Terisa Siagatonu

Poet and Community Organizer

As a queer Samoan womyn and activist, Terisa Siagatonu’s writing blends the personal with the political in a way that calls for healing, courage, justice, and truth. Her presence in the spoken word world has granted her opportunities to perform in places ranging from the White House to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris, France. The most memorable moment in her career was receiving President Obama’s Champion of Change Award in 2012 for her activism as a spoken word poet/organizer in her Pacific Islander community.

Siagatonu’s work has been featured on CNN, NBCNews, NPR, Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, The Guardian, BuzzFeed and Upworthy. She earned her bachelors degree from UC Santa Cruz and her masters in Marriage/Family Therapy from University of Southern California.