Lila Taulapiu

Founder of TAMĀ - Pacific Scripter Word Art Business 

Samoan 

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My name is Lila Taulapiu, I am married with 4 children and I’m a grandmother of 1, soon to be 3. I worked in tertiary education holding various roles for 12 years and made a transition into HR, which I'm currently doing on a contract basis alongside my own business, TAMĀ. My mother is from the village of Savaia Lefagā and my father is from Samatau - my Samoan heritage I am very proud of.

TAMĀ, what inspired you to start it? 

I've always enjoyed the idea of business. I think one of the things that intrigued me about it was the possibility of a role that allows me to be balance family needs as a mother and invest in something I’m passionate about. For myself as a Christian, I really feel the drive for this is a faith calling from my heavenly dad hence the name TAMĀ, which also inspired my Dad, Mutimuti, who was very much an entrepreneur and determined soul.…more

CHARLIZE LEO 

Miss Fa'afafine 2017 & Marketing Executive at Digicel 

Samoan 

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My name is Charlize Leo. I am the youngest out of 8 children, I’m 27, I grew up in To’omatagi, I’m a marketing executive at Digicel, and I love watching movies. Everything that I like has something to do with Hollywood. My favourite movie overall is ‘The Hours’ with Nicole Kidman and Merryl Streep, Julianne Moore. Yeah, I just love that movie.

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Congratulations of winning the Miss Fa’afafine Pageant 2017!  What was that whole experience like for you?

Well, it really took 7 years in the making of course.  Last time I competed was 7 years ago and the experience was umm, I guess my focus was on winning. But not to forget that at the end of the day we’re human beings so, the thing about the contestants is that you know I’m always available to help out and they were much younger than me, and some were older but a lot more experienced.…more

Auckland filmmaker Juliette Veber began her just-launched website documentary project Conversations with Teen Mums with the aim of challenging the stereotypes of young mums. 

The project began in 2013, when Veber noticed a New York City advertising campaign shaming teen mums. It included slogans like, ‘Because of you mommy, I’m less likely to get a college degree’.

Veber recalls, ‘I found it offensive. I wondered what it would be like to be a pregnant teen or a young mum reading a campaign filled with negative stereotypes and lacking in any kind of hope or encouragement’.

Over four years Veber documented the lives of 16 young mums, sharing their stories, perspectives and experiences in photos, text and film on the website.

‘I looked for subjects who aimed to get off the benefit and into work. Young mums with hopes and dreams, who wanted to offer their children opportunities and choices in life.’

‘The project is not about glamorising teen pregnancy.…more

Check out highlights of Vaea Fifitas incredible performance in his test starting debut against Argentina.

Families in Niue and the Cook Islands will have much to celebrate soon as the new cable network will finally make a dent in the huge overseas roaming charges and local data. 

One of the highlight outcomes of the PLF2017 was to get the Manatua Cable (an inter island submarine cable) contract for the construction and maintenance agreed to by the consortium, which will be put out to tender this month.  A successful bid is to be announced within the next few months. 

Honourable Mark Brown, Minister of Finance & Economic Management in the Cook Islands says the Manatua Cable is a cable project with four countries; Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Niue and connects the four islands together with fiber optic submarine cable.  It will transform the connectivity particularly for the Cook Islands & Niue who have previously had to rely on satellite.

"The cable is a good example of how countries working together are able to get a better product at a cheaper price by sharing the cost of the cable across the four countries.…more

Auckland filmmaker Juliette Veber began her just-launched website documentary project Conversations with Teen Mums with the aim of challenging the stereotypes of young mums. 

The project began in 2013, when Veber noticed a New York City advertising campaign shaming teen mums. It included slogans like, ‘Because of you mommy, I’m less likely to get a college degree’.

Veber recalls, ‘I found it offensive. I wondered what it would be like to be a pregnant teen or a young mum reading a campaign filled with negative stereotypes and lacking in any kind of hope or encouragement’.

Over four years Veber documented the lives of 16 young mums, sharing their stories, perspectives and experiences in photos, text and film on the website.

‘I looked for subjects who aimed to get off the benefit and into work. Young mums with hopes and dreams, who wanted to offer their children opportunities and choices in life.’

‘The project is not about glamorising teen pregnancy.…more

While it seems the gap between the rich and the poor in New Zealand has widened over the years with an increase in homelessness and families struggling to meet the cost of living from week to week, there are church groups in West Auckland who have been reaching out to meet those in need on the regular for the last 3 years.

Naylar Uisa, her husband Flava (pictured above) and their 2 young sons started off driving around Auckland with pots of food for people they could see in need.  

"We basically started off by cooking two big pots and driving around feeding anyone. We did that for a while then took it to the city, and then once our church found out they came on board.  We may have started it, but it takes a family to move it and to grow it, and this is an amazing family" says Naylar.…more

As part of 'Money Week' 2017, Ignite College in South Auckland partnered with the Commission for Financial Capability as part of a community collaboration with the hospitality students, to come up with a menu on a budget for occasions that Pacific island families often have to cater for.

Students not only learned about budgeting but were then able to incorporate the skills that they'd learned in their hospitality programme, combining the two and then the end result was putting on a meal for invited guests from the community and doing a full meal service.  The students came up with the menus, creating everything from the shopping to the budgeting to the cooking.  

Student Support Advisor Romana Fetu said that it's crucial for people to be aware of the importance of knowing about money and staying away from things like debts and loans and getting more into education to get into employment.…more

New York, London, Paris, Ōtara, Milan - High fashion lives here.

The Otara Town Centre was transformed to fashion central for the Pacific Fusion Fashion Showcase and created the perfect stage in the heart of South Auckland for emerging Pacific and Maori designers to showcase their fabulous designs.

Event Director Nora Swann said of the event "Some people found it hard to picture a sold-out high-end fashion event in Ōtara, let alone it being a runway down the middle of the Town Centre. We were always confident that we could do it and that we would find designers and an audience who would want to attend. We know the talent is out there and we hoped our community would support it. This just goes to show that yes, high fashion lives here".

Hosted by former Miss Samoa Latafale Auva'a, the showcase included entertainment from Ura Tabu/PIPA and Otara's own Giant Killa with other Groovehouse artists, Exit Four 44, Pascal Roggen and Aleisha Wallabh Smith.…more