Terisa Siagatonu

Terisa Tinei Siagatonu is a Samoan award-winning spoken word poet, arts educator, and community organizer.[1] [2][3][4] In 2012, she was awarded a Champion of Change Award for her activism as a spoken word poet and organizer.[5]

reading at Split this Rock 2018 poetry festival, Washington, D.C.

Personal life

Born in San Francisco, CA,[3] Siagatonu was the first on her father's side of the family to attend college.[6] Siagatonu graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a While there, she experienced spoken word for the first time and began writing.[7] During college she competed in poetry slams, taught spoken word poetry to students in an after school program, and was a Youth Speaks mentor.[6] After completing undergraduate work with a major in Community Studies and an Education minor,[6] she went on to earn a Master of Arts in Marriage/FamilyTherapy from the University of Southern California.[6] [8]

Career

She was Project Director for the Pacific Islander Education and Retention project (PIER) at University of California, Los Angeles.[4]

She is a slam poet, and coach.[9] An activist in several areas, including LGBTQ rights, racial justice, mental health, gender equity and climate change,[10] President Obama recognized Siagatonu with a Champion of Change Award in 2012,[5] and she spoke at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference.[11][12][13] One of her areas of concern is Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano.

Her work, A Kundiman Fellow and 2019 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 100 List Honoree, was published in Poetry Magazine and had been featured on Button Poetry, CNN, NBCNews, NPR, Huffington Post, KQED, Everyday Feminism, The Guardian, BuzzFeed, and Upworthy.

Siagatonu, being a queer Samoan woman and activist gave her a plethora of opportunities. Such as speaking at the White House (during the Obama administration) to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris, France. She states on her website that the most memorable moment in her career was receiving President Obama’s Champion of Change Award in 2012 for her activism as a spoken word poet/organizer in her Pacific Islander community. [14]

Works

References
  1. Foundation, Poetry (2020-05-22). "Terisa Siagatonu". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  2. Poets, Academy of American. "About Terisa Siagatonu | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  3. "'The Reason Why Land Has a Pulse in the First Place'". KQED. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  4. "Terisa tinei siagatonu". The White House. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  5. "Terisa Siagatonu > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences". dornsifelive.usc.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  6. "Terisa Siagatonu". Queer Arts in Los Angeles. Retrieved 2021-05-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. NEGRON, LOREN. "Event celebrates Indigenous women". The Daily Evergreen. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  8. "Educator discusses indigenous perspectives on climate change". The Justice. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  9. "Student speaks her mind, finds home in open-mic poetry". Daily Bruin. 2017-11-06. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  10. "Event at Washington State University celebrates Indigenous women". www.samoanews.com. 2019-09-22. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  11. "Terisa Siagatonu > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences". dornsifelive.usc.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  12. Cohan, Ellen (2016-04-25). "Terisa Siagatonu". Climate One. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  13. "Pacific Islander Poets Use Art, Stories to Urge Climate Action at UN Conference". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  14. Siagatonu, Terisa. "Poet. Educator. Community Leader". Terisa Siagatonu. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
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