Dr. Teresia Teaiwa was a groundbreaking Pacific academic, poet, and activist, internationally recognized for her leadership in Pacific Studies. Born in Honolulu to an I-Kiribati father and African-American mother, she grew up in Fiji and later taught at the University of the South Pacific before moving to Wellington, New Zealand, to lead the world’s first undergraduate major in Pacific Studies at Victoria University. Her work embraced feminism, Pacific arts, contemporary culture, and pedagogy, leaving a lasting legacy in both scholarship and creative expression.