Na manuia ai le folauga a Lata ona o le fa'atu'au.
Lata's voyages were successful because of prayerful preparation.
To conclude Utah Wayfinding Week, we invite you to a special evening of talanoa featuring guest wayfinder and educator Tuloutele Celeste Manuia Haʻo and Utah Representative Laufou Jacob Fitisemanu Jr. for a special evening of talanoa.
Laufou Jacob will trace the story of how early Sāmoans came to call Utah home in the 19th century, and Tuloutele will share her own voyage across ocean and identity, a story of wayfinding, cultural revitalization, and return.
Special performances by Malama Mataitoa.
About the Keynote Speakers
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Tuloutele Celeste 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.
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Item Laufou Jake is a Sāmoan-Chinese-Korean American public health professional, educator, community advocate, and Utah State Representative for District 30, from West Valley City, Utah. His studies of Pasifika cultures, languages, and histories have taken him around the world—from documenting kava rituals in Sāmoa to compiling an international comparative database of Samoan fine mats and reconstructing traditional artifacts from historical prototypes at the Bishop Museum in Hawaiʻi. He is a co-author of "Landlocked Voyagers: Samoans in Utah at the Turn of the Twentieth Century," published in the Utah Historical Quarterly, which traces the early roots of Utah's Samoan community and its ties to the long history of Pacific voyaging and migration.
A Director of the Samoana Integrated Learning Initiative, Jake is dedicated to perpetuating and promoting Pasifika cultural arts and knowledge for contemporary, urban Oceania communities.
Event Details
Time: 4:00pm- 6:30pm, light refreshments will be served.
Location: Pacific Heritage Academy, 1755 W 1100 N, Salt Lake City, UT 84116
This event is free and open to the public, please RSVP.
Utah Wayfinding Week is made possible by our wonderful community partners. Fa’afetai Tele Lava!
