Today we’d like to introduce you to Jake Fitisemanu
Hi Jake, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born in New Zealand/Aotearoa and raised in Hawaiʻi and Utah. Iʻm the oldest of eight children raised by Karen Jun Lin Dang (from Kaimuki, O’ahu and Wailuku, Maui, Hawai’i) and Sauaga Jacob Fitisemanu (from the Samoan villages of Fagaloa, Safune, and Lepea). As one might imagine, my upbringing in a large, multicultural family was exciting, vibrant, and sometimes chaotic. My family left Hawaiʻi and I completed high school in Utah. I earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences and a master’s degree in Public Health (both from Westminster University). I serve my large extended family under the chiefly title “Laufou” that was bestowed on me by the traditional leaders of our village on the island of ‘Upolu, Samoa. Before landing in my current role as Community Health Program Manager for Intermountain Health, I led several public health programs for the Utah Department of Health for nine years. I co-founded several community-based initiatives that are still active today, including the Utah Pacific Islander Health Coalition (2011), Samoana Integrated Learning Initiative (2011), the Annual Utah Pacific Islander Health Week (2012), the MANA 5K charity run (2013), etc. My involvement in these kinds of local grassroots efforts began catching the attention of community advocates in other areas of the country and I began being invited to provide workshops and trainings for community organizations, high school and college students in many locations. In 2015, I was appointed by President Obama to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders and I was also appointed to two terms on the US Census National Advisory Committee. Those experiences working with national leaders in Washington DC and throughout the country would become the catalyst that propelled me and my family into the previously unfamiliar world of politics, elections, and campaigning. My wife Lucia Carvalho and I first moved to West Valley City as newlyweds in 2005 and today we are proud to be raising our two daughters in this vibrant community. My very first campaign for West Valley City Council was successful (2017) and I’ve since been elected to a second term (starting 2022). While my professional career is centered on public health, and my public/civic life is now aimed at higher office as a Utah state legislator, I have always considered the expressions of my ancestral cultures to be the core values that comprise my personal identity.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Overall, I can’t complain when I look back at the trajectory of my life up to this point, even if it has been quite a convoluted path through various academic fields and professional paths (I’ve held at least 12 different jobs since high school, from warehouse stocker and mental health care manager to airport janitor and 8th grade social science teacher, and lots in between); but the unwavering support of family and friends kept me energized and encouraged to continue paddling forward
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’ve been told more than once that I’m an “old soul” because I love to find ways to embrace history and express ancestry in the way I live in modern, American society. I like to refer to this worldview as “urbandigenous” and I live in the constant pursuit of allowing myself to live as a person who is simultaneously living a contemporary, western lifestyle while literally and tangibly acknowledging the collective history and genetic composition that I’ve (that all of us have) inherited from the ancestors. Like my intrepid, voyaging ancestors, I’ve always had an affinity to the ocean, and since moving to Utah I have avidly pursued ways to stay connected to water, first through the Hui Paoakalani outrigger canoe club at the Great Salt Lake, and more recently as a solo and doubles paddler on my own personal outrigger canoe that I had shipped from Hawai’i just before the height of the pandemic. I inherited a love of gardening from my late maternal grandfather James Kwan Sau Dang who was born and raised on the island of Maui, and memories of how he tried to grow foods that he grew up with — like daikon radish, gobo root, and napa cabbage — compelled me to experiment with growing produce from the Pacific islands. What started with Hawaiian taro and Tongan “kumala” sweet potatoes in 5-gallon buckets evolved into a full-blown community gardening initiative called Healthy Roots: Cultivating a Culture of Wellness. Over the past six years, Healthy Roots has successfully helped Pacific Islander families in Utah grow their own vegetables (including traditional tropical produce like turmeric, sugarcane, taro, sweet potatoes, and Pacific spinach); in 2022, over 50 families were engaged in Salt Lake, Davis, and Utah counties. I’m passionate about growing food because gardening is about so much more than improving our nutrition; it literally connects us to our ancestors as we learn to grow and prepare the foods that they cultivated, along with the indigenous knowledge, customs, terminology, and stories that go along with our foodways. I’m especially proud of the Samoana Integrated Learning Initiative, which started as an effort to learn/teach our ancestral language to American-born Samoans for whom English is the primary language. In the absence of an immersive language learning environment, our team developed and adapted our own teaching approaches, learning tools (like flash cards and instructional posters), and practical hands-on experiences that involve learning social customs, arts and crafts, cooking traditional foods, old school games, songs and dances, etc. The initiative has moved beyond just providing opportunities to learn words and phrases, but to give individuals and families memorable experiences that create context and meaning rather than just grammar and vocabulary. As an amateur historian and genealogist, I have traveled the world scouring private collections, museums, and galleries for indigenous Samoan belongings (often called “artifacts” in museum circles) which I document and describe in order to supplement the existing provenance information, and most importantly to provide crucial cultural, human insight to belongings that are all too often displayed (or held in collection) outside of any indigenous context (and usually contain more information about the colonizers who “collected” these belongings and subsequently dislocated them from their original contexts and creators/owners. I have been creating replicas of Samoan regalia and material culture items since 2008, when I employed historical literature and trial-and-error to re-create a 200-year old octopus lure I had documented in a museum in Stuttgart, Germany. Among my favorite historical replicas are my attempts to construct a traditional stone-weighted pump drill, and a whale ivory pendant necklaces I worked on with extended family members. Being able to share skills such as wood stencil printing and regalia crafting with kids and young students is rewarding because it’s a great way to preserve and perpetuate our cultural arts in ways that are fun and relevant. I’m also the head coach of the Jung Hing Lion Dance Club, a branch of the first Chinese lion dance troupe in the region (started over 40 years ago in Salt Lake City by Grandmaster Cheng Tsang Lu). I love teaching the dynamic music and movement of Futsan style lion dancing and drumming as both an artistic expression and a tangible connection to my maternal ancestors who practiced lion dancing and martial arts in their homelands in Hong Kong and Guangdong province, China.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
That it’s good to have solid goals and pre-planned trajectories, but don’t be afraid to take a detour or to amend the travel itinerary when great opportunities present themselves
Contact Info:
- Instagram: atamai_anamua
