Graduate follows path of trailblazing Pacific women

Lisi-Malia Teaura Nuulopa Pereira's name reflects more than lineage - it’s a tribute to the ancestors who have guided her journey. 

She carried their legacy crossing the stage on 10 September, receiving a conjoint Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degree. 

The 22-year-old Sāmoan-Chinese, Cook Islander, Tokelauan and Tahitian described feeling excited and nervous about the ceremony. “But I’m so happy that everything worked out, I want to thank my family who travelled to be here, and also to all my friends as well.”

Born in Taufusi, Sāmoa, Lisi-Malia is the eldest daughter of Benjamin Pereira and Audrey Brown-Pereira, who travelled from Sāmoa.

“We’ve come from Sāmoa to celebrate this day,” says mother Audrey, an alumna of the University of Auckland.  “I’m a very proud parent but as her father Ben says, she’s great with words and numbers,” adding it was also particularly special with her own connection to the University.

Upbringing steeped in values of faith, family and service

Lisi-Malia says her upbringing in Sāmoa was steeped in the values of faith, family and service, passed down from ambitious and aspirational great-grandmothers.

Paternal great-grandmother, Lisi Vaai, was a trailblazer, leading from the front: a teacher, principal, and the first Sāmoan woman Public Service Commissioner. She raised seven children and many more extended family members after being widowed young. Having faced discrimination for having mixed Sāmoan-Chinese heritage and being abandoned by her father, she turned adversity into strength.

“Education was sacred to her - the one inheritance no one could take away,” says Lisi-Malia.

From her maternal side, great-grandmother Teaura sacrificed her own dreams, leaving her home in Atiu, Cook Islands, working in isolation on the very remote island of Mauke, to provide for her family.

Great-grandmother Nuulopa taught Lisi-Malia that a gentle and loving nature can be a great source of inspiration for the family.

“The love and kindness we give, always comes back to us when we need it most.”

She says acknowledging the strength and resilience of Pacific women was important given their vital roles as carers, educators and artists, that help to shape community and society.

Pursuing university education

Lisi-Malia says pursuing a university education was inevitable, with the example set by the quiet achievers from her family. Her late aunty Ula (AloSāmoa Erna Vaai Aiono) was CEO of the Sāmoa International Finance Authority.

Her aunty Lei (Ioana Chan Mow) is a professor at the National University of Sāmoa and her uncle, Afoa Asiata Kolone Vaai, served as Financial Secretary for the Ministry of Finance. Her father Benjamin is an economist and consultant, he was Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Sāmoa. Mother Audrey is a renowned poet, Executive Officer at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and a former diplomat.

Even her grandfather, Anthony Jose Pereira, played a pivotal role in Sāmoa’s political history, helping draft the constitution for the Human Rights Protection Party - an origin story often overlooked in today’s political narratives

But Lisi-Malia's academic journey hasn’t been without struggle.

“I have always felt our islands are strong and invincible,” she says, “but in so much of the literature and theories we study, we are treated as backwards or not recognised at all.”

This disconnect between lived Pacific realities and academic frameworks led to periods of depression, especially during the isolation of COVID-19 lockdowns.

However that changed when Lisi-Malia began working as a research assistant at Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa (Centre for Pacific and Global Health).

“The things I felt were missing from my studies - I found within Te Poutoko,” she says, engaging in research that centred the wisdom of Pacific peoples, especially those living across the region.

“They wear many hats, they maximise what they have, and they take on the practical application of knowledge. No book could ever describe their experience.”

She credits leaders like Professor Sir Collin Tukuitonga and Nalei Taufa for showing her what is possible when leadership is grounded in service, strategy and community accountability.

“They challenge the status quo through research, advocacy and innovation,” she says. “They hold themselves to the highest standards of accountability to our communities.”

She says success isn’t measured by traditional academic metrics at Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa, instead research is translated into real outcomes for Pacific communities.

“We are not breaking barriers to fit into existing structures,” Lisi-Malia says. “We are building limitless possibilities for Pacific peoples to lead research that shapes our own futures.”

She says her story is a powerful reminder that Pacific leadership is not new - it is ancestral; rooted in the strength of women who she is named after: Lisi, Teaura and Nuulopa.

As a young leader Lisi-Malia, not only honours these trailblazers but is committed to forging new paths for the generations to come.