4.
In earlier interviews, you’ve spoken about how rising up as a combined Samoan lady in California, away from most of your loved ones, impacted your confidence. As a fellow combined Samoan lady who grew up the identical manner, I used to be questioning the place you discovered that confidence to have the ability to write and direct these films as a result of I feel generally we really feel like, “Oh no, I am not Samoan sufficient.”
That could be a sentence I’m very accustomed to: “I am not Samoan sufficient.” Half my dad’s household lived in Northern California — I am in Southern California — or again in Samoa, and so there was actually a disconnect. A part of that actually was due to my dad, too, and him coping with a few of his personal id points as I used to be rising up. And so, I felt lots of insecurity about that. I might say being Samoan is at all times one thing I have been actually pleased with, however it’s one thing I at all times talked about with caveats, to attempt to make different folks really feel higher about it, but additionally to make myself really feel higher. Like, “I am Samoan, however yeah, I do know I do not look so Samoan,” to make it really feel okay for everyone else. I am not joking, I used to have an image of my grandparents in my bag once I was actually younger.
BuzzFeed: So you may whip it out as proof?
Yeah, as if I wanted it! No person’s even asking me for proof. However I felt so insecure about it. I do not know that I am a fully-recovered insecure afakasi [mixed Samoan] lady, however I’ve come a good distance. Even taking the job on the Moana live-action, which was my first Moana undertaking, my first thought after getting that job was: “Am I Samoan sufficient? Is our neighborhood going to be upset that I am the individual doing this? Will they assume I am not sufficient to do that?” And it was very daunting. I used to be so excited as a result of I like Moana, and I felt like I could not consider I get to be part of telling her story. But it surely’s been a course of to take possession of even simply with the ability to be say, “I am Samoan. I am not gonna clarify to you what meaning as a result of it is none of what you are promoting, and I do know who I’m.” That I might say has been a two-year course of. It is nonetheless new to me. It is nonetheless recent.
However a part of that’s as a result of I took some probabilities I wasn’t able to take. I took the job on the live-action movie regardless that I felt that insecurity. I began PEAK [Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti] once I was like, “Am I sufficient to do that? Am I the suitable individual?” I additionally had a Pacific Islander writers room for this small present that did not find yourself going, and I started working with Pacific Islanders in a room, creating, for the primary time. All of these items got here collectively without delay, and I began to really feel like I used to be part of a much bigger neighborhood. And it wasn’t a neighborhood that was asking me to qualify myself however of different individuals who felt very equally. We had been coming collectively, and we had been taking a look at one another, and we’re like, “Oh, I see you. I see you. I see you.” And since we had been seeing ourselves in one another, it gave me extra confidence to be daring about taking possession of who I’m. It has been a journey, however I’m proud to be Samoan.
