We're so incredibly grateful to our speakers and workshop organizers for their time and efforts in shaping this year's program. Learn about them below, and stay tuned over the next few weeks as we continue to announce more about who our special guests are!
Anelauiokalani Akiona
Aloha! My name is Anelauiokalani (Anela) and I’m of Native Hawaiian and Japanese descent. I’m so excited to be a workshop presenter for the OMAOCh conference this year! My goal behind this workshop is to ease the minds of students who will soon be apart of the college application process. I can’t wait to interact and connect with other PIs at the conference!
Jada Lee
Aloha! My name is Jada Lee and I am Native Hawaiian from Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. I'm a 3rd year studying Society and Environment, Education and Public Policy. I am very passionate about the work I do with the Pacific Islander Initiative to support Pacific Islanders in higher education.
Erythrina Ngirkelau
Erythrina Ngirkelau (she/her) is a freshman from the Republic of Palau studying Rhetoric. As a current CPISC Island Justice Fellow and a passionate advocate for her community, she aims to spread awareness about the cultures of the Pacific Islands. Furthermore, she hopes to connect and help build Pacific Islander spaces in higher education.
Sofia Moana McCabe
Sofia Moana McCabe (she/her) is a sophomore from Southern California majoring in Linguistics and Rhetoric. With roots from Tonga, she is passionate about learning, teaching, and connecting with her culture and community. She hopes to encourage fellow PI students to pursue their dreams in higher education and stay grounded in their communities as they move forward. She hopes to work in language revitalization or community service after she graduates.
Roy Tongilava
Roy Tongilava is a first-generation Pacific Islander American civil rights advocate and public policy professional. As a proud son of immigrants from the Kingdom of Tonga, he is committed to enhancing the well-being of low-income communities of color, especially Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander diasporic communities. Currently, he works as a Policy Analyst at The Education Trust-West advancing inclusive policies in California’s public education system, focusing on expanding opportunities for students of color, English learners, and students from low-income communities. Roy also serves as President of the board of the South Pacific Islander Organization (SPIO), a nonprofit dedicated to improving college access and success among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students through resource-sharing, professional development, educational programs, and community-building. Prior to this, Roy worked as a Senior District Representative to State Senator Dave Cortese of Silicon Valley, where he led district efforts on P-16 education advocacy trips to California’s State Capitol, fiscal transparency, public transportation, and unhoused policy. He also worked as a Legislative Aide and Fellow in the Jesse M. Unruh Assembly Fellowship and California Asian Pacific Islander Capitol Association (APICA) Fellowship in the state legislature. In 2017, Roy was elected as the first Pacific Islander Senator at the Associated Students of UC Riverside, advancing critical legislation focused on expanding access to resources for undergraduate students. He is currently pursuing his Master's of Public Affairs degree at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and holds a BA in Public Policy from UC Riverside, Certificate in Applied Policy and Government from CSU Sacramento, and a Certificate in Education Finance from Georgetown University.
Amelia Sete
Amelia Sete (she/her/hers), also known as Mia, is a first-generation Tongan-American college graduate and the current Counselor for Nesians Unite. Her heritage is rooted in the villages of Kolomotu’a, Fu’amotu, Houma, and Ma’ufanga, Tongatapu. Though born in Maui, Hawai’i, Mia takes great pride in being raised in Hayward. As the oldest of five, and heavily inspired by Tupac, Mia has always felt a strong commitment to the well-being of children. This passion led her to co-found Village Hour, a summer and afterschool program for Pasifika middle and high school students in the Hayward Unified School District. Outside of all this, Mia enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, and singing.
Arasi Hamilton
Arasi Hamilton (she/her/hers) was born in Seattle, WA, with her lineage tracing back to the villages of Fagatogo and Tula, in American Samoa. She is a community organizer, activist, scholar, and a first-generation college student. Her journey to higher education humbly began at Chabot College in Hayward, CA. She completed an Ethnic Studies AA in 2019.
While at Chabot College she was a co-founder of Nesian’s Unite, a student-led club that aims to create a community and sense of belonging for the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (NHPI) populations navigating higher education. Arasi served as Nesian’s Unite’s first Interclub-Council Representative, as well as Chabot’s Student Senate’s Events Coordinator.
