Leilani Tamu on the “Pacific workforce challenge”

December 11, 2019

In November we launched our 2020 Summer issue of Flint & Steel, our annual magazine that this year explores the central theme of vocation, working, and living.

We were grateful to have Leilani Tamu as our guest for the launch of the magazine, discussing her contribution to one of the articles in this year’s volume. This podcast is an edited recording of Alex Penk’s conversation with Leilani on Pacific ideas of work, family and community, and the challenges of integrating different cultural notions of success in New Zealand workplaces.


Leilani Tamu is a former NZ diplomat, published poet, Fulbright alumna and the current Manager of Pacific Policy at MBIE. She has a first class Masters in Pacific History from the University of Auckland and was recently nominated as one of their Top 40 under 40 alumna. She is also the director of a small community social enterprise The Food Waste Fairy Ltd and the proud mother of Kahlei (9) and Luka (5). Leilani has ancestral and marital connections to Samoa, Tonga and Niue.

For more of Leilani’s work, you can buy and read her book of poems “The Art of Excavation” here.

Get your hands on Flint & Steel Volume 06 by ordering a copy here.

You can subscribe to our podcast on iHeartRadioApple Podcasts, and Spotify.

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