's just not the case."

Get to know some of Davids story in the video above.

David also stopped by the 13th floor to preview 3 new songs off their album "Go farther in Lightness" & also shared his views on youth suicide in the video link below:

https://youtu.be/IQm8ooEfLWY

By Johnny Se'evae Kosokoso 

With the semi finals done and dusted, the last hope for fans of a pacific team making the final for the very first time, went up in smoke when Mate Ma’a Tonga came tantalisingly close in the dying moments of semi final 2 against England. In what would have been the greatest come back in Rugby League World Cup history, the Tongan team had scored 3 tries in the last 7 mins of regular time, and had there been an extra minute on the clock, Tonga would have won the game, and the betting agencies would have been put out of business.

Yes it did end in controversial fashion, the match referee ruling a knock on by Andrew Fifita, instead of a one on one strip, that Fifita looked to have gone on and scored. The big question...........…more

Dinah Jane sang the national anthem unaccompanied at the Semi Final of the Rugby League World Cup where Mate Ma'a Tonga took on England on Saturday .... and she NAILED it.

She talks about what it meant to her grandfather when she sang it for the first time here

Tell us a little bit about yourself and why you started hair dressing?

My name is Celeste Agnes Nannette Read. That is a really European name for a girl from the villiage of Toomatagi in Apia. I was born in Pago Pago and then raised in Western Samoa until the age of 9, where my entire immediate family moved to Hawaii to support my mother at university and for a more progressive life. I have always been a resilient and resourceful child with a strong rebellious streak, and so at the age of 14, I was sent to live with my Palagi father in New Zealand. Arriving from Hawaii to Taumarunui was an eye opener, but I went with it, believing I would be there for a year. We soon moved to New Plymouth where I still live today.

Leaving school after 6th form was tough as it meant giving up on university and becoming an art teacher. I chose to become a hairdresser much to my Mothers dismay. (Not going to University was a big deal).…more