Josiah Mulitauopele
Talofa Everyone! My name is Josiah Mulitauopele, I am the Health Educator/Coordinator for the Pacific Islander Wellness Initiative located in Hayward. I grew up in Los Angeles, California for most of my life. I value community and I take pride in my culture and where I come from. I am deeply committed to advocacy and organizing, particularly with the unhoused population, and I take pride in working locally to create meaningful change. I have a strong passion for empowering youth and learning from the wisdom of elders. I graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in Sociology in 2021. In my previous role, I worked in the domestic violence and sexual assault (DV/SA) field at the Center for the Pacific Asian Family, where I gained valuable experience in supporting vulnerable communities. It is my hope to contribute to building a stronger, more connected Pacific Islander community in Alameda County, and I am excited to collaborate with the PIWI team and their partners to make this vision a reality.
Maya Toluk Ito
Maya Toluk Ito (She/her/hers), also known as Toluk, is a first-generation, Palauan-American college graduate who serves as the Program Coordinator for Dual Enrollment and helps support Nesians Unite (NU) and Indigenous Peoples Club (IPC) at Chabot College. Toluk was an alumni of UC Berkeley and the Pacific Islander initiative, so she’s happy to be back. :)
Roquin-Jon Quichocho Siongco
Roquin-Jon Quichocho Siongco is originally from Yigu, Guåhan (Guam). They are a multidisciplinary artist that draws from their CHamoru heritage and Queer experiences. For Roquin, it is imperative that their work honors cultural customs that have survived throughout generations, and has been persevered in the face of colonial erasure. Without acknowledging these international practices and learning where they come from, their work would not hold the solid foundation it maintains as contemporary Pasifika art. Because of this, their work is able to take on new shapes and experimental forms, innovative combinations of materials, and the building of cross-cultural relationships that may not have happened otherwise.
Today, Roquin has been weaving steadily for about 14 years. However, their practice is not limited to hats, baskets, mats, and other conventional woven items. Expanding beyond recreating artifacts, they breathe new life into these techniques and artforms. They see weaving as soft sculpture and very innovative in nature, which lends a flexibility to their approach to weaving.
Beyond their contemporary visual art and larger installations, Roquin also focuses on Pasifika fashion that merges couture designs with hand-woven garments & accessories. With their keen understanding of the complex mechanics and mathematics of weaving, Roquin has created jaw-dropping all-woven gowns, harnesses, masks, & more. "We've always been expanding on things... so don't be afraid to start new traditions. Innovation is a tradition in it of itself and traditions have to start somewhere."
Salote Lutui
Salote holds a BA degree in Psychology from Cal State Los Angeles and an MS degree in Clinical Psychology with a concentration in Marriage and Family Therapy and in Professional Clinical Counseling from the University of Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, California.
Salote is a Mental Health Specialist for the Pacific Islander Wellness Initiative, a program of the Richmond Area Multi-Services Inc based in SF. She has been working with Pacific Islanders in Alameda county for the past 3.5 years, addressing individual issues such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD; while also addressing family and couple issues as well. Salote is a registered Marriage and Family associate therapist (AMFT).
Terisa Siagatonu
Terisa Siagatonu (she/they) is an award-winning touring poet, speaker, educator, and community organizer born and rooted on unceded Ohlone territory in the Bay Area. Her voice in the poetry world as a queer Sāmoan artist has granted her opportunities to perform in places such as the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris, the 9th Annual Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia, and the 2019 SF Women's March. Terisa's writing/teaching blends the personal, cultural, and political in a way that calls for healing, courage, justice, and truth. A 2023 Emerson Collective Fellow, her work has been published in Poetry Magazine and The Academy of American Poets and has been featured on Button Poetry, CNN, NBCNews, NPR, KQED, Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, The Guardian, and more
Offstage, Terisa is a community organizer and creates and facilitates workshops, leads artistic and professional development training, provides mental health support, and delivers keynote speeches across the country on issues that inform her 15+ years of community work involving: youth advocacy, educational attainment, mental health, Pacific Islander/Indigenous rights, climate change, and more. She is the co-editor of We the Gathered Heat: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poetry, Performance, and Spoken Word (Haymarket Books, 2024) and the author of her debut forthcoming children’s book The Vastness of Us (Penguin, 2026). Connect with Terisa online @terisasiagatonu or at www.terisasiagatonu.com