Meet Angelica Eke

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Angelica Eke. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Angelica below.

Angelica , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I grew up in a family that comes straight from the islands of Samoa. Because the way of life is so much more different here than it is in Samoa, my parents, me, and my siblings each navigated the waters of the Western World together. It’s easy to see that my resilience comes from my parents.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My company is called Tatou Uma Pasefika Cultural Arts. Our mission is to continue the education of the Pacific Island cultures through the utilization of dance and the teaching of cultural traditions. We advocate for all islanders who are currently living away from the Motherlands to learn/re-learn who they are through our classes as well as open a platform for others who are non-PI to come and learn about our people as well as delve into the cultural classes (at least the parts we can share,) to further their view of the world. Our mission is all about the community: to educate, share, perpetuate, and preserve all things Pacific Islander.

We teach dances from the islands of Hawaii (Hula), Samoa (Siva), Tahiti (Ori Tahiti), and Tonga (Taulouga). This is our main product for our company and as time permits, we book private shows, sell lei’s during graduation season, and of course, have monthly memberships that are paid for by our students.

Where I live, aside from the Revived International Ministries church, there are no in-person resources where people can come to learn/share about these beautiful Pacific Islander cultures. I started Tatou Uma as a way to teach my children about their Samoan heritage and now, the mission has changed into something much bigger. It has become a resource for people to learn about these Pacific Island cultures. My goal for this company is to create a school where all cultures from around the world can come teach prospective students about their own cultures. Classes on language, dance, cultural traditions, cultural food, etc. I am sure you are wondering why this would be something that is useful to the rest of the world and why this might matter to others. The answer is simple: representation matters. As a little Samoan girl, growing up, dreaming of becoming a Physician was a dream that felt much too far away. I had no one to look up to for this dream because my own parents were learning how to live in this new Western world just as I was learning. They did their best in ensuring we reached beyond our own dreams and so far, my siblings and I have done a good job of utilizing what we had.

This year, we hosted our first Pacific Islander festival alongside one of our friends Dr. Sataraka, and the Office of Equity and Inclusion. Our next event date is set for May 3rd and it will be held at CSUB once again.

The most exciting thing for me as the owner, is to be able to see other people, from all backgrounds grow a love for your culture. Tatou Uma are Samoan words that mean All of Us and it is from these words that stems what our company is all about.

We will soon be launching new products and services as well so stay tuned for that by following us on Instagram @tu_pasefika.

https://www.thecoconet.tv/coco-talanoa/pacific-blog/appreciating-samoan-culture/
https://www.thecoconet.tv/coco-talanoa/pacific-blog/opinion-to-be-who-we-are-or-not-to-be-who/

Redisconnection

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The three skills I learned to hone in on are marketing, connecting with others, and becoming self efficient. The biggest piece in staying in this for 8 years was literally showing up. Be consistent with showing up and you will go far! Always remember that when you want to do something great, you will have to be tough enough to show up even when you dont want to.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

The biggest challenge my team faces is literally financial. Most of what we have done has been done by volunteers, money that has been given to us through donations, and/or money that has been raised by our dancers. I hope to change this by applying to a ton of grants and things but, my knowledge is limited when it comes to finding money for all of our projects, I know there are loan programs but, we do not want to go down that rabbit hole.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @tu_pasefika

Image Credits

@butterfliesanddaffodils @xcarlos