4.
In earlier interviews, you have talked about how rising up as a blended Samoan girl in California, removed from most of your loved ones, affected your confidence. Being a blended Samoan girl who grew up the identical method, I used to be questioning the place you discovered that confidence to have the ability to write and direct these movies as a result of I believe typically we really feel like, “Oh no, I’m not Samoan sufficient.”
This is a phrase I do know very nicely: “I’m not Samoan sufficient.” Half of my father’s household lived in Northern California – I lived within the South – or Samoa, and so there was actually a disconnect. Honestly, a part of it was additionally resulting from my dad and the truth that he was coping with a few of his personal id points as I used to be rising up. And so, I felt a variety of insecurity about it. I’d say being Samoan has all the time been one thing I’ve been actually pleased with, nevertheless it’s one thing I’ve all the time talked about with warning, to attempt to make others really feel higher, but in addition to make myself really feel higher. Like, “I’m Samoan, however yeah, I do know, I do not look that Samoan,” to make everybody else really feel good. I’m not joking, after I was little I had a photograph of my grandparents in my bag.
BuzzFeed: So might you carry that up as proof?
Yes, as if I wanted it! Nobody even asks me for proof. But I felt so insecure about it. I do not find out about being an insecure, totally recovered Afakasi (blended Samoan) girl, however I’ve come a great distance. Even accepting the job on the Moana live-action, which was my first Moana challenge, my first thought after getting that job was, “Am I Samoan sufficient? Will our neighborhood be offended that I’m the individual doing this? Are they going to assume I’m not sufficient to do that?” And it was very disheartening. I used to be so excited as a result of I really like Moana, and I felt like I could not imagine I could possibly be part of telling her story. But it was a course of to realize accountability too simply to have the ability to say, “I’m Samoan. I’m not going to clarify to you what which means as a result of it is none of your online business and I do know who I’m.
But partly that is as a result of I took some dangers that I wasn’t able to take. I took the job on the live-action movie regardless that I felt this insecurity. I began PEAK (Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti) after I thought, “Am I sufficient to do that? Am I the fitting individual?” I additionally had a Pacific Islander writers’ room for this little present that did not pan out, and I started working with Pacific Islanders in a room, creating, for the primary time. All of this stuff they gathered collectively and I began to really feel like I used to be half of a bigger neighborhood. And it wasn’t one neighborhood that was asking me to qualify, however different individuals who have been very like-minded, we have been coming collectively and we have been taking a look at one another and saying, “Oh, I see you I see you. And as a result of we noticed ourselves in one another, it gave me extra confidence to be daring in taking accountability for who I’m. It’s been a journey, however I’m proud to be Samoan.
