5:30pm-8:00pm | Friday, May 30, 2025

Address: Sorenson Unity Center, Black Box Theatre, 1383 S 900 W, SLC, Utah 84104

Featuring Researcher & Author Lefaoali'i Dion Enari

Join us for a fun evening of storytelling that will showcase five dynamic Pasifika storytellers from our community who will share personal “wayfinding” stories, experiences, and tales that will entertain, educate, and inspire. Through personal journeys and ancestral legends, storytellers will celebrate the theme of “wayfinding” experiences that connect us all. Come prepared to laugh, cry, and cheer on community members who will step up to the mic on the Pasifika Story Stage.

Free & open to the public

Meet the Storytellers!

• Lefaoaliʻi Dion Enari (Unitec NZ Indigenous Center)

  Lefaoali'i Associate Professor Dion Enari is in Ngā Wai a Te Tūī (Māori and Indigenous Research Centre) and School of Healthcare and Social Practice, Unitec, Aotearoa, New Zealand. He is an Indigenous Samoan academic who covers Indigenous, Sport and Pacific issues regularly as a researcher and author. His PhD is on Fa'a Samoa (Samoan culture) from the Faculty of Society and Design, Bond University, Australia. Lefaoali'i has interviewed on several International and National media platforms including World news, ABC News, ABC Radio, The Guardian, Thomson Reuters Foundation, and much more. His high talking Chief title Lefaoali'i is from Lepa, Samoa, he is also the current Sunpix Pacific Educator of the year. 

• Tuloutele Celeste Manuia Ha’o (Kamehameha Schools)

  Celeste Manuia Haʻo is a Hawaiian-Sāmoan wayfinder, educator, designer, and storyteller from Hilo, Hawaiʻi. She trained under the late Pwo Navigator Kālepa Baybayan and co-navigated Hōkūleʻa on a historic journey that fulfilled her grandfather’s prophecy—returning to their village of Faleapuna, Sāmoa, “by way of sea and stars.”

  At 17, Celeste was named Tuloutele, the Taupou of Faleapuna. Instead of remaining in the village, her grandfather directed her to return to Hawaiʻi, learn all she could, and one day teach their people. That calling guides her work today—blending ancestral intelligence with bold innovation to design learning experiences that reconnect ʻōiwi communities with identity, language, and place.

• Jakey Siolo (Nuanua LGBTQ+ Collective)

  Jakey Sala Siolo (he/they) is a queer Samoan community organizer living in Salt Lake City. Their roots come from the village of Gataivai, Savai’i.  Their advocacy work has spanned areas such as violence prevention, LGBTQ+ issues, housing & food access & community health. Jakey currently works as a Communications Specialist for United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance Washington (UTOPIA Washington) & the Senior Marketing & Engagement Manager at YWCA Utah. Additionally Jakey serves as Executive Director of Nuanua Collective, Utah’s only LGBTQ+ MVPFAFF+ organization for Pacific Islanders. Jakey is committed to making waves of change for marginalized communities, approaching all communities with connection, respect & protection at the forefront. 

• Kathy Matthew (United Micronesian Women)

  Kathy J Matthew, Originated from Pohnpei, Kathy was born to Bella and Rinster Joel, She is both from Pinglap and Mwolkiloa, of the Federated State of Micronesia. She is married to Cassidy Matthew, and they have two beautiful children, Kehlail and Vanessa. She has lived in Utah for over 20 years and happy to call this place a “home away from home”.

  Kathy is a dynamic individual who wears multiple hats within her communities. Her notable roles include serving as treasurer for the Utah Micronesian Coalition, Kathy also holds a position on the board of the Utah Micronesian Women, She was also part of the team put together to represent her community to advocate in Washington DC, She also represented the COFA community to Alaska for a Health gathering Events, She was part of the Covid-19 task Force and acted as a liaison between communities and available resources.
  Among the various role Kathy has undertaken, Kathy enjoys spending quality time with her small, beautiful family, she loves to travel and build memories with her family.

• Moana ‘Ulu’ave-Hafoka (Voices for Utah Children)

  Moana 'Ulu'ave-Hafoka was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to parents, both of Niuafo'ou, Tongatapu. After graduate school, Moana pursued a career in public service in her hometown. First, working in her local community center, then as the Bridge Program Director of the Pacific Islands Studies Initiative at the University of Utah, and most recently, as the first Equity Manager for the inaugural Equity team in the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office and now as a Policy Analyst at Voices for Utah Children, advocating for early learning and child care issues. During her time of service, she also published multiple creative and academic pieces including, Talanoa: Tongan epistemology and Indigenous research method, To Be Young, Mormon, and Tongan and Land & Sea: Fonua mo‘Oseni. 

E momoli atu ai le agaga fa’afetai i ‘āiga, uō, ma pa’aga sa lagolagoina mālosi le tātou fa’amoemoe.

We express our heartfelt gratitude to our families, friends, colleagues and sponsors for their role in making our first Wayfinding Week a success.

Mālō lava le agalelei ma le a’ao foa’i.